Florida Institute of Technology
AC-1: Academic Courses

AC-1, Part 1:
A) Total number of courses offered by the institution:
- AY 2022-2023. Melbourne campus only. UG and G.
- Based on STARS guidance for the total number of courses for this credit, “The following course types may be excluded at the institution’s discretion, as long as they are excluded from both the count of sustainability course offerings and the count of total courses: 1) Individually-directed courses (e.g., thesis, independent study, practicum). 2) Arts courses dedicated to performance, technique, or composition. 3) Physical education courses that are activity-based."
- Therefore, the search of the number of total courses offered did not include arts and Phys. Ed course extensions (MUS and PED) and courses labelled as thesis, dissertation, ‘independent’, or practicum.
B) Total number of sustainability-focused and sustainability-inclusive courses.
- For semesters FA 22 and SP 23, course availability and information was sourced from Florida Tech course schedules in PAWS, with consults of the 2022-2023 univ. catalog. The number of occurrences of sustainability-focused (SF) and sustainability-inclusive (SI) courses was determined by reviews of the existing course list using the PAWs course schedules and by consulting syllabi, instructors, or other univ. web resources for sustainability, see the attached excel file with worksheets for SF and SI courses. We used the following from the STARS Technical Manual for AC-1 to assess SI and SF courses: 1) sustainability challenges and 2) sustainability course offerings.
1. Sustainability challenges: AASHE defines sustainability in a pluralistic and inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations. Major sustainability challenges include (but are not limited to) climate change, global poverty and inequality, natural resource depletion, and environmental degradation. To identify additional sustainability challenges, it may be helpful to reference the principles outlined in the Earth Charter and/or the targets embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2. Sustainability course offerings: these course offerings include A) sustainability-focused courses and B) sustainability-inclusive courses:
A. Sustainability-focused courses: To count as sustainability-focused (SF), the course title or description must indicate a primary and explicit focus on sustainability. This includes:
- Foundational courses with a primary and explicit focus on sustainability (e.g., Introduction to Sustainability, Sustainability Science).
- Courses with a primary and explicit focus on the application of sustainability within a field (e.g., Architecture for Sustainability, Green Chemistry). As sustainability is an interdisciplinary topic, such courses generally incorporate insights from multiple disciplines.
- Courses with a primary and explicit focus on a major sustainability challenge (e.g., Environmental Justice, Global Poverty and Development). The focus of such courses might be on providing knowledge and understanding of the problems and/or the tools for solving them.
- The course title or description does not have to use the term “sustainability” to count as SF if the primary and explicit focus of the course is on the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems or a major sustainability challenge. If the course title and description do not unequivocally indicate such a focus, but it is evident from the course description or syllabus that the course incorporates sustainability challenges, issues, and concepts in a prominent way, the course may qualify as sustainability-inclusive.
B. Sustainability-inclusive courses (SI or sustainability-related courses): Courses that are not explicitly focused on sustainability may contribute towards scoring if sustainability has clearly been incorporated into course content. To count as SI, the course description or rationale provided in the course inventory must indicate that the course incorporates a unit or module on sustainability or a sustainability challenge, includes one or more sustainability-focused activities, or integrates sustainability challenges, issues, and concepts throughout the course.
AC-1, Part 2:
The total number of academic departments came from PRE-5. The number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings comes from the attached course inventory.

N/A

- Data for Melbourne campus courses only, AY 2022-23. In Part 1, OIR provided the number of courses offered by the institution, see the methods above.
- Course information sourced from the Florida Tech course schedules in PAWS for semesters: FA 22 and SP 23, and the University Catalog for AY 22-23. Inventory research and assessment primarily processed by Ken Lindeman and Sarah Brooks, Academic Sustainability Program, with the assistance of some faculty. More information above.