DePaul University
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification

At DePaul University, sustainability in the curriculum defines sustainability as the interrelationship between the economic, environmental and social; in particular, an awareness of “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” A sustainability-focused course/program incorporates sustainability as the key focus (including each of the economic, social,and/or environmental aspects of sustainability) throughout the course/program. A sustainability-related course/program incorporates sustainability by examining a specific issue, case, or topic using a sustainability perspective... [and/or] incorporates sustainability as a distinct course component/program module or concentrates on a single sustainability principle or issue.

Members of the committee compiled the courses that the faculty survey identified as “sustainability-focused” and “sustainability-related” in the Fall 2010 survey. Wherever possible, care was taken to eliminate multiple references to the same courses, or references to courses that could not be identified from DePaul’s current course catalog. This collation was completed on April 15, 2011.

The Process for Collecting Information: The Sustainability Initiatives Task (SITF) Force hired DePaul University’s Social Science Research Center to conduct a survey of full and part-time faculty in Fall 2010 on issues concerning sustainability in the curriculum. Data collected—based solely on the number of courses that survey respondents taught, not every DePaul course offered—was used to assess STAR credits 5–8 The resultant survey formed the basis for the work of the SITF’s committee on curriculum. In total, 395 faculty members completed the survey, a response rate of approximately 25%. The survey asked faculty (1) if they have taught any courses in the last three years that incorporated sustainability as the key focus, including the economic, social, and/or environmental aspects of sustainability, throughout the course [for sustainability-focused courses] and/or (2) if they taught any courses in the last three years that incorporated sustainability by examining a specific issue, case, or topic using a sustainability perspective [for sustainability-related courses]. If they answered yes to either question, they were asked to provide the course department, course number, course title, whether the course was cross-listed and if applicable, the cross-listed course department and course number.