Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.29
Liaison Brandon Trelstad
Submission Date Dec. 23, 2020

STARS v2.2

Oregon State University
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 13.68 / 14.00 Leticia Cavazos
Sustainability Program Specialist
Sustainability Office
"---" 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 2,285 1,646
Number of sustainability-focused courses offered 458 337
Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered 179 117

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
27.75

Total number of academic departments that offer courses:
61

Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
52

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
85.25

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?:
One

A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :

We are using information from Fiscal Year 2019, which used nomenclature from STARS version 2.1. Therefore, courses marked in the Excel file (MasterFile_2019_STARS.xlsm) as sustainability courses (v2.1) will be referred as sustainability-focused courses (v2.2), and courses marked as courses that include sustainability (v2.1) will be referred as sustainability-inclusive courses (v2.2).

The process below was utilized to identify and categorize OSU's FY19 course inventory:

Process to select which courses to evaluate:
-Stage 1: Utilize online course catalog to identify all courses available in FY19
-Stage 2: Fully read syllabi that were not already evaluated for FY18
-Stage 3: Based on content of syllabi, determine if courses are sustainability-focused, sustainability-inclusive, or neither.

Process to evaluate and determine if courses were sustainability-focused or sustainability-inclusive:
-Step 1: Download course syllabus
-Step 2: Examine learning outcomes to determine if one or more learning outcomes address sustainability by discussing intersection of at least two of three sustainability aspects (environmental/economic/social). If at least one sustainability learning outcome is identified, then the course is marked as a sustainability-focused course
-Step 3: If no sustainability learning outcomes are identified, examine course content to determine if a sufficient proportion of the course directly addresses sustainability principles. Course content includes modules, assignments, labs, field work and sometimes other activities. If more than 50% of content directly addresses sustainability aspects or principles, then the course is marked as sustainability-focused. If less than 50% of content directly addresses sustainability aspects or principles, then the course is marked as sustainability-inclusive.

Methods to evaluate sustainability content and learning outcomes:
Conduct a complete review of syllabi content to determine the focus and content of each course, a more thorough method than reviewing course title and/or descriptions. STARS does not provide any universal metrics to evaluate if a title or description show explicit focus on sustainability. Further, course titles and/or descriptions typically do not adequately represent course content, or describe if a course indeed has a primary and explicit focus on the concept of sustainability or the interdependence of ecological systems and social/economic systems. Therefore, it is more thorough and appropriate to look fully at syllabi, where there is an explicit description of learning outcomes and/or the course's actual content. Course descriptions can be found in the syllabus of each course, and links to all syllabi are provided in the Excel file (MasterFile_2019_STARS.xlsm).

Reviewers used the following guidelines when evaluating content (learning outcomes, readings, assignments, labs, activities, etc.) to determined sustainability focus:
-Content must discuss two or more aspects of sustainability: Environmental Equity, Economic Equity, Social Equity
-Content must discuss two or more of the Earth Charter Principle categories.

Information was processed by Sustainability Office staff.


How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
Each course was counted as a single course regardless of the number of offerings or sections

A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted:
---

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:

An analysis of course listings was conducted for FY19.


An analysis of course listings was conducted for FY19.

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.