Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.81
Liaison Dave Barbier
Submission Date July 17, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Shelly Janowski
Sustainability Coordinator
Facility Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution developed a definition of sustainability in the curriculum?:
Yes

A copy of the institution's definition of sustainability in the curriculum?:

The UWSP sustainability definition is found in our course catalog. It was voted on and approved by Faculty Senate on 12/6/2004 http://www.uwsp.edu/news/UWSPCatalog/academic.htm

"UWSP is committed to sustainability and its practice in our daily operations. Sustainability is the human enterprise of living to meet today’s needs without compromising the needs of future generations, and to be ecologically sound, socially just, culturally affirming, politically doable, and economically viable. We demonstrate our commitment to sustainability through such measures as resource recovery (recycling), composting food wastes, energy reduction and continually exploring ideas to promote and support sustainability initiatives."


Has the institution identified its sustainability-focused and sustainability-related course offerings?:
Yes

A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the inventory:

Research paper done in 2007 by 2 members of the Sustainability Task Force, "Sustainability Education Across the Campus". They identified the current state as of 2007. (The course list has been updated in 2012 for STARS.)

Environmental Literacy General Degree Requirement:
UW-SP has an environmental literacy requirement for all students:
1.Students will be able to describe the relationship of human society to natural systems and how they affect each other.
2.Students will be able to analyze a wide variety of historic and current environmental issues ranging from local to global importance.
3.Students will be able to describe the ecological, political, social economic and ethical implications of selected environmental issues and assess alternative solutions to these issues.
4.Students will be able to identify, describe and evaluate their own individual impacts on the environment.

Other courses with sustainability component:
In 2007, over fifty courses beyond those identified above were identified as having actual or likely sustainability components in them. The list is not intended to be inclusive or exclusive, but merely suggestive of the possibilities for inclusion of education for sustainability content. key words: ecology, human ecology, systems, equity, diversity, social issues, environmental issues, ethics, entrepreneurship, alternative economics, health, human-environment relationships, social change, creativity)

For AASHE STARS, the 2011-12 course list was inventoried and reviewed by the UWSP Sustainability Coordinator. The inventory was then validated by several members of the Sustainability Taskforce.


Does the institution make its sustainability course inventory publicly available online?:
Yes

The website URL where the sustainability course inventory is posted:
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.