Cornell University
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Institutional-level learning outcomes, which discuss sustainability in terms of public service, community engagement, responsible stewardship, and being the land-grant institution for NY State. This landing page highlights specific examples of sustainability learning outcomes in action.

https://provost.cornell.edu/assessment/learning-outcomes/

"Cornell’s mission is to discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge; produce creative work; and promote a culture of broad inquiry throughout and beyond the Cornell community. Cornell also aims, through public service, to enhance the lives and livelihoods of our students, the people of New York, and others around the world.
Our faculty, students, alumni, and staff strive toward these objectives in a context of freedom with responsibility. We foster initiative, integrity, and excellence, in an environment of collegiality, civility, and responsible stewardship. As the land-grant university for the state of New York, we apply the results of our endeavors in service to our alumni, the community, the state, the nation, and the world.
Taken together, a Cornell education is much greater than the sum of its parts. We foster initiative, integrity, and excellence in an environment of collegiality, civility, and responsible stewardship. Our community fosters personal discovery and growth, nurtures scholarship and creativity across a broad range of knowledge, and engages men and women from every segment of society in this endeavor."

- Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of different cultural practices, values, beliefs, and worldviews, and an understanding of their own cultural perspective; communicate effectively and respectfully with individuals from different backgrounds and across a multicultural society; demonstrate curiosity, flexibility, adaptability, and tolerance for ambiguity; investigate themselves and others as cultural beings, understanding the implied values and assumptions that underlie cultural norms and traditions.
- Embrace moral and ethical values in conducting their lives; make judgments about the quality and value of ideas, theories, and information; promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility; formulate a position or argument about an ethical issue from multiple perspectives; use ethical practices in all work.
- Take responsibility for their own behavior and well-being; direct their own activities toward the achievement of objectives, including goal setting, decision making, planning, scheduling, and time management; care for themselves responsibly; demonstrate awareness of themselves in relation to others.
- Engage in their communities, demonstrating responsibility to a larger community or public; connect positively with and in communities of various sizes and composition through and outside the classroom; participate in community engagement or civic action to benefit the public good.

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Division-level sustainability learning outcomes (links to learning outcomes in each college, along with samples of text):

Agricultural & Life Sciences (CALS): https://cals.cornell.edu/academics/advising/academic/learning-outcomes/
Students will be able to:
• Explain, evaluate, and effectively interpret factual claims, theories and assumptions in the student’s discipline(s) (especially in one or more of the college’s priority areas of land grant-agricultural sciences, applied social sciences, environmental sciences, and/or life sciences) and more broadly in the sciences and humanities
• Find, access, critically evaluate, and ethically use information
• Respectfully articulate the views of people with diverse perspectives
• Demonstrate the capability to work both independently and in cooperation with others
• Apply concepts of sustainability to the analysis of one of more major challenges facing humans and the Earth’s resources.

Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP): https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/undergraduate/learning-outcomes
Realm A
Critical Thinking and Representation: Architects must have the ability to build abstract relationships and understand the impact of ideas based on research and analysis of multiple theoretical, social, political, economic, cultural and environmental contexts. This ability includes facility with the wider range of media used to think about architecture including writing, investigative skills, speaking, drawing and model making. Students' learning aspirations include:
- Comprehending people, place, and context
- Recognizing the disparate needs of client, community, and society
Realm B
Integrated Building Practices, Technical Skills, and Knowledge: Architects are called upon to comprehend the technical aspects of design, systems, and materials and be able to apply that comprehension to their services. Additionally, they must appreciate their role in the implementation of design decisions and the impact of such decisions on the environment. Incorporating life safety systems
- Integrating accessibility
- Applying principles of sustainable design

Arts & Sciences (A&S): https://as.cornell.edu/curriculum
- Global Citizenship (GLC-AS): Courses in this area examine the history, culture, politics, religion, and social relations of peoples in different parts of the world, as well as their interactions. They encourage students to think broadly about the global community and their place within it, beyond the boundaries of their particular national or cultural group, and cultivate skills of intercultural engagement that are vital to their role as global citizens. These courses introduce students to global challenges such as war and peace, social and economic inequalities, international migration, and environmental sustainability, and encourage students to think critically about international responses to these challenges.

