Pacific University
AC-1: Academic Courses

We have a faculty committee that designates courses that meet our student learning outcomes for sustainability. Courses must prepare students, and assess learning upon the following. Upon completion of this requirement students will be able to: evaluate sustainability issues and solutions using an approach that focuses on the intersections between complex human and natural systems. describe the three aspects of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) and give examples of how at least two of the three are interrelated. articulate how sustainability relates to their lives as community members, workers and individuals and how their actions impact sustainability. Data compiled for courses that include an element of sustainability were taken from the active course catalog, supplied by the Academic Registrar. This represents courses that have been taught once in the last three years. In order to be included (381 UG, 91 G) course catalog descriptions had to indicate content that met one lens of sustainability: environmental, social/cultural, or economic. Classes that "include sustainability" were evaluated by using the course catalog, and stated program outcomes of each major/department that contributed courses to the review. At the UG level, courses were evaluated against our undergraduate core designations, looking for those courses that included civic engagement, international and diverse perspectives, our natural world, or language/culture. Our institutional definition of sustainability is committed to equity and inclusion, and thus courses that focused on this framework were included at the UG and Graduate level-- including our programs that focused on underserved and rural populations, and ELL. At the Graduate level ncluded is differentiation is courses that address intercultural competence, The development of intercultural competence is a key component of Pacific's commitment to cultivate graduates who are motivated and prepared to contribute to the global community. All undergraduate students meet a second language proficiency requirement as well as an “international or diverse perspectives” course requirement toward this goal, and graduate programs similarly integrate intentional programming. To provide direct evidence of students’ achievement in this domain, Pacific is implementing the universal use of a common, nationally-validated AAC&U VALUE assessment rubric for intercultural competence, with a Level 3 proficiency goal representing the second highest threshold for sophistication.

Data compiled for courses that include an element of sustainability were taken from the active course catalog, supplied by the Academic Registrar. This represents courses that have been taught once in the last three years. In order to be included (381 UG, 91 G) course catalog descriptions had to indicate content that met one lens of sustainability: environmental, social/cultural, or economic. Classes that "include sustainability" were evaluated by using the course catalog, and stated program outcomes of each major/department that contributed courses to the review. At the UG level, courses were evaluated against our undergraduate core designations, looking for those courses that included civic engagement, international and diverse perspectives, our natural world, or language/culture. Our institutional definition of sustainability is committed to equity and inclusion, and thus courses that focused on this framework were included at the UG and Graduate level-- including our programs that focused on underserved and rural populations, and ELL. Included is differentiation is courses that address intercultural competence, The development of intercultural competence is a key component of Pacific's commitment to cultivate graduates who are motivated and prepared to contribute to the global community. All undergraduate students meet a second language proficiency requirement as well as an “international or diverse perspectives” course requirement toward this goal, and graduate programs similarly integrate intentional programming. To provide direct evidence of students’ achievement in this domain, Pacific is implementing the universal use of a common, nationally-validated AAC&U VALUE assessment rubric for intercultural competence, with a Level 3 proficiency goal representing the second highest threshold for sophistication.