University of Vermont
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

In Fall 2010, UVM established a learning outcomes approach to its general education requirements, creating a variety of pathways (course, curriculum and co-curricular) to meet the requirements. This flexible pathways approach allows departments and instructors to integrate outcomes into existing courses enabling students to fulfill this requirement through their core courses, which avoids adding an additional course to their total degree credit requirements. In March 2010, UVM’s Student Government Association (SGA) submitted a resolution supporting the creation of a university-wide sustainability curricular requirement for all incoming undergraduate students. A majority of students indicated their support of this resolution in a student survey. In response to SGA’s concern about the strength of UVM’s sustainability course offerings, an ad-hoc Sustainability General Education Committee was formed in Fall 2012 with the responsibility of creating sustainability learning outcomes. In March 2015, the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Faculty Senate approved Sustainability Learning Outcomes (SLOs) as a general education requirement for all undergraduate students. The SLOs are as follows: As stated in Our Common Ground, “The University of Vermont is an educationally purposeful community seeking to prepare students to live in a diverse and changing world.” In the context of the emerging challenges of the 21st Century, this preparation includes envisioning and planning for a sustainable society. In addition, Our Common Ground speaks to "the transforming power of education." Thus UVM's vision for sustainability embraces the goal of educating all of its students to understand and contribute to the sustainability of human society. That is, we recognize that the pursuit of ecological, social, and economic vitality must come with the understanding that the needs of the present be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Through its General Education Initiative, The University of Vermont will integrate its sustainability vision across curricular and co-curricular activities. Whatever their chosen discipline, each student will demonstrate their mastery of the defined learning outcomes in the knowledge, skills and values categories, as well as the personal domain. Students who are prepared to address the challenges of creating a sustainable world have knowledge of current issues in sustainability and the social, ecological, and economic dimensions of these complex problems. With the knowledge gained through coursework from varied disciplines, students develop the skills to engage in rigorous and complex discussions around creating sustainable solutions. Coursework and experiences in sustainability are meant to widen social, historical, and cultural perspectives and strengthen students' ability to negotiate multiple values that routinely come into play when planning for sustainability at the local, regional or global scales. Students connect conceptual learning to challenges and opportunities in the world outside of the university classroom by critically analyzing their own experiences in order to make sustainability meaningful and guide their personal actions. The Sustainability Learning Outcomes Learning outcome 1: Students can have an informed conversation about the multiple dimensions and complexity of sustainability. (knowledge category) Learning outcome 2: Students can evaluate sustainability using an evidence-based disciplinary approach and integrate economic, ecological, and social perspectives. (skills category) Learning outcome 3: Students think critically about sustainability across a diversity of cultural values and across multiple scales of relevance from local to global.
(values category) Learning outcome 4: Students, as members of society, can recognize and assess how sustainability impacts their lives and how their actions impact sustainability. (personal domain)

