Portland Community College
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification

Yes, PCC has a definition for sustainability in the curriculum. SPARC (Sustainability Practices and Resources Council) is the committee working on sustainability curriculum for the college. The following are our green outcomes used to implement sustainability curriculum at the college:
Be able to:
1) Critically examine the complex and interconnected relationship between human behavior and the environment through a lens of sustainability and “the triple bottom line” (people, planet, profit).
2) Critically evaluate the root causes of environmental problems, including historical, cultural, ethical, political, economic, social, structural, and/or infrastructural issues, in order to recommend, implement and/or engage in problem-solving to address the challenges and opportunities of promoting sustainable development.
3) Examine existing and alternative resource use and identify quantitative or qualitative processes to educate and provide services to prevent, reduce, or mitigate environmental degradation and increase resource and energy efficiency.
4) Express the significance of environmental sustainability in written, oral, artistic, physical, and/or mechanical forms.
5) Use an awareness of the impacts of ecological issues and policies on communities of diverse backgrounds, on the local, regional, national, and international level, in order to interact with sensitivity, respect, and a sense of responsibility to others and the future.
6) Apply sustainable practices in the workplace and communities, as citizens, and/or in the development of public policy.
7) Apply an understanding of the inter-connectedness of organisms to each other and their environment to environmental problems and resource use issues.

PCC is in the process of finalizing the identification of its sustainability-focused and related course offerings. PCC is currently working on identifying ‘green’ courses in the catalog with a small green leaf next to the offering. All sustainability-focused courses will be identified by Fall 2013, with sustainability-related course identification to follow shortly after.
Courses are Sustainability Focused if the CCOG includes existing outcomes that are related to the State of Oregon’s Five Essential Aspects of Green or if the CCOG is altered to include the SPARC Sustainability Focused Outcomes. . For Sustainability Focus Courses:
o Some Courses will be grandfathered in if the existing outcomes already contain concepts of sustainability using the SPARC Model for Grandfathering Sustainability Focused Course.
o Courses that seek to be newly defined as Sustainability Focused will alter the CCOG to include SPARC sustainability Focused Outcomes and follow a process through the Curriculum Committee using the SPARC Model for a New Sustainability Focused Course.
o The Sustainability Focused Attribute will be applied at the Registrar’s Office. The Registrar’s Office will be prompted to apply the attribute during the SPARC Model for Grandfathering Sustainability Focused Course. New Sustainability Focused Courses will indicate in a new version of the Curriculum Office’s New Course Form or Existing Course Revision Form.
o The Sustainability Focused Attribute will be permanent
The course is Sustainability Related if a section of the course, but not all sections, includes concepts related to the SPARC sustainability Outcomes. o Class instructors will work with SPARC using the SPARC model for a Sustainability Related Class.
o The Sustainability Related Attribute will be applied to these classes at the Class Scheduler’s level and will be verified by SPARC
o The request for a Sustainability Related Attribute to be applied to a Class must be made to SPARC in time to apply the SPARC model for a Sustainability Related Class and in time to be included in the relevant class schedule.

PCC is in the process of making the sustainability course inventory publicly available online. The website should be available in Fall 2013. PCC is also currently finalizing the requirements for its Sustainability Focus Award, which will also be listed on this website. Sustainability Practices and Resources Council (SPARC) is also creating a system to allow "tagging" of our green courses so that it is searchable by students as well as having its own section in our online course catalog.