University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

The College of Arts and Sciences is home to all of the University’s first-year and second-year students, and more than 75% of juniors and seniors. Its "mission is to create knowledge and discover innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, to educate outstanding undergraduate and graduate students, and to encourage faculty, staff and students to contribute meaningfully to North Carolina, the nation and the world." The College of Arts and Sciences General Education Curriculum and Degree Requirements emphasize "Making Critical Connections," the theme of the University's Quality Enhancement Plan. As part of the Connections requirement, all undergraduate students must take a Global Issues course. Courses in Global Issues provide knowledge and understanding of transnational connections and global forces. Those forces involve interrelationships among cultures, societies, nations, and other social units, and they include processes such as migration, urbanization, trade, diplomacy, cultural adaptation, and information flow. Environmental, social, and economic systems and practices are covered in 29% of the Global Issues courses offered. Thus, approximately 29% of undergraduates take a sustainability course as part of their graduation requirement.. Examples of Global Issues courses that are also Sustainability courses include ANTH 61 Deep Economies, ANTH 540 Planetary Crises and Ecological and Cultural Transitions, ENEC 201 Introduction to Environment and Society, GEOG 450 Population, Development, and the Environment; PLCY 51 The Global Environment in the 21st Century; POLI 254 International Environmental Politics So as not to double count, and because the registrar's office is unable to identify and delete duplicates, the learning outcomes associated with undergraduate majors and minors were then excluded from the totals reported. Over the three-year period ending summer 2016, UNC graduated 13,725 undergraduate students. Each of those students took a global issues course, 29% of which are sustainability courses. Thus, 3,995 undergraduate students took a course with a sustainability learning outcome. In addition, 1,767 graduate students earned a degree that required a sustainability learning outcome. The total number of graduates over that three-year period from all academic programs was 24,158. The percentage of students who graduated with a sustainability learning outcome was 23.85. ((5762+1767)/24158) = 23.85%

MBA Sustainable Enterprise Concentration: This concentration applies across functional areas and industries. Students taking it will learn how to craft strategies that help companies pursue a triple bottom line of profits, society and the environment. The result is often unique market solutions that leapfrog the competition or help firms to enter new markets with products better suited to long term growth. Concentration Requirements Sustainable Enterprise Electives (7.5 credits needed) Sustainable Operations The Energy Value Chain Systems Thinking for Sustainable Enterprise New Urbanism, Smart Growth and Sustainable Community Development Innovations in Green Building Corporate Environmental Strategy Leadership Strategies for Sustainability Corporate Sustainability in Global Contexts Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility International Development: Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Market Failures Social Entrepreneurship Social Innovations Lab Global Immersion Elective - Sustainability Theme Gender and the Workplace Managing Workplace Diversity MCRP & PhD City and Regional Planning Carolina Planning is at the heart of collaboration and innovation in economic, housing, community development, transportation, land use and environmental planning that shapes our cities and regions in the world. Master’s Degree students must specialize it at least one field offered in the curriculum. Each specialization emphasizes equity, environmental quality, economic viability, and social participation and grapples with the interconnections among these dimensions of sustainability. All Environmental Sciences and Public Health Graduate students (following) are required to take ENVR 600 Environmental Health which is a sustainability course MS in Environmental Sciences and Engineering Competencies: - Develop a depth of knowledge in one area within environmental sciences and engineering - Conduct original research in environmental sciences and engineering - Analyze, interpret and explain the results of original research - Review and synthesize a body of research literature - Obtain broad exposure to contemporary issues in environmental sciences, environmental health and environmental engineering - Demonstrate written and oral communication skills related to environmental sciences and engineering - Develop an understanding of basic concepts of public health MSPH in Environmental Sciences and Engineering Competencies: - Demonstrate broad knowledge in the core fields of public health and familiarity with public health practice. - Identify and evaluate the relationships between sources of environmental contaminants and processes that affect their movement, fate and health effects in the environment and human systems. - Conduct original research in the environmental health sciences. - Analyze, interpret and explain the results of original research. - Explain and analyze the relationships between scientific knowledge, exposure, risk assessment, environmental management