How We Learn

SF State is dedicated to educating our students about sustainability. SF State was an early adopter of a sustainability graduation requirement and offers numerous sustainability-focused academic programs.

• All baccalaureate degrees are required to take at least one Environmental Sustainability (ES) course to meet their General Education requirements, along with Social Justice, Global Perspectives and American Ethnic and Racial Minorites requirements.  
• Starting in 2022, SF State offers a Climate Change Certificate. The Climate Change Certificate program gives students a foundational understanding of climate change’s causes, effects and solutions so they can take action in their communities. While some of the courses that count toward the certificate are in the sciences, the program is not exclusively for science majors. In fact, the program was designed so that students from any major can take any course — there are few to no prerequisites. It’s also open to matriculated and non-matriculated students and students who aren’t working toward a specific degree.
• SF State offers 445 sustainabity-focused and sustainability-inclusive courses across 78 departments.
• SF State offers several undergraduate and graduate majors with a sustainability focus including environmental studies, earth sciences, urban studies & planning, interdisciplinary marine & estuarine sciences, and more.
• SF State’s Romberg Tiburon Campus an extraordinary 53 acre bayside campus on the Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County, California, is an ideal setting for realizing the synergistic and creative potential of these outstanding programs for the region. Access to the water through a deep water port is critical for marine science and education, and a rare asset in SF Bay. Surprisingly, no other institution of higher education has a marine science laboratory located on SF Bay; SF State’s is the only one.
• SF State's Sierra Nevada Field Campus immerses students in one of the most beautiful and wild regions of the northern Sierra Nevada as they study connections with the natural environment. The campus allows students of the environmental sciences get hands on experience. Students live at the campus in tents during their enrollment, creating an immersive learning experience. Courses cover a range of disciplines and share a focus on conservation and the natural environment. Courses are open to the public. Courses range from a few days to a week and students may enroll in consecutive sessions.

Updated January 2025 

• Add sustainability learning outcomes (SLO) to more degree programs.
• Have every student at SFSU take a course in climate justice before they graduate by 2027. 
• Add climate justice to 40 courses. 
• Graduate 150 students with the Climate Change Certificate by 2027. 
  • As of November 2024: 97 graduates
• Graduate 30 students with the Climate Justice Education Certificate by 2027. 
• Have 40 students serve as Climate Ambassadors on campus by 2027. 
  • As of November 2024: 7 students have served as Climate Ambassadors
• Have 35 students serve as Climate Action Fellows by 2027. 
  • As of November 2024: 15 students have served as Climate Action Fellows
• 40 faculty will have expanded their climate related interdisciplinary research and creative work by 2027. 
  • As of November 2024: 14 faculty have received mini-grants
• 130 faculty will have created new Climate Change curriculum that is grounded in social justice for their courses by 2027. 
  • As of November 2024: 34 faculty/staff/students have participated in FLCs 
• Train 25 students as climate justice leaders through formal positions as Climate Justice interns and Climate Change Certificate Steering Committee members. 

STARS recognizes institutions that have formal education programs and courses that address sustainability with the intent of preparing future leaders to address sustainability challenges. SF State was an early adopter of a sustainability graduation requirement and offers numerous sustainability-focused academic programs. We have room to improve in the way we track sustainability-focused courses and research. We encourage faculty members to notify us if their courses or research are not listed in the STARS report.