Graduate programs with sustainability learning outcomes: Sustainable Entrepreneurship MBA- LEARNING GOAL 1: UNDERSTAND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS L.O. 1.1 Show an understanding of sustainability practices and how businesses maximize shareholder value over the long run with leaders who are innovative and who manage interactions across the economic, social, environmental, and political spheres LEARNING GOAL 2: ENTREPRENEURSHIP L.O. 2.1 Demonstrates command of business fundamentals to build an actionable Business Plan for a new venture L.O. 2.2 Show an understanding of the distinction between incremental and disruptive innovation and their roles in creating better products, services, and/or processes LEARNING GOAL 3: CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING L.O. 3.1 Solve business problems by acquiring, interpreting, and synthesizing data LEARNING GOAL 4: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILLS L.O. 4.1 Demonstrates effective written communication skills L.O. 4.2 Demonstrates effective oral communication skills LEARNING GOAL 5: REFLECTIVE THINKING L.O. 5.1 Show an understanding of the impact of one's actions and behaviors on others Sustainable Transportation and Planning Graduate Certificate- We envision three important outcomes of the study and application of sustainable transportation system. (1)Knowledge; wherein we employ original data gathering, analysis and modeling to gain fundamental insights regarding how humans make travel decisions and how transportation systems function, (2) Innovative Solutions; wherein we explore how combinations of policy, education, design and technology intersect to advance new or improved systems of mobility and access, and (3) Informed Decision-Making; wherein we provide transportation research results, education and outreach to inform the development of sustainable transportation policies. Natural Resources MS & PhD- The Rubenstein School offers a Master's of Science degree in Natural Resources. As a multi-disciplinary academic unit, the School strives to integrate disparate disciplines to enhance knowledge and develop solutions to an array of environmental issues. Faculty expertise includes forestry, wildlife biology, recreation management, aquatic sciences, watershed management, environmental sciences, environmental philosophy, sociology, policy, planning, economics, and conflict resolution. All students take a course called Envisioning a Sustainable Future. Certificate in Ecological Economics: Ecological Economics is a transdisciplinary field that examines the relationships between ecological and economic systems while working to solve humanity's current environmental challenges. It is based on the understanding that the economy is a subsystem of a larger ecological life support system, and it strives to create an ecologically sustainable, socially equitable, and economically efficient future. The Certificate is a problem-based, interdisciplinary program focused on developing a practical framework for integrating economic and ecological systems. Students will acquire a theoretical and pragmatic basis to carry these skills into the world of practice. MS in Community Development and Applied Economics: CDAE's master of science degree focuses on community development both locally and globally. The hallmark of this program is its transdisciplinarity and flexibility. Student research and theses are in diverse areas including food systems, sustainable development, transportation, and consumer information and behavior both in the US and abroad. MS and PhD in Food Systems- An advanced degree in Food Systems allows students to bring different academic disciplines and research methodologies to the common study of a food system by: integrating knowledge of food production, distribution, marketing and consumption examining policy development at federal, state, and local levels exploring the interplay of food and health seeking environmental, social, and economic sustainability ensuring access to adequate food for all citizens, and understanding the complex dynamics of a global food marketplace. Students in the Food Systems Graduate program learn about contemporary food systems through an innovative transdisciplinary curriculum. The program bridges social science, humanities and natural science approaches to understanding food systems issues and creates opportunities for applied, problem-based learning. MS and PhD in Plant and Soil Sciences: Plant and Soil Science is an applied science department. Our faculty work on developing sustainable strategies and technologies that solve problems associated with agriculture and food systems. Reaching out to stakeholders, for example farmers and land managers but also the public at large is part of the tradition of Land Grant Universities and their agricultural departments. For this reason, requirements in our graduate programs include communication with science professionals through professional presentations, the public through outreach efforts, and undergraduate students by contributing in our teaching effort. MS and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering: Graduate programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering that lead to the master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees are offered. The curricular and research programs emphasize engineering related to environmental processes, sustainable transportation systems, geotechnical, geoenvironmental and structural analysis. Research includes: groundwater contamination; modeling and remediation including optimal remediation design; environmental restoration and ecological engineering; hydrological processes; air pollution and related health effects; modeling of contaminant fate and transport in the environment; materials; geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering; dynamic behavior of structures and structural health monitoring; geo-energy; and sustainable transportation systems.

The graduate students who counted for this credit, came from the following degree programs: Sustainable Entrepreneurship MBA Sustainable Transportation and Planning Graduate Certificate Natural Resources MS or PHD Certificate in Ecological Economics MS and PhD in Food Systems MS in Community Development and Applied Economics MS or PhD in Plant and Soil Sciences MS or PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering Please note that the undergraduate students who count for this credit are, for the most part, not yet seniors and thus have not technically graduated with the sustainability general education learning outcomes. However, they will be graduating in the next couple of years, and the these learning outcomes are now a permanent part of the educational structure. We confirmed with AASHE that our answer to this question satisfies the purpose of the credit. The numbers used are from FY 2016.