and environmental policy. - Demonstrate written and oral communication skills related to environmental sciences and engineering issues within a public health context. - Show broad exposure to contemporary issues in environmental sciences, environmental health and environmental engineering. MPH & MS & PhD Public Health -- Health Behavior and Health Education In the Department of Health Behavior, students develop the skills they need to be community change agents for issues they care about, including violence, obesity, cancer, HIV, policy change and disparities that undermine public health locally and globally. MPH & MS & PhD & Offsite Public Health -- Health Policy and Management Our top-ranked Department of Health Policy and Management trains leaders in management, policy making, and research to address the complex challenges of health-care delivery and produce cutting-edge research. We prepare our students to contribute to improve population health both domestically and globally. We are committed to ensuring that all people, irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, geographic origin, religion or economic resources, have access to high-quality health-care services. HPM has nearly 450 students enrolled in certificate, undergraduate and graduate programs. Our 40 full-time faculty members are experts in finance, economics, sociology, decision science, informatics, management and health policy. Additionally, over 130 adjunct faculty members, with wide-ranging practice experience, contribute to teaching and learning. MPH & MS & PhD Public Health -- Maternal and Child Health Our research strengths include: - Developing a strong evidence base to improve health policies, programs and practices for women and children, locally and globally; - Working in interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative solutions for addressing health disparities among women and children; - Using innovative approaches, including implementation science, to support the successful implementation of proven women’s and children’s interventions at scale; and - Using quantitative and qualitative methods to improve the health of women, children and families in North Carolina, the nation and the world. BS & MPH & MS & PhD Public Health – Nutrition The Department of Nutrition is currently recognized as a global leader in research and training, and is unique in that it is the only one in the U.S. that is situated in both a school of public health and a school of medicine. We engage in innovative work that capitalizes on both these schools’ historical approaches to health, and thus our department has an unusual breadth of scientific and policy approaches, literally spanning from cell to society, moving from discovery to delivery. The work of department faculty and students is carried out throughout North Carolina and spans the globe to communities and populations in China, India, Malawi, Spain and The Philippines, MPH & MS & PhD & Certificate Public Health -- Public Health Leadership The Public Health Leadership Program (PHLP) works to prepare public health practitioners for leadership positions by developing population-level knowledge and skills with an interdisciplinary emphasis. Building upon varied professional experience, students learn collaboratively to assess community health needs, develop innovative policies and programs and assure that new systems are maintained and improved. Our strengths include: - Health politics and policy, health outcomes and models of care delivery; - Screening and harms of screening, including over-diagnosis; - Prevention and reduction of cardiovascular risks and disease; - Integration of primary care and public health; - Quality improvement; - Hazards and protection of health care workers; - Ethical issues in occupational health; and - Public health systems and services research. MPH & MSPH & MSCR & PhD Public Health -- Epidemiology Our Department of Epidemiology is one of the world’s leading academic departments in epidemiology. Faculty provide students with training in effective research practices and methods. We conduct innovative research and provide classroom and real world educational interdisciplinary opportunities that emphasize the integration of substantive area knowledge and cutting-edge epidemiologic methods. We also work with our students to apply their epidemiology research to a variety of health problems here in North Carolina and across the world. Our research resources include diverse studies of disease endpoints (cancer, cardiovascular, infectious disease, injury, and Reproductive/perinatal/pediatric epidemiology) and factors and methods that impact patterns of disease and population health (environmental, occupational, pharmacoepidemiology, genetic, social, and methods). MPH & MS & PhD Public Health – Biostatistics Members of our faculty are interested both in development of statistical methodology and application of statistics in applied research. Our research strengths include: - Development of new statistical methods to address pressing issues in medicine and public health sciences; - Design of innovative clinical trials that allow faster evaluation of new therapeutic agents; - Collaborative work focused upon important public health concerns, including infectious diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and drinking water safety; and - Utilization of strong quantitative skills to improve the health of human beings around the globe. MA and PhD Anthropology Anthropology is the integrative study