University of Vermont
AC-1: Academic Courses

A list of all courses offered at the institution in academic year 2018-2019 (Fall 2018, Spring 2019, and Summer 2019), including data about the courses (e.g. department, semester, professor, etc.), was generated by the Registrar. The Education & Outreach Coordinator in the Office of Sustainability then modified the list according to STARS guidelines. This included deletion of enrollment under 5, and removal of CLN, FWRK, INTN, IS, PERF, PRAC, RSCH, STD, TA, TD instruction methods. Two columns were added to the sheet: one labeled “sustainability designation” and another labeled “sustainability justification.” The designation column had the following choices: sustainability-focused, sustainability-inclusive and neither. The justification column is for a description of what each course entails and how it relates to sustainability. Directions were written under each column heading, and another tab on the Google sheet contained a list of FAQs about the inventory and how to complete it. A second tab included text from the STARS technical manual defining the sustainability designations.

The Education & Outreach Coordinator and a Registrar staffer pre-populated a small percentage of the designation column using lists of previously identified sustainability-related courses from past STARS submissions, newly SU-designated courses, and courses with descriptions that included key terms.

The Office of Sustainability worked with the administration to generate a letter that went out to all Deans, asking them to fill in the blanks for their college. Deans then either opted to complete the work themselves, assigned the task to department chairs, or asked all faculty in the department to complete their individual portions. The Education & Outreach coordinator reviewed the inventory when complete and followed up with professors directly when more information was needed.

Although multiple offerings of each course were counted as separate courses in the inventory, it is important to note that there was no double-counting of cross-listed courses. Cross-listed courses were collapsed into a single, tangible offering of the course. The Registrar’s Office used their own methodology to decide which department each cross-listed course would fall under. This methodology is described further in our codebook.