College of Engineering: https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/students/undergraduate-students/curriculum
- lead design processes that include consideration of the impact designs have on people, societies, and the environment.
model, analyze, and solve complex problems from a systems perspective.
- identify contemporary global issues and recognize their professional and ethical responsibility to contribute to solutions for the social, economic, and environmental challenges faced by humanity.

College of Business: https://business.cornell.edu/
- we build people-centered leaders who are empowered to create sustainable, shared prosperity
- Dyson prepares tomorrow’s leaders—and supports today’s researchers—who will apply business and economics principles to solve some of the toughest societal challenges around the globe.
-- Environmental, energy, and resource economics and policy
Johnson’s graduate business programs prepare students for leadership across industries, allowing them to achieve their ambitions with business education that emphasizes collaborative and practice-based learning.
-- Sustainability

College of Human Ecology: https://www.human.cornell.edu/admissions/mission
- Apply multi-disciplinary perspectives: Identify complex interactions between individuals and their environments; explain interactions within and between the natural, physical, and social sciences; manage diverse and changing social, technological, and material environments; collaborate across disciplines to understand and analyze issues
- Display commitment to ethical principles: Identify ethical and moral issues; know and adhere to ethical principles in academics, research, design, and practice; recognize conflicts of interest; attribute source materials

Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR): https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/about-ilr OR https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/student-experience/curriculum-requirements
- Analyze workplace issues from a variety of perspectives, including the historical, cultural, institutional and ethical perspectives
- The ILR curriculum is unique in that it brings together a common view of the labor and management imperatives. In addition to many other learning outcomes, ILR students will graduate with an understanding of:
- Global issues surrounding work, labor and employment
- Environmental concerns and sustainability in global organizations
In addition, ILR's distribution requirements collectively address sustainability as an integrated concept, and require all ILR graduates to take courses within the following fields (social "cultural perspectives," environment "science & technology," and economics "western intellectual tradition")

College of Veterinary Medicine: https://www.vet.cornell.edu/education/doctor-veterinary-medicine/curriculum
- An understanding of the interactions among animals, people, and the environment
- A commitment to professionalism, including a commitment to animal welfare and to following the best practices in relation to ethical, cultural, global, business management, and legal issues

Some overarching graduate school programs have room to more explicitly include sustainability learning outcomes; however, specific departments and fields within these schools focus on and/or integrate sustainability into their learning outcomes and coursework.

Cornell Graduate School:
https://gradschool.cornell.edu/degrees-fields/program-metrics-assessments-and-outcomes/learning-assessment/
Sustainability-Focused Graduate Programs: Natural Resources, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, Environmental Studies, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and more...

Cornell Law School: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/registrar/aba_standards.cfm
Sample of Sustainability-focused Courses Offered: Energy Law, Environmental Law, International Economic Law, International Trade and WTO Law, Advanced Topics in Property Theory, Deals Seminar: Drafting and Analyzing M+A Corporate Agreements, The Role of the State Attorney General, Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic I

Cornell Medicine:
https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/academics/learning-assessment

Below are the learning outcomes for programs not a part of one of the four colleges mentioned above (CALS, Engineering, Human Ecology, Vet). See programs list: https://www.cornell.edu/academics/fields.cfm.

