California State University, Long Beach
AC-1: Academic Courses

Over the course of a year, the Office of Sustainability employed a rigorous, multi-step process in order to update the sustainability course inventory created for our previous STARS report in 2017. The process that was undertaken to create the original 2017 inventory involved reviewing the entire course catalog to identify any and all courses that educate our students about sustainability. In order to streamline the process this time around, the Office first reached out to the Director of Academic Programs to request a list of only new courses that were added to the university catalog after the previous catalog review took place. Next, student assistants from the Office of Sustainability performed a search on the provided course list using a predetermined set of sustainability-related keywords. Using this methodology, students identified and compiled a draft list of courses that contained any relevant “sustainability-related” keywords or language in their course catalog description. This comprehensive list was then analyzed by Sustainability staff to determine which courses had any likelihood of meeting the criteria of “sustainability-focused” or “sustainability-inclusive” course per the definitions outlined in the STARS technical manual.

Next, the Sustainability staff requested the Standard Course Outlines (SCOs) from the department chair for courses that met the criteria described above. Courses that were excluded from the 2017 STARS report course inventory because the SCOs had been unavailable at the time of reporting were also requested from department chairs. Once received, the Sustainability Office read each SCO or syllabi (when SCO was not available) and highlighted learning objectives, course assignments, and course work that demonstrates the ways in which the course meets the definitions of a “sustainability-focused” or “sustainability-inclusive” course. Sustainability Office staff used a combination, of course, catalog descriptions and language from the SCO or syllabi to draft a short “rationale” for each course’s inclusion on the sustainability inventory.

Finally, the Presidential Commission on Sustainability’s Curriculum Subcommittee reviewed the compiled course inventory and provided feedback as to whether courses were correctly designated as “sustainability-inclusive” or “sustainability-focused.” The subcommittee also added any additional courses that may have not been identified during the original catalog keyword search but which they had personal knowledge about the sustainability content of the course. The subcommittee’s feedback and additions were reviewed and synthesized by the Sustainability Office staff and a final list of courses was generated and shared with the subcommittee for their approval.
With regard to our methodology in counting the total number of courses, please note the following:
•Courses that were cross-listed in two departments (e.g. GEOG 450/ESP 450) were treated as one course
•Courses that were listed as both undergraduate and graduate-level courses (e.g. BIO 433/533) were treated as one course.
•Courses that had multiple offerings in the academic year (i.e. fall and spring) or multiple sections in the academic year were also counted as one course.

CSULB’s Institutional Research & Analytics staff provided the total number of undergraduate and graduate courses in which students were enrolled (not just courses that were offered and later canceled) for the years in the reporting period.

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