Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	66.40
Liaison	Austin Sutherland
Submission Date	Feb. 21, 2018
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Pennsylvania
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	5.39 / 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	1,907	1,859
Number of sustainability courses offered	69	71
Number of courses offered that include sustainability	120	142

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:

10.67

Part 2

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

326

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:

16.87

Course Inventory

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

2018 Update_Courses (2) (1).xlsx

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

One

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 :

Penn’s Sustainability Course Inventory is a listing of the sustainability courses that the University of Pennsylvania offers. The Inventory is updated every routinely, and is available on-line through the Penn Sustainability website. The Inventory will be updated during 2018 fiscal year. See https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/course-inventory. While not an exhaustive list of all the sustainability courses at Penn, the "Inventory" was created in an attempt to capture the majority of courses across Departments and Schools that address environmental sustainability specifically, and to be used as a guide by students and advisers looking for courses and departments that include sustainability-themed instruction. The "Inventory", therefore may not include many of Penn's courses that focus primarily on such sustainability-related topics as social justice, social equity, business ethics, or governance. The "Inventory" was compiled by searching for keywords in course titles, and also from direct input from professors and academic partners. It is organized alphabetically by school and department. The "Inventory" is shared with the Office of the Provost, College House advisers, undergraduate advisers from Penn's four undergraduate schools, and the Penn Admissions Office.

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):

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Are the following course types included in the inventory? :

	Yes (included) or No (not included)
Internships	No
Practicums	No
Independent study	No
Special topics	Yes
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.sustainability.upenn.edu/sustainability-themes/learning-sustainability

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The University of Pennsylvania is a major research institution, with over 3,000 degrees granted annually from twelve professional and academic schools at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels. Penn is committed to teaching environmental sustainability, with a goal to make climate change and sustainability part of the curriculum and educational experience available to all Penn students. (Penn's 2009 "Climate Action Plan".). This submission documents Penn's efforts during the FY17 year and compares them to the FY14 baseline year which corresponds with the University's "Climate Action Plan. 2.0". The submission relies on information related to the main, academic, West Philadelphia campus, but to more fully document efforts across the Penn system, information related to the Morris Arboretum and New Bolton has also been referenced and noted as outside the boundary in descriptions. The information is used to enrich examples of University efforts and is not intended to be the primary justification for credits. The responses for each of the questions and sub-questions are drawn from University materials, both internal and public documents. Each section notes the website where the information can be found.