Undergraduate:
-Agriculture and Life Sciences - CALS
-Architecture - "Architects must have the ability to build abstract relationships and understand the impact of ideas based on research and analysis of multiple theoretical, social, political, economic, cultural and environmental contexts. Students learning aspirations include: Applying principles of sustainable design & rationalizing environmental stewardship goals across multiple systems for an integrated solution" (https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/architecture/undergraduate/learning-outcomes)
-Design & Environmental Analysis - "Identify complex interactions between individuals and their environments; explain interactions within and between the natural, physical, and social sciences; manage diverse and changing social sciences; manage diverse and changing social, technological, and material environments" (http://dea.human.cornell.edu/mission)
-Engineering - Engineering
-Science of Earth Systems - Engineering & CALS
-Science & Technology Studies - "The major in Science & Technology Studies aims to further students' understanding of the social and cultural meanings of science and technology [including] the politics of climate change" (http://sts.cornell.edu/sts-major)
-Urban & Regional Studies - "The bachelor of science degree in urban and regional studies prepares graduates to: Address urban and regional issues ethically and sustainably" (https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/crp/undergraduate/what-are-bs-urs-students-learning)
-Agribusiness Management - CALS
-Aerospace Engineering - Engineering
-American Indian Studies - CALS
-Applied Mathematics - Engineering
-Applied Exercise Science - CALS
-Animal Science - CALS
-Biomedical Engineering - Engineering
-Biomedical Sciences - Vet
-Biological Sciences - CALS & Engineering
-Biometry & Statistics - CALS
-Dyson Business Engineers - Engineering
-Business - CALS
-Business Minor-Life Sciences - CALS
-Climate Change - CALS
-Communication - CALS
-Crop Management - CALS
-Computer Science - Engineering
-Development Sociology - CALS
-Education - CALS
-Electrical and Computer Engr - Engineering
-Engineering Management - Engineering
-Entomology - CALS
-Environmental & Resource Econ - CALS
-Environmental Sustainability - CALS
-Food Science - CALS
-Game Design - Engineering
-Horticulture - CALS
-ILR - ILR focuses on mission-driven organizations, inclusion for employees with disabilities, socially responsible businesses, leadership in the developing world, urban revitalization, fair labor standards – to name a few – that offer global sustainability learning outcomes. Programs, such as the Buffalo High Road, Global Service Learning, and Ithaca Co-lab program focus on economic sustainability, are key to the ILR curriculum.
-Intl Development Studies - CALS
-Intl Trade & Development - CALS
-Information Science - CALS
-Landscape Studies - CALS
-Marine Biology - CALS
-Mechanical Engineering - Engineering
-Materials Science and Engr - Engineering
-Nutrition and Health - CALS
-Operations Research & Mgmt Sci - Engineering
-Plant Breeding - CALS
-Science of Earth Systems - CALS & Engineering
-Soil Science - CALS
-Sustainable Energy Systems - Engineering
-Viticulture and Enology - CALS

