Knox College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Knox’s General Education Program has four components:
1. First Year Experience (FYE): First-Year Preceptorial and other curricular and co-curricular opportunities.
2. Elements: seven areas of study that cultivate the skills of liberal learning.
3. Civic Engagement: appreciation for the local and global contexts for learning.
4. Immersion/Active Inquiry: out-of-classroom, hands-on learning experiences.

Learning Goal for the FYE that are sustainability-supportive -
At the end of the first year, students will be able to understand their college as a place to explore new ideas and a safe environment in which to take intellectual and creative risks, encountering differing points of view with civility and respect and engaging with issues of power, inequity, and social justice.

Learning Goals for the Elements that are sustainability-supportive -
Analyze social, economic or political aspects of human behavior. Students who satisfy this Element will be able to analyze historical or contemporary patterns of individual or group behaviors and/or the social structures in which these behaviors are embedded.

Critically examine questions of power and inequity. Students who satisfy this Element will be able to a) Recognize and discuss issues of power and inequity in diverse human societies, b) Articulate ways that specific cultural perspectives and personal experiences shape individual reality, and c) Examine and critique cultural perspectives, including their own.

Expectations for Civic Engagement that are sustainability-supportive - Since its inception, Knox has held that an education should have social relevance. Throughout the curriculum and residential life, students are encouraged to develop broad interests in the social impact for their intellectual work. Whether in engagement with political institutions and matters of justice, the environment and sustainable impact of human activity, issues of power and equity as they relate to our diverse Knox community, and understanding social change in the wider world in which we operate, a Knox education emphasizes the importance of placing knowledge in local and global contexts.

The majors and minors including sustainability-focused learning outcomes were determined by examining learning objectives. Then the number of students graduating with each major/minor was calculated based.

Biology: Describe and explain the application and societal and environmental implications of biology in the world outside of the classroom;

Earth Science: Integrate an understanding of geology into an interdisciplinary context that incorporates societal issues and human interactions with the planet.

Environmental Studies: Describe and explain the ecological dimensions of human experience, Use an interdisciplinary approach to consider social, political and economic factors that impact our environment, Obtain and evaluate scientific knowledge using various methodologies found in environmentally-related fields, and Analyze imbalances in economic and political power in the allocation and accessibility of resources among the world’s people

Environmental Sciences: Explain the ecological dimensions of human experience, Use a scientific approach to consider the interactions between humans and our environment, Obtain and evaluate scientific knowledge using various methodologies found in environmentally-related fields, and Analyze imbalances in economic and political power in the allocation and accessibility of resources among the world’s people

The response for "Number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability" are all of the Majors and Minors awarded in 2019 in one of the three program level degrees that are mentioned in the Program Level Learning Outcomes section.