DePaul University
ER-8: Sustainability Courses by Department

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. To provide consistency of sources drawn upon in this audit, the committee decided to draw on the Fall 2010 faculty survey and the collated data on learning outcomes. In the Fall 2010 survey,faculty identified courses from 41 different departments/programs as being sustainability-related and/or sustainability-focused. Learning outcomes were collected from 161 Departments and Programs at DePaul.