University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

The campus has established five core learning outcomes that all students will achieve by graduation. Two specifically relate to sustainability and combine to address the field as a whole:

4: Social Awareness and Cultural Understanding
Definition: Illinois students will develop a critical and reflective orientation toward such social and cultural differences as race, indigeneity, gender, class, sexuality, language, and disability.

5: Global Consciousness
Definition: Illinois students will discover how complex, interdependent global systems—natural, environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political—affect and are affected by the local identities and ethical choices of individuals and institutions.

Two of the five core learning outcomes relate to sustainability; these objectives are embedded in student curricula and are achieved by graduation (see list above). The number above was calculated based on an estimate from the list of graduates from the attached sustainability programs.

As outlined in the iCAP 2020, many campus entities are driven to implement a sustainability component into their departments and courses; that being said, iSEE has taken a leadership role to enhance sustainability in academic courses and ensure that every student leaves our campus with a cohesive understanding of how to incorporate sustainability into their personal and professional lives. The School of Earth, System, and Environment, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, and the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences offer a variety of sustainability courses, minors, and majors.

iSEE Sustainability Minor:

Sustainability in day-to-day life
•Students will learn ways in which natural resources are used to produce what they consume, such as the food they eat, the water they drink, and the energy they use.
•Students will understand ways in which their lifestyle and well-being are interconnected with those of diverse producers and consumers around the world, including impoverished communities.

Sustainability knowledge and skills
•Students will learn core concepts of ecology and develop skills relevant to their chosen field to provide a basis for environmental sustainability.
•Students will learn to think holistically about sustainability using perspectives across multiple disciplines.

Sustainability as Personal Vision
•Students will understand relationships between global environmental and economic trends and their impact on diverse cultures and communities.
•Students will develop an integrated vision for sustainability that embraces their personal lives, professions, local communities, and the world-at-large.