Yale University
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

According to Yale University President Peter Salovey, “As a higher education institution with a global presence, Yale is committed to sustainability planning and actions that forge new paths. The nine ambitions described in the Yale Sustainability Plan 2025 offer a set of unifying priorities to help foster academic exploration, encourage dialogue that spans academic disciplines, and create new ties between Yale’s operations and its teaching and research mission."" Additionally, all Yale College students must meet a set of distributional requirements, including in the sciences and social sciences. Each of these requirements includes sustainability-supportive learning outcomes, and are explained below. :
Area requirement in the sciences: Science is the study of the principles of the physical and the natural world through observation and experimentation. The theoretical inquiry, experimental analysis, and firsthand problem solving inextricably linked to scientific inquiry give rise to new modes of thought. Acquiring a broad view of what science is, what it has achieved, and what it might continue to achieve is an essential component of a college education. Close study of a science develops critical faculties that educated citizens need to evaluate natural phenomena and the opinions of experts, and to make, understand, and evaluate arguments about them. Scientific literacy teaches students to appreciate the beauty of the natural and physical worlds often hidden from casual observation but which, once revealed, lend richness to everyday life.
Area requirement in the social sciences: Broadly conceived, the social sciences study human social behavior and networks using a variety of methodologies and both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The disciplines in the social sciences teach us about who we are as social beings and help us appreciate the perspective of the other as well as the particularities of society. Methods in the social sciences test for connections between the familiar and the foreign, the traditional and the contemporary, the individual and the group, the predicted result and the anomalous outcome. Their theories propose explanations for the entire range of human phenomena. Study of the social sciences prepares students for lives of civic engagement and develops a nuanced sense of the world around them.

We tallied the total students graduating with degrees in the below listed degree programs.

>Chemical Engineering major: This program emphasizes chemical engineering's interventions in energy, the environment, and health care, equipping all students with the skills and knowledge to confront these challenges in practice.
>Chemistry major: Students graduate with an understanding of how their work in chemistry is applicable to energy research and environmental policy.
>Environmental Studies major: All students graduate with an understanding of the diverse environmental problems of the world. The program combines the knowledge and diverse perspectives offered by the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences in order to help solve the diverse environmental problems that we face today. Environmental Studies is interdisciplinary, preparing the best and the brightest students to solve environmental problems today and in the future.
>Environmental Engineering major: All students graduate with an understanding of human health, green design and pollution prevention, carbon sequestration and climate changes, and the development of alternative energy.
>Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major: Students graduate with an understanding of population, community, ecosystem, and macroecology; evolutionary genetics, developmental evolution, behavioral evolution, and evolutionary medicine; and phylogenetics, systematics, and biodiversity.
>Earth and Planetary Sciences major: Students graduate with an understanding of the basic principles from the core sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) and how it relates to addressing issues of the Earth’s future.
>Ethics, Politics, and Economics: Students explore the political, economic, and social dimensions of the most pressing problems of our day including environmental issues, graduating with an understanding of how natural and social systems interact.
>History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health: Students graduate with an understanding of the relationship between public health and environmental sustainability through both a historical and a current lens.
>Mechanical Engineering: This program stresses the finite nature of Earth's natural resources, and students graduate with an understanding of how mechanical engineering help to solve today's sustainability challenges.
>Architecture major: All students graduate with a familiarity of sustainable design considerations.
>Energy Studies multi-disciplinary academic program (similar to a minor): Students graduate with an understanding of the challenges in moving the Earth’s energy systems towards greener, more sustainable sources, while eliminating energy poverty and providing affordable access to modern energy for all.
>Global Health Studies multi-disciplinary academic program (similar to a minor): All students graduate with an understanding of pressing global health challenges, by engaging critically and analytically in global health from multiple disciplinary approaches and perspectives. The program supports students in developing and balancing an appreciation for biomedical and technical issues related to diseases, their treatment and prevention, with an understanding of the historical, social, economic and political concerns that are implicated in how health is determined and experienced in the 21st century.
>School of Architecture: The Dean of the School of Architecture is committed to creating a “pluralistic” environment, referring both to the application of architectural thought to such pressing issues as climate change and rapid urbanization, as well as reforming the student population of approximately 200 to “be more reflective of the population at large.” Based on this, all students graduate with an understanding of the relationship between the built and natural environments, and the connections of buildings to society and equity.
>School of the Environment: The Yale School of the Environment offers a variety of degree programs to prepare students for careers in environmental science, management, and policy — many of which can be customized to meet each student’s professional goals. There are four degree programs at the School, each of which require an understanding of sustainability. Students pursuing the Master of Environmental Management degree graduate with an understanding of natural and social science by focusing on the complex relationships among science, management, and policy. The purpose of the program is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of natural and social systems that can be applied to environmental and natural resource problem solving in a policy or management context. Students pursuing the Master of Forestry degree graduate with an understanding of how to manage forest resources for various public and private values within a complex social, political, and ecological environment. Students pursuing the Master of Forest Science and Master of Environmental Science graduate having formalized training in the philosophy and practice of science, and the completion of a thesis that highlights a deeper disciplinary focus than the School's management degrees.
>School of Public Health: All students graduate with an understanding of the relationship between sustainability, health, and well-being.
>School of Divinity: All students graduate with an understanding of the relationship between community, food, and faith in the context of sustainability.
>School of Nursing: All students graduate with an understanding of the connection to place as a way of empowering the community, as well with an understanding of recycling and sustainable commuting.
>School of Management: All students graduate with a proficiency in resource efficiency and sustainability and business.