| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 77.56 |
| Liaison | John Pumilio |
| Submission Date | Oct. 11, 2022 |
Colgate University
AC-1: Academic Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
8.24 / 14.00 |
John
Pumilio Director of Sustainability Sustainability Office |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Part 1. Sustainability course offerings
| Undergraduate | Graduate | |
| Total number of courses offered by the institution | 991 | 3 |
| Number of sustainability-focused courses offered | 42 | 0 |
| Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered | 80 | 0 |
Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
12.27
Part 2. Sustainability course offerings by department
40
Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
20
Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
50
Documentation
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
One
A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :
For Academic Year 2019-2020, the Office of Sustainability worked with the Registrar's Office, the Office of Institutional Research, and IT to establish a new process for determining which courses are Sustainability Focused (SF) or Sustainability Inclusive (SI), using AASHE's guidance for both criteria.
First, working with the Registrar's Office and the Office of Institutional Research, we received a comprehensive listing of every course offered during the academic year along with the faculty member who taught that course. A total of 994 courses were identified.
Office of Sustainability interns then went through the course titles and descriptions and labeled the courses as SF, SI, or "Not related to sustainability". This was the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of this process.
Working with IT, we then generated an email that went to every single faculty member on campus specifically addressed to them. The email contained the courses they taught and our initial categorization of each. In the email, we then asked each faculty member to review our categorization and let us know if we miscategorized anything. We told faculty members that they did not have to respond if we categorized each of their courses correctly. We received 148 responses from faculty members and 44 of them let us know that we miscategorized one or more of their classes. Of the 44 faculty members who responded, we downgraded a total of 21 classes from SF or SI to "Not related to sustainability" based on their feedback. The other courses we miscategorized were either upgraded from SI to SF (4 total courses) or downgraded from SF to SI (31 total classes). Making the extra effort to reach out to each individual faculty member with their courses listed, helped us to better engage faculty members in this process. Doing this was an important outcome.
Altogether, this single credit was the most time-consuming aspect of the entire STARS framework.
First, working with the Registrar's Office and the Office of Institutional Research, we received a comprehensive listing of every course offered during the academic year along with the faculty member who taught that course. A total of 994 courses were identified.
Office of Sustainability interns then went through the course titles and descriptions and labeled the courses as SF, SI, or "Not related to sustainability". This was the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of this process.
Working with IT, we then generated an email that went to every single faculty member on campus specifically addressed to them. The email contained the courses they taught and our initial categorization of each. In the email, we then asked each faculty member to review our categorization and let us know if we miscategorized anything. We told faculty members that they did not have to respond if we categorized each of their courses correctly. We received 148 responses from faculty members and 44 of them let us know that we miscategorized one or more of their classes. Of the 44 faculty members who responded, we downgraded a total of 21 classes from SF or SI to "Not related to sustainability" based on their feedback. The other courses we miscategorized were either upgraded from SI to SF (4 total courses) or downgraded from SF to SI (31 total classes). Making the extra effort to reach out to each individual faculty member with their courses listed, helped us to better engage faculty members in this process. Doing this was an important outcome.
Altogether, this single credit was the most time-consuming aspect of the entire STARS framework.
How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
Each course was counted as a single course regardless of the number of offerings or sections
A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted:
Courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted as one course.
Optional Fields
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DM1e_T5VYy9UdBAKuDuBXoMtayBteyuRPm4tkmLD_Ug/edit?usp=sharing
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
There are several independent studies and theses within the Environmental Studies Program as well as in Geography, Biology, and Chemistry. Colgate also offers sustainability workshops that are in collaboration with physical education. Each independent study has been focused directly on issues of sustainability including local food access, water quality, agricultural impacts of climate change, etc.
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.