University of Virginia
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

The UVA School of Architecture is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation. NAAB requires learning outcomes, one of which is sustainability. One of the learning outcomes required by NAAB is "Sustainability: Ability to design projects that optimize, conserve, or reuse natural and built resources, provide healthful environments for occupants/users, and reduce the environmental impacts of building construction and operations on future generations through means such as carbon-neutral design, bioclimatic design, and energy efficiency."

UVA's Darden School of Business includes a sustainability vision and sustainability learning outcomes. The Darden MBA program teaches students about sustainability through case studies and experiential opportunities. Cases are real-time, showcasing entrepreneurs and ventures that are creating new products, processes, technologies, markets and organizational forms to deliver low-pollution electrical power, outdoor gear made from recycled materials, packaging polymers from plant-based materials, low CO2-emitting cement, and modular green buildings. Integrated throughout the curriculum is the theme that while business has one main bottom line — profitability — it must be achieved in an ethical, socially-minded, and environmentally-responsible manner.

https://www.darden.virginia.edu/mba/academics/electives/sustainability/

The College of Environmental Sciences and the degrees within int specific sustainability learning outcomes. Environmental Sciences is an interdisciplinary field focusing on the interactions between processes that shape our natural environment. The Department of Environmental Sciences conducts research and offers instruction in the areas of Ecology, Geoscience, Hydrology, and Atmospheric Science. This unique integration of various Earth sciences and ecology within a single, academic department offers majors an opportunity to understand scientific processes and problems related to the environment. The research efforts of both faculty and students, whether disciplinary or interdisciplinary, address problems of fundamental scientific interest.

Additionally, in 2016, UVA signed on to the White House Educators Commitment on Resilient Design at the institution level, which commits the following:

"We envision a future where our homes, schools, workplaces, and communities are resilient to extreme weather events and can adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Making this future a reality will require a focus on resilient design across disciplines.

Students who will lead the planning, design, engineering, development, construction, and retrofit of homes, buildings, and infrastructure must be prepared to build for resilience, both now and into the foreseeable future.

We commit to:
• Inspiring and training the next generation of architecture, engineering, urban
planning, and construction professionals to innovate and effectively address resilience
to extreme weather events and climate change;
• Connecting students and professionals with best-available science on the growing
risks posed by extreme weather events and climate change;
• Fostering interdisciplinary settings for students to develop the employable skills and
professional networks needed to support resilient design; and
• Pursuing life-long learning opportunities to continually advance our understanding of
how to design and build for a resilient future."

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Resilient_Design_Schools_List_FINAL.pdf

List:

Global Studies - Environments + Sustainability Major
The program prepares students to understand, innovate, and lead efforts to sustainably transform the physical environment.

Master of Architecture
Among the learning outcomes of the professional degree is:
Develop the next generation of civic and professional leaders through...Ecologically and culturally sustainable practices as a foundation for design.

Global Development Studies Major
An interdisciplinary undergraduate major
An interdisciplinary major with a focus on social justice, sustainable economic development, public health, global interconnection, and public service.

Environmental Thought & Practice
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Major
"The objective of the Environmental Thought and Practice program is to produce students who can:
1. comprehend and think critically about scientific information, economic analysis, and the various ethical constructs that enter into environmental decisions; and,
2. appreciate how political and social context, historical events, and cultural expectations shape the way we perceive and solve environmental problems."

Sustainability Minor
Undergraduate Minor Program
The foundation course for the Sustainability Minor is the Global Sustainability course, which has the following learning goals:
-Understand a broad range of resource and environmental constraints on the quality of human lives.
-Be able to identify a local problem related to sustainability, identify the key stakeholders and their roles and needs, articulate a vision to address that problem, develop project objectives, design a plan to achieve the objectives, and marshall the resources to execute the plan.
-Develop a commitment to bringing about sustainable change.

Urban and Environmental Planning
BUEP
MUEP
Planning Program Description:
"One of the distinctive features of the program is a strong concern for community sustainability. While the topic is addressed in specific courses with that title, the concept of sustainability provides an underlying framework throughout the curriculum...we are as much concerned with the economy and issues of equity as we are with the environment, and find it more useful to emphasize linkages than distinctions."

Civil and Environmental Engineering
"Civil and Environmental Engineering is centered on two main program areas: environmental and water resources engineering and civil infrastructure systems. Incorporating elements of sustainability, each program area features adaptive design with a strong focus on the incorporation of information technology. Civil infrastructure systems, including both the natural environment and built systems to support basic human needs, serve as the very underpinning of society. Improvements in civil infrastructure result in improved human health and quality of life."

Global Studies - Global Public Health
To foster the capacity to understand and address the complex cultural, social, political, economic, and environmental conditions and pathways that affect health, health care access, and quality of life around the world; to increase knowledge about the causes and distribution of global health burdens; and to catalyze innovative approaches for improving the health of populations and achieving health equity.

Chemical Engineering:
...Competent to carry out process design functions that require not only technical expertise but also interdisciplinary contributions, knowledge of contemporary industrial practice, and an awareness of economic, environmental, and ethical considerations.