San Jose State University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

The surveys were sent out to randomly selected classes that were offered within every department within the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters. We used a random number generator to select one course within each SJSU department to identify “sample points” within the student population. To observe the change over time, we began by distributing the survey to freshmen who have not been exposed to sustainability topics directly through SJSU. We then distributed the survey to seniors who had been attending the university for multiple years. We compared the results to understand how sustainability topics were understood as students progressed through the university and what areas made a particular improvement.

Q3. During your academic career, have you taken sustainability-related or -focused coursework during your academic career at SJSU?
Q4. During your time at SJSU, have you taken any courses or participated in any organizations that participated in sustainability or environmental action?
Q7. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Q10. What is the average total home water use for each person in the U.S.
Q11. SJSU is located on the traditional territory of what Native American tribe?
Q13. Pollutants from a coal-fired power plant include all of the following except
Q14. What is the mathematical relationship between average global surface temperature and atmospheric CO2 levels?

The Qualtrics survey was sent out to the randomly selected faculty members that were randomly selected from each department and were encouraged to share the survey with the students of the indicated class.

The results from the cultural assessment were quite astonishing. First, it is clearly evident that as students progress in their academic careers, they have either consciously or unconsciously improved their common knowledge regarding topics such as GHG emissions, pollutants, and resource consumption. Seniors, on average, correctly answered more questions regarding carbon emissions and resource consumption in comparison to their freshman counterparts. One surprising thing to note was that the level of awareness for green initiatives on campus at SJSU was actually higher for freshmen in comparison to seniors. This may be due to the increased involvement from the university to actively promote all of the ways in which the campus is actively looking to have a smaller environmental impact. Regardless, it is evident through surveys like these, that the topic of sustainability is continuously becoming more and more important to new students and that the field will continue to rapidly integrate with all parts of our society.