Stanford University
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Sustainability as a learning outcome for all students is specifically listed as one of the driving principles at Stanford, as directed by former Stanford Provost John Etchemendy. The Provost instituted this institution-level sustainability learning outcome in January 2017. See details here: http://sustainable.stanford.edu/about/principles

Stanford's Institutional Research & Decision Support team provides publicly available data on degrees conferred by academic year. See details here: https://irds.stanford.edu/data-findings/degrees-conferred

The most recent results from academic year 2021 were analyzed.

The Office of Sustainability analyzes the degrees conferred datasets and determines which degrees are sustainability related. The attached list shows degree programs that include sustainability as a learning outcome as part of the process of earning that specific degree. These departments champion sustainability above and beyond the level of other departments on campus. However, students are also exposed to sustainability through many other avenues at Stanford, including introductory seminars, general education courses, campus as a living lab opportunities, and more.

The data reported and analyzed for both the numerator and denominator metrics includes only the 'predominant student body,' which is the undergraduate and graduate student populations.

Even for degree programs that were marked as sustainably-focused in the AC-3 or AC-4 credit categories, those credit categories are based on program information that was current as of March 2022 when the STARS report was submitted. Our team took an extra step to confirm the program requirements reported in this Learning Outcomes credit included sustainability for the specific performance period being evaluated in this submission (AY2021). The complete Course Catalog for AY2021 is available in the 'Additional Documentation' upload.

Please note that the perceived 'decrease' in the number of students between the prior STARS submission in 2019 and this latest STARS submission is partially because the doctoral student counts (~1000 students) were inadvertently included in the 2019 submission; doctoral students are not included in this 2022 submission. Additionally, our team used a much more critical lens in evaluating the Learning Outcomes and potential courses considered to count the programs with sustainability as a Learning Outcome in Part 2 of this credit. The strong sustainability keywords we have opted to use to justify counting the programs as sustainable are: ecological, ecology, sustainability, environment, environmental, climate, earth system, and conservation. As another example of our more critical analysis, a program was not counted as having sustainability as a Learning Outcome if a sustainability course was optional rather than being required.