Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 32.00
Liaison Kevin Moran
Submission Date May 22, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Drake University
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 9.52 / 14.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Figures required to calculate the percentage of courses offered by the institution that are sustainability course offerings:
Undergraduate Graduate
Total number of courses offered by the institution 1,187 492
Number of sustainability courses offered 49 1
Number of courses offered that include sustainability 143 20

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
12.69

Total number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that offer courses (at any level):
30

Number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that offer at least one sustainability course and/or course that includes sustainability (at any level):
20

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
66.67

A copy of the institution’s inventory of its sustainability course offerings and descriptions:
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
Three

A brief description of the methodology used to determine the total number of courses offered and to identify sustainability course offerings, including the definitions used and the process for reviewing and/or validating the course inventory :

For this part of STARS, we limited our scope to 28 academic departments instead of 30 academic departments reported in Institutional Characteristics section of the report. We excluded the music and theater department.


How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
Each offering or section of a course was counted as an individual course

A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted (if different from the options outlined above):

This section was completed by Drake's Sustainability Intern.

For this part of STARS, we limited our scope to 28 academic departments instead of 30 academic departments reported in Institutional Characteristics section of the report. We excluded the music and theater department.

The registrar's office provided spreadsheets of all courses taught at Drake University for three years prior. Specifically, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018. Each course catalog spreadsheet from the registrar contained information including instructor, enrollment, schedule, credit hours, term offered, course number, the course title, level of course, etc. In sorting this, the intern eliminated columns with information that were not applicable to the report. From there, each academic year was combined into a single spreadsheet and multiple sections of the same courses were filtered out. A separate course catalog with all course offerings and course descriptions was used to analyze the descriptions and determine whether the course met sustainability course criteria. Independent studies, internships, special topics courses, performances arts courses, clinical courses, and physical education courses were not included.

The course inventory is uploaded as an Excel Spreadsheet.

Sustainability courses and courses that include sustainability for this inventory were defined as follows:

-Sustainability Courses: Sustainability Courses Sustainability courses are courses in which the primary and explicit focus is on sustainability and/or on understanding or solving one or more major sustainability challenge. Foundational courses in which the primary and explicit focus is on sustainability as an integrated concept having social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Courses in which the primary and explicit focus is on the application of sustainability within a field. As sustainability is an interdisciplinary topic, such courses generally incorporate insights from multiple disciplines. Courses in which the primary focus is on providing skills and/or knowledge directly connected to understanding or solving one or more major sustainability challenges.

-Courses That Include Sustainability: A course that includes sustainability is primarily focused on a topic other than sustainability, but incorporates a unit or module on sustainability or a sustainability challenge, includes one or more sustainability-focused activities, or integrates sustainability issues throughout the course.


Are the following course types included in the inventory? :
Yes (included) or No (not included)
Internships No
Practicums Yes
Independent study No
Special topics No
Thesis / dissertation No
Clinical No
Physical education No
Performance arts No

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.