Colby College
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification

Part 1: Definition Sustainability is the ability to meet society’s current needs without compromising environmental health and the needs of future generations. It is a prudent approach to resource use that recognizes the interconnectedness of social, economic, and environmental systems and earth’s finite capacity to satisfy human needs and desires. Campus sustainability and resource conservation are core values of Colby College. The College endeavors to foster an awareness of environmental sustainability through its academic programs as well as activities on and off campus. Colby seeks to lead by example and fosters ethically responsible environmental stewardship. Thus, environmentally safe and sustainable practices inform and guide campus strategic planning, decision-making, and daily operations. Colby recognizes that achieving environmental sustainability will be an ongoing challenge that evolves as conditions change and as we become more aware and educated as a community. Sustainability-focused courses explore obstacles to maintaining the integrity of the earth’s social, economic, and environmental systems as the central topic of the course and look for interdisciplinary solutions to meet these challenges. Sustainability-related courses may explore topics other than sustainability as the central focus, but integrate and emphasize a sustainability concept or issue as a distinct unit or subunit within the course.

Part 2: Identification of Sustainability-Focused and Sustainability-Related courses Methodology: A spreadsheet of all courses taught in the past two years was obtained from the registrar’s database. Course descriptions in the course catalogue were reviewed to identify courses that potentially have sustainability content. The faculty that teach these courses were asked to confirm (or reject) sustainability content and distinguish their courses as sustainability-focused or sustainability-related using the definitions listed above. Faculty were surveyed via email using mail merge to a spreadsheet that contained the list of courses. 56 faculty were contacted; 49/56 responded for an 87.5% response rate. Any additional courses identified by faculty in their year-end annual report were included as well.

Colby’s definition of sustainability in the curriculum was developed by the four faculty members of the Environmental Advisory Group (EAG): R. Cole, Director of the Environmental Studies Program; J. Holly, Chair Mathematics & Statistics Department; P. Nyhus, Professor of Environmental Studies; L. Reich, Professor of Administrative Science, and Science, Technology and Society.