1. Disciplinary Trends In Sustainability Education As Interpreted by STARS Gold Participants Makayla J. Bonney MS Candidate, Geography Southern Illinois University

2. Overview Background Research Questions Results Using STARS as a research tool Looking Forward Question and Discussion

3. Background Liu, 2011: AASHE 2006-08 Sustainability Across Curriculum Leadership Workshop study Literature both within and outside the discipline identifies geography as a “highly appropriate home for sustainability studies”, however, the geography community has not developed a lead role in sustainability education

4. NCSE Findings 2012 Census of Sustainability Education Programs (degrees, minors, certificates) Administrative Location Proportion Multi-unit Program38% Department25% School/College11% Center/Institute11% Other15% Discipline/FieldProportion BA/Mgmt.25% Enviro. Studies, Sci., Mgmt. 16% ENGR/Tech13% Ag./Hort.12% Architecture10% Natural Resources/Ecology 5% Planning5% Public Policy4% Geography3% Other (Anth., Chem., Econ., Edu., Geosci., Law, Tourism) 7%

5. Background Research Questions: 1. How do Gold rated STARS participants approach sustainability education? What roles does Geography have in sustainability education? 2. What is the applicability of STARS as a research tool?

6. What is Geography’s role? Are Business, Environmental Science leading?

7. Methodology Focus: Gold rated institutions (n=48) 18.4% of all STARS institutions Minimum score to achieve Gold: 65 Average score of dataset: 67.45 Sustainability Focused Courses 1. Distribution of Sustainability Focused Courses in Institutions which offer Geography (n=23) 2. Distribution of Sustainability Focused Courses in all Gold Institutions

8. Middlebury College RatingScore Gold66.9 Education and Research73.70% Co-Curricular Education17.5 / 17.75 Curriculum26.69 / 51.00 Research25.80 / 27.00 Operations50.23% Planning, Admin., Engagement 65.36% Innovation4 pts. Curriculum Sustainability Focused Courses Course Total 32757 Geography3 (n), 9.3% Environmental Studies (Interdisc.) 6 (n), 18.6% ETC.

9. Methodology Contd. Course groupings by discipline Business: includes Administration, Management, Leadership Minority Studies: includes Africana Studies, Women’s Studies, Native American Studies Architecture: Structural and Landscape Engineering: Civil, Environmental, Structural Biology: Ecology, Plant Biology, Microbiology Other: University-specific program, outliers

10. Results Institution Sustainability Curriculum Lead Department # of Departments hosting majority American University17%INTL. Studies2 Appalachian State U.27%TECH3 Ball State U.1%ARCH3 Middlebury College24%ENVS4 New Mexico State U.29%AG5 Northern Arizona U.17%FORST4 Oregon State U.15%ECON4 Portland State U.2%PLAN4 The U. of Arizona15%GEOG4 U. Colorado Boulder9%ENVS4 U. Iowa8%GEOG4 U. Denver25%BUS & ADMIN2 U. New Hampshire19%NREM3 U. Northern Iowa18%UCOL4 U. Wisconsin Stvns. Pnt.23%NREM2

11. Results Discipline/Field Average Proportion of Courses Architecture16%* Earth Science (Unclassified) 11% Forestry12% Fish and Wildlife12% Geography12% Global or Intl. Studies16%* Natural Resource Environmental Management 28%* Planning11% Average discipline involvement across all schools

12. Discipline Breakdown Comparison Average Role At Individual Schools; Frequency Across All Schools

13. Outliers Ball State University Architecture, 35% American University Global Studies, 39% University of Wisc. Stevens Point Nat. Resource Mgmt., 42% Discipline/Field Average Proportion of Courses Architecture16%* Global or Intl. Studies16%* Natural Resource Environmental Management 28%*

14. Using STARS Data As A Research Tool Limitations Reporting inconsistencies Course sum inconsistencies Dead links Course department/discipline not listed Solution: Calling institution’s STARS liaison Data cleaning Flagging feature (did not use)

15. Limitations Contd.: Definition of “Sustainability Focused Course” Looking Forward: STARS 2.0 STARS 1.2 ER 6 Sustainability focused courses: concentrate on the concept of sustainability including its social, economic, and environmental dimensions, or examine an issue or topic using sustainability as a lens STARS 2.0 AC 1 Sustainability courses: the primary and explicit focus is on sustainability and/or solving one or more major sustainability challenge (e.g. the course contributes toward achieving principles outlined in the Earth Charter). Foundational courses Application of sustainability within a field (usually interdisciplinary) Courses providing skills/knowledge directly related to solving or understanding sustainability challenges Increased Accountability Features Flagging feature Entry spot-checking

16. Looking Forward Next Step in Research: 1. “Bulk up” Geography-offering schools data-set via phone calls, emails 2. Analyze remainder of Gold-rated institutions Does departmental size, department influence at institution, department budget correlate to proportion of sustainability course offerings? Does institutional mission contribute to sustainability course offerings? What is the future for sustainability courses? What is the role of stakeholder demand?

17. Questions and Discussion Makayla Bonney SIU Graduate Fellow MS Candidate, Geography makayla.bonney@gmail.com 309/331.3617

19. Background National Geographic and Geography Education Standards 1984: Five Themes of Geography 1994: Geography Education National Standards Project Two Perspectives of geography education: Spatial and ecological 2011-Present: Daniel Edelson, VP Education Geoliteracy: required an understanding of: Interactions: Human and natural systems Implications: forward thinking, cost v. benefit Interconnections: Place, systems thinking, global perspective