Sustainability courses can provide valuable grounding in the concepts and principles of sustainability, help build knowledge about a component of sustainability, or introduce students to sustainability concepts. A course may be designated as sustainability focused or as including sustainability. A sustainability focused course is one in which the primary and explicit focus is on sustainability and/or on understanding or solving one or more major sustainability challenges. A course that includes sustainability is primarily focused on a topic other than sustainability, but incorporates a unit or module on sustainability or a sustainability challenge, includes one or more sustainability-focused activities, or integrates sustainability issues throughout the course.
Sustainability focused courses were identified as those meeting one of three criteria:
1. designated SUST courses developed for the minor in Sustainability
2. all electives approved for inclusion in the Minor
3. courses with descriptions containing 5 or more sustainability-related keywords
The list of sustainability focused courses can be found here.
Courses that include sustainability are those with descriptions containing three or more keywords plus any other courses not designated as focused courses or met GE SLOs related to sustainability (see below).
The list of courses that include sustainability can be found here.
| 1. Analytical Reading and Expository Writing | Analyze and compare perspective, meaning and style in different texts, including those that reflect multicultural images and voices. |
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| 2. Critical Thinking | Use investigative and analytical thinking skills to examine alternatives, explore complex questions and solve challenging problems. |
| 4. Oral Communication | Evaluate contexts, attitudes, values, and responses of different audiences. |
| 5. Natural Sciences | Demonstrate an ability to apply scientific knowledge and to critically assess real-world issues and make sound decisions. |
| 6. Arts and Humanities | Analyze, interpret and reflect critically upon ideas of value, meaning, discourse and expression from a variety of perspectives from the arts and/or humanities. |
| 6. Arts and Humanities | Describe and explain the historical and/or cultural context within which a body of work was created or a tradition emerged. |
| 7. Social Sciences | Analyze and explain the multiple perspectives found in the social sciences that underlie debates on important historical and contemporary issues. |
| 7. Social Sciences | Demonstrate an understanding of how social problems impact individuals, communities and societies. |
| 8. Lifelong Learning | Identify and actively engage in behaviors conducive to individual health, well-being or development, and understand the value of maintaining these behaviors throughout their lifespan. |
| 8. Lifelong Learning | Identify and apply strategies leading to health, well-being or development for community members of diverse populations. |
| 8. Lifelong Learning | Apply the knowledge and skills of science and technology and evaluate how they impact individuals, the community and/or society. |
| 9. Comparative Cultural Studies/Gender, Race, Class, and Ethnicity Studies, and Foreign Languages | Describe and explain how race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, sexuality and other markers of social identity impact life experiences and social relations. |
| 9. Comparative Cultural Studies/Gender, Race, Class, and Ethnicity Studies, and Foreign Languages | Analyze and explain the deleterious impact and the privileges sustained by racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, homophobia, religious intolerance or stereotyping on all sectors of society. |