| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.51 |
| Liaison | Aurora Sharrard |
| Submission Date | Feb. 28, 2021 |
University of Pittsburgh
AC-1: Academic Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.21 / 14.00 |
David
Sanchez Asst. Prof/Assist. Director Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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 | 3,839 | 4,875 |
| Number of sustainability-focused courses offered | 31 | 38 |
| Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered | 227 | 140 |
Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
Total number of academic departments that offer courses:
Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
A copy of the institution’s inventory of its sustainability course offerings and descriptions:
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :
The University of Pittsburgh’s approach to this credit was led by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI) with TWO methods. The courses for both methods were compiled together to give the final numbers.
FIRST METHOD: Rigorous Assessment - Led by Dr. David Sanchez, Assistant Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, where he serves as the Academic Director for both the university-wide Sustainability Certificate and the MS in Sustainable Engineering program. Dr. Sanchez is also on the Sustainability Transcript Distinction committee – and reviewed the following along with MCSI’s Sustainability Engagement Assistant and interns:
• Course lists across 124 departments and descriptions from 2019-20 academic course catalog
• List of courses with either the Sustainability-Focused or Sustainability-Related course attribute
• One-on-one faculty reviews discussing course content for their specific class.
This in-depth approach identified a total of 218 university-wide sustainability course offerings, some of which have either the Sustainability-Focused or Sustainability-Related Attribute codes.
RESULTS OF THE FIRST METHOD: For undergraduates, there were 31 Sustainability-Focused courses and 104 Sustainability-Related courses. For graduate courses, there were 25 courses with the Sustainability-Focused attribute code and 58 courses with the Sustainability-Related attribute code.
SECOND METHOD: Given the relative newness of the University’s sustainability attribute code offerings (first launched in mid- Fall 2019 (after Spring 2020 courses were already open for registration), the second step was for cross-referencing the list generated in Step #1 above with a previously generated list of sustainability-inclusive courses generated by MCSI Interns referencing the course catalog. Once the combination list was de-duplicated, practicum and special topic courses removed (as they were also not in entire course count), a total of 436 Sustainability-Focused, Related, and Inclusive courses were identified (and are the total numbers included in the numbers reported above).
FINAL NUMBERS: At the undergraduate level, there are 31 total sustainability-focused courses and 227 sustainability-inclusive courses.
At the graduate level, there are 38 total sustainability-focused courses and 140 sustainability-inclusive courses.
How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted:
Each course offering with a unique course number was counted. A course offering that had multiple sections was counted once.
Website URL where information about the sustainability course offerings is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
+ 2019-2020 Course Catalog,
+ List of courses with Sustainability course Attributes,
+Inventory of specific sustainability course syllabi.
+Pitt Sustainability Course Attributes Codes (fully documented under Credit IN-38): https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/course-attribute-sustainability/
+ 2019-2020 Course Catalog,
+ List of courses with Sustainability course Attributes,
+Inventory of specific sustainability course syllabi.
+Pitt Sustainability Course Attributes Codes (fully documented under Credit IN-38): https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/course-attribute-sustainability/
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.