Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.13
Liaison John Alejandro
Submission Date March 24, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of San Diego
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 10.58 / 14.00 Michel Boudrias
Associate Professor
Marine and Environmental Studies
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainability course offerings

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 1,085 715
Number of sustainability-focused courses offered 85 36
Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered 154 73

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
19.33

Part 2. Sustainability course offerings by department

Total number of academic departments that offer courses:
75

Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
32

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
42.67

Documentation

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?:
One

A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :
A committee comprised of faculty, staff and students reviewed course titles and descriptions to determine qualifying classes. Keywords were initially used to search the course catalog descriptions of classes and then the committee reviewed courses that had keyword hits. While more than 400 courses were identified that were sustainability focused or related, during the 18-19 academic year (Fall and Spring semesters plus January and Summer sessions taught by USD faculty) some did not provide a lot of details on the proportion of sustainability-related material.

This procedure was carried across the seven schools at USD- Joan B. Kroc School of Peace and Justice, School of Business, Hann School of Nursing, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, School of Leadership and Education Science, Collegevof Arts & Sciences, and School of Law.

How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
Other (please describe below)

A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted:
We calculated our course offerings by using all sections of courses with sustainability focused and inclusive content compared to all sections of all courses taught throughout the full 2018-19 academic year. We did not count capstone research courses, study abroad courses (even those that would receive sustainability-related equivalent credit), and independent studies.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability course offerings is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
USD faculty conducted a revision included correcting the overall counts and aligning the parameters used for counting those with the way the sustainability-focused and related courses were counted. It was apparent in the review that the original course count submitted included multiple sections of individual courses, which was not how sustainability courses were counted. Again, capstone research courses, study abroad courses (even those that would receive sustainability-related equivalent credit), and independent studies were not included in either count.

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.