Advising and General Curriculum Information

Advising

All students majoring in civil and environmental engineering will have an assigned faculty member as their academic advisor.  Students are assigned an advisor at the beginning of their first year or when transferring into the program.

Students are sent an e-mail to meet with their advisors during the pre-registration process each semester.  The students, with the help of the advisor as needed, plan their coming semester schedule and create a “wish list”.  The University then schedules a block of time based on the student’s academic year in which they can register for  classes once they obtain a pin number from your advisor.  In the event your advisor is unavailable, you can always consult with the department Chair.

GRADING POLICIES

Letter grades on a scale of A to F are given by faculty at the university.  Civil engineering faculty may assign whole letter grades or may grant plus and minus grades.  If you are in doubt as to the grading procedure used in any course, check with the instructor.

Passing grades:

A = excellent
B = good
C = satisfactory
D = low level passing

Failing grades:

F = failed
L = stopped attending after 10 weeks (Note: same as F)

Non-credit grades:

W = dropped without penalty
H = an audited class

Incomplete grades:

I = course work incomplete (form required).  A grade of incomplete must be made up at the discretion of the instructor.  However, this action must be taken no later than one calendar year from the end of the semester in which the student was registered for the work.  At that time an incomplete grade will automatically change to an F.  Thus, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that any incomplete work has been made up within this time frame and a grade change form has been submitted by the instructor.

Academic Standards

In addition to meeting all University academic requirements, a civil and environmental engineering student must maintain a 2.0 GPA overall, and a 2.0 GPA in the major.

Civil and environmental engineering students cannot take courses on a “Pass/Fail” basis and earn credit toward their degrees. The only exception is CIE 100 and 394 and courses that are not applied toward graduation.  In other words, courses beyond the 129 credit hours required for graduation can be taken “Pass/Fail”.  Students should also be aware that any courses taken for post-baccalaureate credit, e.g., MS degree, cannot be taken “Pass/Fail”.

Courses numbered 500-599 are graduate courses that may only be taken by undergraduates with a cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 3.0 who have permission from their academic advisor.

With the exception of students transferring from other universities or programs, substitutions are generally allowed only under exceptional circumstances.  Even then, the course substituted must be highly similar to the normally required course and be at a higher academic level.  For substitutions to be allowed, they must be approved in advance by the current department Chair.

POLIY ON SELECTED STUDIES COURSES

Registration for a selected studies course (CIE 498) requires approval of the Department Chair.

1. The student should select and meet with the proposed instructor to develop the content and requirements for the selected topic.

2. The student must submit to the Department Chair a request for approval of the course.  The request should be signed by the proposed instructor and student.  The request should include:

  • Topic or topics to be studied
  • Goals of course
  • Relationship of course to student’s education and career goals
  • Hours of credit to be awarded
  • Resources available
  • Outline of proposed work
  • Type and timing of reports or examinations.

(Request should be submitted before the beginning of the normal registration period.)

3. The department chair either schedules the CIE 498 course with an appropriate title and registers student or denies the request.

4.  The advising faculty member may appeal the chair’s decision to the Curriculum Committee.