Graduate:
-Aerospace Engineering - Engineering
-Agricultural Economics - CALS
-Agronomy - CALS
-American Indian & Indigenous - CALS
-American Indian Studies - CALS
-Animal Science - CALS
-Applied Economics & Management - CALS
-Applied Operations Research - Engineering
-Architectural Science - "Program objectives are (1) to afford an opportunity for students of architecture to expand their creative design potential by increasing their knowledge and understanding of environmental science and building technologies and (2) to provide a framework within which students who have graduated from other technical disciplines may explore computer science, computer graphics, and computer-aided design methods." (https://gradschool.cornell.edu/academics/fields-of-study/subject/architecture/architectural-science-ms-ithaca)
-Atmospheric Science - CALS & Engineering
-Behavioral Biology - CALS
-Biochemistry - CALS
-Biogeochemistry - CALS
-Biological & Environmental Engr - Engineering
-Biomedical Engineering - Engineering
-Biometry - CALS
-Biophysics - CALS
-Chemical Engineering - Engineering
-Civil & Environmental Engr - Engineering
-Communication - CALS
-Computational Biology - CALS
-Computational Science and Engr - Engineering
-Conserv & Sustainable Develop - CALS
-Conservation Biology - CALS
-DEA - Human Behavior & Design - "Research focuses on environmental settings across a range of scales (from products to buildings to cities), that support safe, healthy and productive behaviors and foster sustainable design and lifestyles." (http://dea.human.cornell.edu/phd-hbd)
-Design - "The M.A. in Design rests on the following basic premises: Individual and organizational behaviors are affected by the form of the environment. The users of environments are diverse and have different needs. Individual characteristics such as gender, stage in life cycle, family structure, role or task affect our environmental needs. How the goals and ideals of both the individual and the organization are translated into physical form; and what the designer's responsibility is to society." (http://dea.human.cornell.edu/m-a-design)
-Development Sociology - "The program examines a wide range of issues concerning processes and practices of social transformation both domestically and internationally, including: changes in labor markets, governance, community and civic organization, food production and distribution, migration, population patterns, environmental dynamics"(https://devsoc.cals.cornell.edu/graduate)
-Ecology - CALS
-Econ Dev Plan, Comm & Regions - "Economic development planning students acquire the analytical tools and practical skills to enable them to produce effective economic development policies and plans. They also gain perspective on sources of social inequalities and the politics of municipal finance as well as the ability to model different economic development approaches. Finally, they learn about how community and regional assets, such as those in social services as well as in the arts and culture, and can build healthy sustainable economies." (https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/crp/graduate/planning/mrp/concentrations/economic-development-planning)
-Education - CALS
-Electrical & Computer Engr - Engineering
-Electrical Engineering - Engineering
-Energy & Sustainability - CALS
-Engineering Management - Engineering
-Entomology - CALS
-Envir & Water Res Sys Engr - Engineering
-Envir Fluid Mech & Hydrology - Engineering
-Environ Information Science - CALS
-Environmental Policy - "MPA Fellows concentrating in Environmental Policy tailor their courses to gain an understanding of current economic, social, political, technical and legal issues regarding the restoration and management of our natural environment, as well as engineering, economic and legal perspectives for analyzing and formulating policy at the national, sub-national and international levels." (https://www.human.cornell.edu/cipa/academics/curriculum/concentrations/environmental)
-Environmental Processes - Engineering
-Environmental Quality - Engineering
-Evolutionary Biology - CALS
-Field Crop Science - CALS
-Food Science - CALS
-Food Science & Technology - CALS
-Genetics - CALS
-Geological Sciences - CALS
-Horticultural Biology - CALS
-Human Behavior and Design - "The Ph.D. in Human Behavior and Design at Cornell University is a multidisciplinary program integrating the social sciences and design. Research focuses on environmental settings across a range of scales (from products to buildings to cities), that support safe, healthy and productive behaviors and foster sustainable design and lifestyles." (http://dea.human.cornell.edu/phd-hbd)
-Human-Environment Relations - "The M.S. in Human Environment Relations major rests on the following basic premises: Individual and organizational behaviors are affected by the form of the environment. The users of environments are diverse and have different needs. Individual characteristics such as gender, stage in life cycle, family structure, role or task affect our environmental needs." (https://www.human.cornell.edu/dea/academics/graduate/msher)
ILR - New Conversations Project: Sustainable Labor Practices in Global Supply Chains (https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/news/new-approach)
-Immunology - Vet
-International Development - CALS
-Intrnl Agric and Rural Develp - CALS
-Landscape Architecture - CALS
-Materials Science and Engr - Engineering
-Mechanical Engineering - Engineering
-Microbiology - CALS
-Molecular & Cell Biology - CALS
-Natural Resources - CALS
-Neurobiology - CALS
-Nutrition - CALS
-Operations Research - Engineering
-Opers Research & Info Engr - Engineering
-Pharmacology - CALS
-Physiology - Vet
-Plant Biology - CALS
-Plant Breeding - CALS
-Plant Pathology - CALS
-Plant Protection - CALS
-Population & Development - CALS
-Regional Science - "Investigate subjects including: Urban and regional development, Economic geography, regional interaction, and institutional systems, The environment: systems and natural resource use, Land use, spatial agglomeration, and segregation of activities" (http://aap.cornell.edu/academics/crp/graduate/regional-science)
-Risk Analy, Commun & Policy - CALS
-Rural & Envir Sociology - CALS
-Soil & Crop Sciences - CALS
-Soil Science - CALS
-State, Economy & Society - CALS
-Sustainable Energy - CALS
-Systems - Engineering
-Systems Engineering - Engineering
-Transportation Systems Engr - Engineering
-Veterinary Medicine - Vet
-Water Resources - CALS
-Zoology - Vet
-Sustainable Global Enterprise - "Provides students with breadth and depth of knowledge related to the broad impact social and environmental issues present to firms across numerous industries." (http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Center-for-Sustainable-Global-Enterprise/Students/Curriculum)
-Veterinary Medicine- Vet

The College-wide learning outcomes were used to calculate the number of students that have sustainability included in their learning outcome. The numbers were provided by the Cornell University Factbook http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/university-factbook/graduation-and-degrees-conferred

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