| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 50.27 |
| Liaison | Jessica Thompson |
| Submission Date | Feb. 18, 2020 |
Northern Michigan University
AC-1: Academic Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
10.21 / 14.00 |
Sarah
Mittlefehldt Professor Earth, Environmental & Geographical Sciences |
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 | 1,392 | 200 |
| Number of sustainability-focused courses offered | 31 | 1 |
| Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered | 143 | 19 |
Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
Total number of academic departments that offer courses:
Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
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?:
A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :
In 2016, members of the Sustainability Advisory Council contacted the heads of all departments on campus and requested time to present information about STARS and to request information about course offerings, research, and engagement at one of their upcoming department meetings. We were able to meet with nearly all departments and gave a 15-20 minute talk about the STARS process and the information we needed from them about sustainability and “sustainability-related courses.” This process provided a fruitful conversation about the value of sustainability in our curriculum, and we were delightfully surprised by the number of faculty who reported that they teach sustainability-related topics in their courses and work on sustainability challenges in their research.
After we presented and discussed the STARS process and AASHE’s definition of sustainability at department meetings, we had faculty members take a questionnaire that contained the information we needed for the Academics and Research and Engagement sections. We then compiled this information into a comprehensive inventory that will be useful to the University not only for the purposes of STARS, but for future sustainability planning efforts on campus.
In 2019, the Sustainability Advisory Council sent a survey out to all NMU faculty members to ask about sustainability-related coursework, research, and outreach. We added these data to our existing Excel spreadsheet from 2016. Members of the Sustainability Advisory Council verified that the sustainability courses identified in 2016 had been offered in the past three years by working with the Registrar's Office and looking at online bulletins of course offerings since 2017. Members of the Sustainability Advisory Council also reached out to individual faculty members who teach courses on the list to get more details about how they incorporate sustainability principles and practices in their courses.
How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted:
We simply counted each course once, even if there were multiple offerings.The total number of courses offered included years from Fall 2017 through Winter 2020.
Website URL where information about the sustainability course offerings is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.