Survey Says: Faculty Teach Sustainability

The results are in, faculty members teach sustainability!

Most Faculty Interested in Teaching or Already Teaching Sustainability Concepts, in all Academic Divisions.

In Spring and Fall of 2013 Sustainability at Bellevue College surveyed faculty about the use of sustainability concepts in curriculum across campus.  Of the 198 who responded to the survey which included an incentive to participate, 52% reported that they integrate sustainability into their curriculum.

First, a big thank you to faculty members who have chosen to incorporate sustainability in their courses!

Second, for those interested in incorporating sustainability into their curriculum, the Faculty Commons offers the “Integrating Sustainability in your Course” Workshop, which provides faculty with stipends to adapt syllabi with sustainability topics and methods.

All divisions feature courses that integrate sustainability in the curriculum, so a large variety of courses create new opportunities and contexts for students to learn skills and applications.  From Accounting to World Languages, faculty members integrate sustainability concepts into their curriculum.

Challenges to Integrating Sustainability

Of the 33% who don’t incorporate sustainability, 16% feels that it is “infeasible to incorporate sustainability” in the curriculum.  The survey allows faculty to indicate why they do not incorporate sustainability at this time.

  • 59% state that “Sustainability is not a course outcome”
  • 7% say that there’s “no room in the course”
  • 3% indicate that they “do not have time to develop lessons”
  • 31% chose “other” and indicated such reasons as “Unsure how to incorporate it into lessons”

Divisions Integrate Sustainability

Each division integrates sustainability to different degrees.  The following charts demonstrate the percentage of sustainability courses by division and note whether those not integrating it are “interested in incorporating sustainability” or believe it is “not feasible”.

Last Updated January 14, 2014