Faculty Resources
Sustainability-Related Course Type Designation
What is a "sustainability-related" course?
"Sustainability-related" is an earned course type in our course catalog. A "sustainability-related" course must meets one of two definitons set by the Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), who assess Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) applications. To count as "sustianability-related," a course must be either "sustainability-focused" or "sustainability-inclusive." A "sustainability-focused" course (1) has a primary and explict focuss on sustainability, an application of sustainability, or a major sustainabilit challenge that requires students to consider the interdpendence of ecological and social/cultural/economic sustems (e.g., climate change science, environmental justice, global poverty and development, etc.). In contrast, a "sustainability-inclusive" course (2) may be primarily focused on something other than sustainability, but clearly incorporates sustainability content and/or addresses one or more sustainability challenges in the form of one or more units, readings, or activities that are sustainability-foscued in nature. In other words, a "sustainability-realted" course must meet either of those definitions. For more information, please review the definiton section of this exerpt from AASHE's STARS v3.0 manual.
Purpose
There is great overlap with increasing the number of sustainability-realted courses we offer and the institution's mission work. In Loyola's Strategic Plan for 2030, Together We Rise, we committed to earning a STARS Platinum Rating under our "Care" focus area. Offering more sustainability-related courses across as many departments as possible will directly impact our STARS score in multiple categories. In 2021, Loyola also made a Laudato Si' Commitment, joining the first cohort of Laudato Si universities, committing to answering the late Pope Francis' call to respond to the cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor through five intersectional goals--one of which is fostering ecological education. To learn more about our Laudato Si' Commitment as a university, please visit our Laudato Si' Commitment webpage.
Additionally, earning the "sustainability-related" course type will help students interesting in learning about sustainability discover your course. Sustainabuility is an extordinarily interdiscplinary subject matter. Courses that touch on sustainability call into a number of discplines at Loyola, a student cannot search for courses by department. The "sustainability-realted" course type also operates under a broader definition than courses with the Environmental Studies Minor course type. Thus, it serves as a one-stop-shop for students looking to explore what courses that touch on sustainability are offered in a given semester.
How does my course earn this designation?
Similar to the Diversity-Justice course designation, faculty must apply by sending course information and some material (e.g., syllabus, etc.) to the Sustainability-Related Designation Review Committee. The committe is composed of at least one member from the Office of Sustainability and faculty members that represent multiple schools within Loyola (e.g., School of Buisness, School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, etc.). The committee will then judge submitted material and decide if it fits either of the definitions outlined earlier. Course descriptions from prospective courses should make clear their course touches on sustainability-realted content.
Application
Your application should include:
- The course's learning aims
- A syllabus or other form of course material, with highlighted notation of every instance of where you believe your course focuses on sustainability. This may come in the form of highlighting a sustainability-related learning aim, series of homework readings, etc. You should also use the comment feature on Word to provide additional context to how a reading relates to sustainability if necessary. A reading's relevance to sustainability is not always obvious to our committee from the reading's title alone.
- A breif response outlining how your course meets one of two of the definitions for our sustainability-related standard.
Please submit your syllabi and/or other course materials to sustainability in this external Qualtrics form.
Support from the Office of Sustainability
The Office of Sustainability is expereinced with helping interested faculty find innovative ways to incorporate sustainability-related material into their coursework. In accordance with Loyola's mission to become a leader in Integral Ecology, we must acknowledge how interconnected sustainability is with issues we previously exclusively viewed as economic, cultural, social, or political. Thus, even in discplines seemingly unconnected to sustainability, the Office of Sustainability is happy to work with faculty from any department.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find some examples of courses with this designation?
A complete list of courses offered in at least the previous three academic years can be found on our Academic Offerings webpage. To find more information about listed courses, please use the course catalog to find material such as course descriptions.
Some courses already have this designation. How do I know if mine does?
Prior to the creation of the Sustainability-Related Designation Review Committeee, some courses were given this designation via manual review from the Office of Sustainability. In an effort to better invovle faculty and to make the work more collaborative, the Office of Sustainability has moved away from this. To check if your course already has this designation, please check via the course type dropdown in Loyola's course catalog.
How does this designation differ from the Environmental Studies Minor course type?
Courses with the sustainability-realted course type fit STARS's definition of either "sustainability-focused or sustainability-inclusive. These terms, particularly sustainability-inclusive, are broader and can be more lienent towards towards where sustainability is not the sole focus of the course. Additionally, both STARS course definitions must include both social/human/cultural and environmental elements. In other words, certain a biology course may have a unit on marine biology, but if that content is not paired with content about something such as human impacts on marine ecosystems, it does not meet the STARS definition, but may meet the Envionrmental Studies Minor standards.
If my course has earned the sustainability-realted course type, do I need to reaplly every time I teach the course?
No. We only ask you reapply if you make significant changes to the syllabus and/or learning aims of the course.
Who can I contact if I have a question not answered on this page?
Please contact Loyola's Office of Sustainability (sustainability@loyola.edu).
