Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 64.57
Liaison Sherri Mason
Submission Date June 14, 2023

STARS v2.2

Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 7.52 / 8.00 Sherri Mason
Director of Sustainability
School of Science
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Institutional sustainability learning outcomes

Has the institution adopted one or more sustainability learning outcomes that apply to the entire student body or, at minimum, to the institution's predominant student body?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the sustainability learning outcomes?:
Sustainability-supportive

A list of the institution level sustainability learning outcomes:
Penn State has defined seven key learning objectives for its General Education curriculum, applicable to all undergraduate students. Three of those are sustainability-supportive:
1. INTEGRATIVE THINKING – the ability to synthesize knowledge across multiple domains, modes of inquiry, historical periods, and perspectives, as well as the ability to identify linkages between existing knowledge and new information.

2. GLOBAL LEARNING – the intellectually disciplined abilities to analyze similarities and differences among cultures; evaluate natural, physical, social, cultural, historical, and economic legacies and hierarchies; and engage as community members and leaders who will continue to deal with the intricacies of an ever-changing world.

3. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICAL REASONING – the ability to assess one’s own values within the social context of problems, recognize ethical issues in a variety of settings, describe how different perspectives might be applied to ethical dilemmas, and consider the ramifications of alternative actions.

For additional details see: https://gened.psu.edu/updated-learning-objectives-and-foundation-and-domain-criteria

Part 2. Program-level sustainability learning outcomes

Total number of graduates from degree programs:
781

Number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
539

A brief description of how the figure above was determined:
Undergraduate major degree programs that have adopted at least one sustainability-focused learning outcomes were identified. The program list was developed based on learning outcomes found in the online Bulletin. A list of all student graduating within all majors was obtained from the registrar for the AY 2021-2022. Students within the degree programs identified were summed to yield our total "number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability."

A list of degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
Accounting
Biology
Business Economics
Chemistry
Computer Engineering
Economics
Electrical Engineering
Environmental Science
Finance
Industrial Engineering
Interdisciplinary Business with Engineering Studies
Interdisciplinary Science and Business
International Business
Management Information Systems
Marketing
Mechanical Engineering
Nursing
Project and Supply Chain Management
Software Engineering

Documentation supporting the figure reported above (upload):
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
One

Percentage of students who graduate from programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
69.01

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability learning outcomes is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Total number of majors is from AY 2021-2022 (Summer/Fall 2021 & Spring 2022).

Our numbers improved substantially in this metric since our last report (2020) as the School of Business has added specific sustainability learning objectives to all of their degree programs. Initially this was done in response to an internal request, but it is also now a requirement of their AACSB accreditation.

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.