Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	68.81
Liaison	Christa Rieck
Submission Date	Jan. 4, 2019
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Houston
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	9.10 / 14.00

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1

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	3,276	4,137
Number of sustainability courses offered	20	46
Number of courses offered that include sustainability	232	277

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:

7.76

Part 2

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

None

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

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:

90.74

Course Inventory

A copy of the institution’s inventory of its sustainability course offerings and descriptions:

UH AASHE COURSELIST 2018.xlsx

Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:

Three

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 :

The Office of Sustainability’s staff searched the institution’s master courselist for possible courses that either included sustainability or were a sustainable course. The first step was comparing current courses to the list of confirmed courses from the 2015 AASHE STARS reporting. Next, staff compiled classes that could fit AASHE’s definitions through an intensive keyword search of both course titles and descriptions. These possible courses were then sent to various departments, and courses were removed or added at the discretion of faculty and staff. The Office also reached out to students in various degrees and programs about courses that could be considered sustainable. After feedback was collected, Office staff reviewed courses again. In addition to this, courses counted as Internships, Practicums, Independent Study, Special Topics, Thesis/Dissertation, Clinical, Physical Education, or Performance Arts were not counted in the inventory, and marked by a keyword including exact words and abbreviations.

How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:

Each offering or section of a course was counted as an individual course

A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted (if different from the options outlined above):

See above

Are the following course types included in the inventory? :

	Yes (included) or No (not included)
Internships	No
Practicums	No
Independent study	No
Special topics	No
Thesis / dissertation	No
Clinical	No
Physical education	No
Performance arts	No

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:

https://www.uh.edu/af-university-services/sustainability/academics/sustainability-courses/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The total number of courses is the total number of courses in the university's academic catalog. Although we counted courses with multiple offerings in the total count, internships, practica, etc., those courses were not necessarily represented in the sustainability course inventory due to insufficient evidence demonstrating those courses' sustainability relevance. However, many selected topics courses were counted when course descriptions or syllabuses could provide proof of sustainability content in the curriculum.