Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 53.78
Liaison Lisa Mitten
Submission Date March 8, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

State University of New York at New Paltz
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 7.17 / 14.00 Lisa Mitten
Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Campus Sustainability
"---" 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 1,315 401
Number of sustainability courses offered 23 5
Number of courses offered that include sustainability 71 12

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
6.47

Total number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that offer courses (at any level):
32

Number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that offer at least one sustainability course and/or course that includes sustainability (at any level):
22

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
68.75

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?:
Two

A brief description of the methodology used to determine the total number of courses offered and to identify sustainability course offerings, including the definitions used and the process for reviewing and/or validating the course inventory :

To determine the total number of courses offered, we started with a list of all courses and course sections offered from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2018, including summer and winter courses. We excluded independent studies, thesis, practicums, fieldwork, and music courses, but included theater arts courses because one theater arts course includes sustainability content. If a course was offered multiple times over the two year period, we counted it as one course.

The guidance offered to faculty to identify sustainability courses included the following:

Sustainability courses include subject matter that contribute to understanding or solving a major sustainability challenge such as climate change, global poverty and inequality, natural resource depletion, and environmental degradation. To identify sustainability courses and research that contribute towards understanding or solving sustainability challenges, it is helpful to ask:
1. Does your course or research contribute towards realizing one or more of the principles outlined in the Earth Charter?
and/or
2. Does your course or research contribute towards achieving one or more of the targets embedded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

In the sustainability course form, we asked faculty whether the course included environmental, economic and/or social dimensions of sustainability. We also asked whether adaptation and resiliency was addressed. Courses that only included one of the three dimensions of sustainability were excluded. Courses that only focused on adaptation and resiliency or only on environmental dimensions and adaptation and resiliency were excluded from the inventory. Each description of the sustainability dimensions of the course were reviewed for fit.

Please note that the number of departments listed here differs from IC-3. This is because the Study Abroad program was not considered a traditional academic department in IC-3, but does offer one sustainability course, so we included it in this inventory as a department. We also included Study Abroad courses in the total count of courses offered.


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 (if different from the options outlined above):
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Are the following course types included in the inventory? :
Yes (included) or No (not included)
Internships No
Practicums No
Independent study No
Special topics Yes
Thesis / dissertation No
Clinical No
Physical education No
Performance arts Yes

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The number of academic departments included for this credit is 32 because we chose to include a course from the study abroad department, which was not counted as an academic department in IC-3.


The number of academic departments included for this credit is 32 because we chose to include a course from the study abroad department, which was not counted as an academic department in IC-3.

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.