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Information for Advisors
Advising students through the Earth Sustainability program will require some care. We’ve created this page to aid that process, however, if you have specific questions that are not answered here, please let us know at es@vt.edu.
Who Should Take Earth Sustainability and Why Should a Student Take It?
Encourage the student to think about Earth Sustainability as an interdisciplinary opportunity to meet CLE area goals that are not specified by a major’s curriculum. This series of courses builds life skills and knowledge structures in addition to providing students with abundant content knowledge. If a student has 20 credits of unspecified CLE electives and/or free electives, AND they can generate credit “space” in their freshman and sophomore year schedules, AND their required courses for their major do not conflict with the course schedule, they are candidates for Earth Sustainability. More often then not, students who want to do this will figure out how to do it.
Cohort Overview:
Cohort 1 (2004-2006) 14 credits total: Most students in this cohort graduated in fall 2007 and spring 2008 so advising them should no longer necessary. See cohort 2 for CLE areas covered by cohort 1.
Cohort 2 (2006-2008) 16 credits total, 4 semesters of UCCS 2984 for 4 credits each: Students who successfully completed this series will have met university CLE areas 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 (note that the university requires only 1 credit of area 6 and some colleges require 3 credits of area 6). Area 1 was met through COMM 1015-1016 Communications Skills. Area 5 was met through the major’s course requirements.
Cohort 3 Math 2984 Overview (2008-2010). With cohort 3, we are introducing a quantitative literacy curriculum that meets area 5 goals. This curriculum is embedded directly into the ES series and is NOT a separate course of study. We are assuming that those students who use quantitative skills regularly in their program of study, will embrace this part of the program readily yet continue to hone their quantitative literacy and problem solving skills. Other students who are less familiar with quantitative means for addressing problems may find this applied curriculum more approachable than more traditional stand-alone math courses. With the exception of the College of Engineering, all ES students will be enrolled automatically in MATH 2984 because all students including the engineers will be using quantitative reasoning skills to address problems (so they may as well get credit for their work).
-- All majors other than the College of Engineering (2008-2010) 20 to 22 credits total, 4 semesters of UCCS 2984 for 4 credits each and 4 semesters of MATH 2984 for 1 credit each in the first year which will probably increase to 2 credits in the second year. Students who successfully complete all four semesters of this series will have met CLE areas 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (note that the university requires only 1 credit of area 6 and some colleges require 3 credits of area 6). Area 1 can be met through AP, English Composition (ENGL 1105-1106), or Communications Skills (COMM 1015-1016) or any other course approved for area 1.
-- Majors in the College of Engineering (2008- 2010) 16 credits total, 4 semesters of UCCS 2984 for 4 credits each. College of Engineering students will not be enrolled in MATH 2984 (area 5). UCCS 2984 is approved for areas 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 so can be used to fulfill any unspecified core area elective. Area 1 can be met through AP, English Composition (ENGL 1105-1106), Communications Skills (COMM 1015-1016) or any other course approved for area 1.
CLE Course Substitutions:
For majors that require specific content courses for areas of the CLE, in most cases, Earth Sustainability does not substitute for those required content courses. For example, if a major requires economics (area 3) or chemistry (area 4), those content courses are still needed for the major even though they also fulfill CLE area goals.
In a few cases, Earth Sustainability can substitute for content-area courses. For example, the content of Resources and the Environment (GEOS 1024) is sufficiently similar to content within Earth Sustainability, that we are comfortable suggesting that Earth Sustainability can be substituted for Resources and the Environment (GEOS 1024). If you suspect that a content substitution can be made, please contact Barbara Bekken or Joan Marie to discuss this substitution.
Scheduling Earth Sustainability:
Earth Sustainability is not easy for a student to schedule so your support is crucial to their success. The student must ascertain that:
- His/her major has at least 20 to 22 credits of flexibility either in unspecified CLE area electives or free electives (16 credits for engineers).
- His/her schedule can be arranged to accommodate 5 credits of Earth Sustainability each term for four terms beginning the freshman year. (Engineering students are not taking the math credits so they need to generate 4 credits of flexibility.)
- His/her required coursework for the major does not conflict with the T, Th 12:30 to 1:45 lecture schedule or the alternating Friday afternoon 12:30 to 3:20 workshop/lab/field trip meeting times during the freshman or sophomore years. Students can choose from one of three timeslots for small-group discussion sections: T, Th at either 2, 3:30, or 5 PM. The alternating Friday afternoon meeting times are challenging for architecture students whose studios overlap with these Friday labs.
Manual Process for Allowing Earth Sustainability to Fulfill Area Credit thus Satisfying DARS
It is important that each advisor work with the appropriate person in his/her department or associate dean’s office who processes CLE area substitutions to ensure that Earth Sustainability fulfills the CLE area requirements on each student’s DARS. Currently, all CLE area credit for ES must be done manually.
The Banner function to “allow” Earth Sustainability to fulfill the CLE area requirements is a substitution function. The person who process substitutions in your department or college should be familiar with the “allow” function so please consult with her/him. This substitution function will need to done manually for cohorts 1 through 3. It is much easier to do this well in advance of graduation so that the student sees that Earth Sustainability has fulfilled CLE area credit when that student runs a DARS. This substitution can be done even if the student is currently enrolled in the ES series.
Partial CLE Area Credit for Students Who Do Not Complete the ES Series
Some students will not complete the ES series but will ask for partial area credit. Here is what we recommend but the ultimate decision to allow partial area credit is with the advisor or college academic dean.
If the student completes:
One semester of ES |
No area credit |
Two semesters of ES |
The equivalent of one 3-credit course in each of areas 2, 3, and 4. |
Three semesters of ES |
The equivalent of one 3-credit course in each CLE areas 2, 3, 4, and 5 (if taking Math 2984) and the equivalent of the 3-credit course in area 7. |
Four semesters of ES |
All of university CLE areas 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 where area 6 is 1 credit (this is the university’s CLE requirement—some colleges require additional area 3 and 6 courses.) |
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