Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.78
Liaison Amber Saxton
Submission Date Sept. 1, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

George Mason University
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 7.33 / 14.00 Mary Liang
Sustainability Analyst
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1

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 3,097 3,386
Number of sustainability courses offered 94 32
Number of courses offered that include sustainability 204 195

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
8.10

Part 2 

Total number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that offer courses (at any level):
57

None
Number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that offer at least one sustainability course and/or course that includes sustainability (at any level):
35

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
61.40

Course Inventory

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 determine the total number of courses offered and to identify sustainability course offerings, including the definitions used and the process for reviewing and/or validating the course inventory :
To complete the inventory of sustainability courses and courses that include sustainability, we audited the Registrar's list of courses provided for the 2017 academic year by searching for key terms. All of the sustainability course are Green Leaf courses as designated by the Registrar. The courses that include sustainability were found by searching for key terms such as environment, ocean, equity, ecosphere, evolution, population, nature, resources, field, marine, climate, wetland, and water and then auditing each of the search queries to eliminate courses that were not sustainability related. Duplicates of courses were not counted, and Green Leaf course were not included in count for sustainability related courses.

How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
Each course was counted as a single course regardless of the number of offerings or sections

A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted (if different from the options outlined above):
N/A

Are the following course types included in the inventory? :
Yes (included) or No (not included)
Internships Yes
Practicums Yes
Independent study Yes
Special topics Yes
Thesis / dissertation Yes
Clinical No
Physical education Yes
Performance arts Yes

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Data for FY 2017. Sustainability courses are identified as Green Leaf courses in the course catalog. Differences in sustainable course data from previous inventories are due to only counting those courses actively offered in the 2017 academic year and each course is counted once regardless of the number of sections or cross-listings.

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.