| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 71.15 |
| Liaison | Sarah Stoeckl |
| Submission Date | Aug. 1, 2023 |
University of Oregon
AC-1: Academic Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
12.86 / 14.00 |
Taylor
McHolm Prog. Dir Student Sustainbility CTR Student Life |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Part 1. Sustainability course offerings
| Undergraduate | Graduate | |
| Total number of courses offered by the institution | 8,258 | 4,206 |
| Number of sustainability-focused courses offered | 450 | 238 |
| Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered | 1,541 | 735 |
Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
23.78
Part 2. Sustainability course offerings by department
81
Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
59
Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
72.84
Documentation
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
Two
A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :
Course data comes from a list of all courses offered from Spring 2019 through Fall 2022. This data is from the Office of the Registrar, who ran the report with the date parameters we provided.
To apply a definition of "sustainability" (so that the courses could be coded as "sustainability-focused" or "sustainability-inclusive"), we used the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and their 5Ps: People; Planet; Prosperity; Peace; and, Partnerships. We evaluated whether a course took elements of these goals as its primary focus ("Sustainability-focused"), or to a lesser degree, if the course engaged the skills, concepts, practices, or ideas fundamental to achieving these development goals ("sustainability-inclusive").
Foundational courses and specific tool courses (eg, chemistry or GIS), were not counted as sustainability focused or inclusive unless sustainability challenges were specifically integrated into the course.
Once compiled, we used excel pivot tables to identify the number of "focused" and "inclusive" courses for graduate and undergraduates. We also used pivot tables to identify the number of unique departments that offer either a "focus" or "inclusive" course.
To reduce the extremely arduous process of reviewing over 12,000 courses, this year we use R code to compare our current course dataset to the previous dataset of our last submission (Fall of 2017AY to Winter of 2019AY).
R code used in STARS Courses Update - Fall 2022 parsed courses that had already been reviewed for sustainability content (i.e., courses that were offered during both time spans: Fall 2017 through Winter 2019 and Spring 2019 through Fall 2022) from courses that had not yet been reviewed as such (i.e., courses that were offered from Spring 2019 through Fall 2022 but not from Fall 2017 through Winter 2019).
The courses that needed reviewing were provided to Student Sustainability Center professional staff, who reviewed and classified them regarding sustainability content. Those data were then combined, using the R code, with previously reviewed courses to compute STARS-relevant metrics for the Spring 2019 through Fall 2022 time frame.
Finally, in order to ensure data accuracy, Dr. Taylor McHolm reviewed the courses marked as "Inclusive" and "Focused."
To apply a definition of "sustainability" (so that the courses could be coded as "sustainability-focused" or "sustainability-inclusive"), we used the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and their 5Ps: People; Planet; Prosperity; Peace; and, Partnerships. We evaluated whether a course took elements of these goals as its primary focus ("Sustainability-focused"), or to a lesser degree, if the course engaged the skills, concepts, practices, or ideas fundamental to achieving these development goals ("sustainability-inclusive").
Foundational courses and specific tool courses (eg, chemistry or GIS), were not counted as sustainability focused or inclusive unless sustainability challenges were specifically integrated into the course.
Once compiled, we used excel pivot tables to identify the number of "focused" and "inclusive" courses for graduate and undergraduates. We also used pivot tables to identify the number of unique departments that offer either a "focus" or "inclusive" course.
To reduce the extremely arduous process of reviewing over 12,000 courses, this year we use R code to compare our current course dataset to the previous dataset of our last submission (Fall of 2017AY to Winter of 2019AY).
R code used in STARS Courses Update - Fall 2022 parsed courses that had already been reviewed for sustainability content (i.e., courses that were offered during both time spans: Fall 2017 through Winter 2019 and Spring 2019 through Fall 2022) from courses that had not yet been reviewed as such (i.e., courses that were offered from Spring 2019 through Fall 2022 but not from Fall 2017 through Winter 2019).
The courses that needed reviewing were provided to Student Sustainability Center professional staff, who reviewed and classified them regarding sustainability content. Those data were then combined, using the R code, with previously reviewed courses to compute STARS-relevant metrics for the Spring 2019 through Fall 2022 time frame.
Finally, in order to ensure data accuracy, Dr. Taylor McHolm reviewed the courses marked as "Inclusive" and "Focused."
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:
Only counted once.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Per the STARS Technical Manual guidance, we made the following decisions:
- Courses for which the course title and/or description indicate a primary and explicit focus on sustainability (pursuant to the UN Sustainability Development Goals) were marked as "Focused."
- Courses for which the course title and/or description did not explicitly focus on sustainability but clearly incorporate sustainability challenges, issues, and concepts in a prominent way, were marked as "Inclusive."
- Special topics courses that are not offered on an ongoing basis were included in the course offerings. If there was enough information present to make a determination, courses were evaluated as either "Sustainability-Focused" or "Sustainability-Inclusive" (per the evaluation process above). If there was not enough information in the course title or description to positively determine that the course was "focused" or "inclusive," the course was "Not Sustainability Related." Due to the volume of coruses, there was no effort to reach out to departments to add additional details.
- Courses that do not relate to sustainability per the above guidelines were colored blue and marked as "Not Sustainability Related."
Data Standards
Following the technical manual, the following decisions were made to limit the data set:
- Required courses for which content is directed by external bodies (eg, legally mandated courses on research ethics) were excluded (marked as "Do not Qualify") from the total course count.
- Courses that are strictly practice-oriented (such as PE and performance courses) were excluded (marked as "Do not Qualify") from the total course count.
- Individually directed courses (Readings, thesis credits, dissertation credits, practicum, independent study, etc) were marked as "Do not Qualify." These courses were excluded from the total count of courses offered.
- In instances where the same course is offered multiple times in a quarter (for example, WR 121, which is the college writing requirement), the course was only counted as offered ONCE that quarter.
- In instances where the same course is offered multiple times in an academic year (for example, ENVS 201, which is offered in the Fall and the Spring), the course is counted multiple times.
- Courses for which the course title and/or description indicate a primary and explicit focus on sustainability (pursuant to the UN Sustainability Development Goals) were marked as "Focused."
- Courses for which the course title and/or description did not explicitly focus on sustainability but clearly incorporate sustainability challenges, issues, and concepts in a prominent way, were marked as "Inclusive."
- Special topics courses that are not offered on an ongoing basis were included in the course offerings. If there was enough information present to make a determination, courses were evaluated as either "Sustainability-Focused" or "Sustainability-Inclusive" (per the evaluation process above). If there was not enough information in the course title or description to positively determine that the course was "focused" or "inclusive," the course was "Not Sustainability Related." Due to the volume of coruses, there was no effort to reach out to departments to add additional details.
- Courses that do not relate to sustainability per the above guidelines were colored blue and marked as "Not Sustainability Related."
Data Standards
Following the technical manual, the following decisions were made to limit the data set:
- Required courses for which content is directed by external bodies (eg, legally mandated courses on research ethics) were excluded (marked as "Do not Qualify") from the total course count.
- Courses that are strictly practice-oriented (such as PE and performance courses) were excluded (marked as "Do not Qualify") from the total course count.
- Individually directed courses (Readings, thesis credits, dissertation credits, practicum, independent study, etc) were marked as "Do not Qualify." These courses were excluded from the total count of courses offered.
- In instances where the same course is offered multiple times in a quarter (for example, WR 121, which is the college writing requirement), the course was only counted as offered ONCE that quarter.
- In instances where the same course is offered multiple times in an academic year (for example, ENVS 201, which is offered in the Fall and the Spring), the course is counted multiple times.
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.