Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 70.01
Liaison Rebecca Walker
Submission Date April 13, 2022

STARS v2.2

Southern Oregon University
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 12.22 / 14.00 Rebecca Walker
Sustainability Manager
Facilities, Management, Sustainability and Planning
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainability course offerings

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 2,968 1,185
Number of sustainability-focused courses offered 127 56
Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered 605 188

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
23.50

Part 2. Sustainability course offerings by department

Total number of academic departments that offer courses:
49

Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
31

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
63.27

Documentation

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 complete the course inventory :
A preliminary review of the SOU course catalog was conducted to identify courses that were candidates for designation as either sustainability-focused (SF) or sustainability-inclusive (SI) courses based on the course descriptions. Courses were labeled 0 for no sustainability, 1 for sustainability inclusive, and 2 for sustainability-focused on the inventory spreadsheet. This was for a one-year period including Fall Term 2020, Winter Term 2021, Spring Term 2021, and Summer Term 2021.

Sustainability Focused was identified where the course title or description indicates a primary and explicit focus on sustainability. Sustainability Inclusive was identified where the course is not explicitly focused on sustainability but sustainability has been incorporated into the course content. This was either evident course description and/or faculty review of the assessment.

Sustainability is defined in a pluralistic and inclusive way encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations. Therefore, to fully understand the sustainability content of the course, a further evaluation was carried out with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which take an all-encompassing approach to Sustainability. This part of the assessment demonstrates how the course is Sustainability Focused or Sustainability Inclusive. Each course identified as sustainability-focused or sustainability inclusive aligns with 2 or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Exclusions were made based on the STARS guidance. The program/department inventory was then built based on those courses assessed as sustainability offerings and which program they belonged to.

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:
Each course offered in each term during a one year period was assessed and counted if it was sustainability focused or sustainability inclusive.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability course offerings is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.