of human beings at all times and in all places. Anthropological expertise has special application for hidden histories and the ancient past; the intersection of human biology and ecology; and the way communities create and use meaning, values and history in everyday life. We support studies, research, and professional applications in these areas with three programs of foundational training: Archaeology; Human Biology, Ecology and Evolution; and Sociocultural Anthropology. Cross cutting these specializations, the department supports concentrations that integrate anthropology’s diverse expertise to address contemporary world problems. Current concentrations focus on: Food, Environment and Sustainability; Health, Medicine, and Humanity; Global Engagement; Race, Place and Power; and Heritage and Unwritten Histories. MS & PhD Ecology The Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology is a multidisciplinary, degree-granting program that seeks to foster an understanding and appreciation of ecological systems and to demonstrate the value of ecological approaches to the solution of current and future environmental problems. With the participation of faculty and students from many disciplines and departments, emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary activities that explicitly consider the complexity of the environment and integrated approaches to problem identification and solution. In particular, it seeks to foster an understanding and appreciation of ecological systems, human and nonhuman, and to demonstrate the value of ecological approaches to the solution of current and future environmental problems. MS & PhD Marine Sciences Marine Sciences strives to describe, understand, and predict the interactive processes that regulate marine systems and connect these to the other components of the Earth System, to quantify change in marine systems and assess its consequences for humans and other organisms, and to inform the decisions of policy makers, legislators and the people of North Carolina to achieve optimal protection for and utilization of our marine resources. To achieve this mission, we carry out field-based observational work and innovative modeling and laboratory studies, all of which involve undergraduate and graduate students as integral members of our research teams MA, PhD Geography Geography is the science of space, place, and environment. Geographic inquiry is global and local, inherently interdisciplinary, and offers skills that enable insights into pressing issues valued by employers and policy makers. Geographers work in the areas of social, health, and environmental policy; energy, transportation, economic development, and tourism planning; urban and regional planning; research and education; community development; resource management; and environmental regulation and modeling. Student Learning Outcomes: - Apply current research methods in geography - Construct a coherent, logical research approach to examine a question of geographic significance - Analyze a geographic landscape and discuss the human and physical influences that have helped create it Departmental research specializations include: - Biophysical Geography and Earth Systems Science. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers examine the biophysical environment as an integrated system, emphasizing the linkages and feedbacks between terrestrial and atmospheric form and function. The focus is on the interactions between the structure and composition of the earth's surface, its soils and vegetation, and the atmosphere with those processes that actively cycle energy and material through them. - Culture, Society, and Space. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers investigate the intersection of space, place, landscape, and region with social and cultural processes, including issues of identity and representation, spatio-temporalities of social belonging and exclusion, and the production and circulation of value and values. This work encompasses a diversity of methodological approaches, scales, and concerns, from urban dynamics and symbolic spaces to rural landscapes, agrarian and industrial change, and social geographies of race, class, gender, health, and religion. - Geographic Information and Analysis. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers apply geographic information sciences as an integrated set of spatial digital technologies to investigate biophysical and social phenomena. They use and develop tools, techniques, concepts, and data sets associated with geographic information systems, remote sensing, data visualization, global positioning systems, spatial analysis, and quantitative methods. - Globalization and International Development. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers study the consequences of processes of globalization (and the anti-globalization and global justice movements they stimulate); international development and its effects on the geographies of international and local capital, labor, technology, information, goods and services; postsocialism, political economy, political geography and geopolitics, and political ecology. - Nature-Society Studies and Human-Environment Interactions. Drawing on analytical and theoretical perspectives from ecology, socioecological systems, political ecology, science studies, and cultural studies, UNC–Chapel Hill geographers investigate the social contexts, drivers, and consequences of environmental change and struggles over land use and resources.