Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.41
Liaison Trevor Ledbetter
Submission Date Feb. 10, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

University of Arizona
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Joseph Abraham
N/A
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

None
Has the institution developed a definition of sustainability in the curriculum?:
Yes

None
A copy of the institution's definition of sustainability in the curriculum?:
Sustainability curriculum directly or indirectly addresses the responsible management and long-term viability of environmental, social, and economic systems such that the needs of future generations can be met. Sustainability-focused courses examine environmental, social and economic dimensions of a topic within the context of sustaining specific qualities over the long-term. Sustainability-related courses examine one or more dimensions of a topic within the same context but lack the holistic approach of focused courses This definition of sustainability and course definitions was determined through consultation with various departments across the University of Arizona campus. The definition is not yet formally adopted but incorporates the definitions of sustainability across academic departments on campus.

None
Has the institution identified its sustainability-focused and sustainability-related course offerings?:
Yes

None
A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the inventory:
The Office of Sustainability in cooperation with the Office of the Registrar and faculty members compiled a list of sustainability courses for the two year period of Spring 2009 to Spring 2011. The Registrar provided the Office of Sustainability with the active course catalog as well as a list of courses offered since Spring 2009 through Spring 2011. A graduate assistant analyzed both the catalog and the course offerings looking at titles and descriptions to determine if the courses are sustainability related or focused. Along with this data, academic departments were asked to forward lists of courses they felt were sustainability related or focused.

None
Does the institution make its sustainability course inventory publicly available online?:
Yes

None
The website URL where the sustainability course inventory is posted:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The University of Arizona Office of Sustainabiliy is collaborating with the University of Arizona Institute of the Environment to continue to update the Green Course Guide that the link provided above. The Green Course Guide overlaps with the Office of Sustainability's analysis; however the Green Course Guide is much smaller than the file provided for credit ER 6 and ER 7. The change in size is due to the narrower focus of the Green Course Guide. The Green Course Guide publishes sustainability courses related to primarily environmental sustainability which are included in the total number of sustainability courses.

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.