Undergraduate Program Policies
Continuation Policy | Student Expectations and Responsibilities | Grading Rubric
Credit Overlap Policy (Double Majors)
Continuation Policy
What is the Continuation Policy?
While the University has regulations governing scholastic eligibility for continuance, the Program on the Environment (PoE) has set additional requirements of planning and grades for all students in the Environmental Studies (ENVIR) major.
There are two basic criteria for satisfactory progress:
- Create and Maintain Academic Plan
- Grades
Students not meeting the criteria may be removed from the major, but they have the opportunity to communicate with an adviser before this happens. Students are encouraged to frequently review their academic progress and may request an evaluation from an Academic Adviser at any time.
Why have a Continuation Policy?
For students: This policy helps ensure that students make satisfactory progress toward completion of their degree by taking into account degree requirements and course sequences.
For PoE: This policy helps PoE make the best use of limited facilities and resources available. Requiring students in the major to have an academic plan also assists with scheduling course offerings. Additionally, the UW requires departments with additional grade requirements to have a continuation policy.
Basic Criteria for Satisfactory Progress
- Create and Maintain an Academic Plan
All Environmental Studies majors must have an academic plan approved by a PoE academic adviser in order to maintain satisfactory progress.- An academic plan is a schedule of the courses you plan to take for your major mapped out on a quarterly basis. You can find out more information about what goes into the plan here.
- Your plan changes in a way that will affect when you register for Environmental Studies Core or Capstone courses.
- You declare an additional major or minor.
- You need to withdraw from courses required for your degree.
- At least once per academic year to review your academic plan, even if you are following our original plan.
- Grades
Environmental Studies majors must:- Maintain a minimum quarterly cumulative GPA of 2.00.
- Earn a grade of 2.0 or above in each class used to meet major requirements (e.g., foundation courses, core courses, perspectives, and capstone).
- Students who do not do this will have to retake the course or take another course approved to meet that requirement.
- Courses used to satisfy major requirements cannot be taken on a satisfactory/non-satisfactory basis.
Not making ‘Satisfactory Progress’
PoE Academic Advisers will review the status of undergraduate students after each quarter. If a student fails to meet grade requirements, has no academic plan, or is not following the academic plan on file, PoE will take the following actions:
Warning
A PoE adviser will issue a warning letter to Environmental Studies majors that are not making satisfactory progress.
- The warning letter is only issued one time. In subsequent quarters, failing to make satisfactory progress leads to probation for the major.
- If you receive a warning letter, please contact an adviser to address why you are not making satisfactory progress. Your adviser could help:
- Get you connected to study skills workshops or tutoring resources to improve your grades.
- Understand which courses you need to schedule for in order to graduate on time.
- Assist you with transferring to a different major if you are not actively pursuing an Environmental Studies major.
Probation for the Major
If you have received a warning letter and you fail to make satisfactory progress by the end of any subsequent quarter, you will be placed on probation.
- You must meet with a PoE Academic Adviser by the third week of the following quarter to review and revise your academic plan.
Dismissal from the Major
If you are on probation and you either fail to communicate with a PoE adviser or fail to meet the criteria for satisfactory progress by the end of the following quarter, you may be dismissed from the Environmental Studies Major.
- Students dismissed from the major will be transferred to the College of the Environment pre-major or extended pre-major code.
Students will be notified of academic warning, probation, or dismissal through their UW email address.
Appeal Procedures
You can appeal probation or dismissal from the Environmental Studies Major by writing a letter to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator. Please explain any circumstances or provide additional documentation that would explain why your status should be reconsidered.
- The letter and supporting material will be transferred to the PoE Director, who will make the final decision about the appeal.
- Students must submit their appeal no more than 30 days following notification of their probation/dismissal status. The PoE Director will respond within 30 days from receiving the appeal.
Student Expectations and Responsibilities
Environmental Studies students can expect the following:
Grading for ENVIR courses
- Consistent grading policies and procedures across the core courses.
- Access to the grading rubric.
- Ability to easily calculate your approximate grade in a specific course at any point in the quarter.
- Opportunities to meet with an instructor (within reasonable scheduling constraints) to discuss your grades, progress in the course, and recommendations for improvement.
- Ability to contest a grade on a specific assignment or in an entire course in writing to the instructor and/or to the Director of the Program on the Environment. Complaints must be raised in writing in order to protect you from misinterpretation and/or miscommunication.
- Papers and tests graded and returned within a reasonable amount of time, generally before the next assignment is due. In the case of final exams, you should be allowed access to your exam scores and final grades.
Curriculum
- A continuously improving curriculum that responds to changing trends and issues in Environmental Studies and reflects national best practices in Environmental Studies curricula.
- Clearly defined learning goals for each course and clearly defined assignments and means for proving mastery.
- Minimal content overlap in the ENVIR core curriculum, i.e., not asked to read the same texts repeatedly or complete the same assignments across core courses.
Access and Communication
- The opportunity to meet with instructors to ask questions about or discuss course material, either during office hours or during a scheduled appointment.
- Access to the PoE Director at any time (within reasonable scheduling constraints).
- Regularly scheduled opportunities to meet with the PoE Director at “Environmental Cafe” events held once each quarter during Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters.
- Access to an Academic Adviser during regular office hours.
- If accused of academic misconduct, you have the right to due process. If you don’t accept the sanction suggested by the course instructor, you can contest the matter to the Director of the Program on the Environment, or contact the Dean's Representative for Academic Conduct for the College or School within which you are a declared major.
Environmental Studies students are responsible for the following:
- Upholding the standards outlined in the University of Washington Student Conduct Code.
- Practicing academic honesty and integrity in all courses and course-related activities.
- Helping to create a positive learning environment in courses and course-related activities.
- Conducting yourself in a respectful manner in courses and course-related activities.
- Regularly monitoring and consulting your UW email account, course websites, and syllabi for notices, assignments, and deadlines.
- Communicating with instructors in advance (to the best of your abilities) if circumstances prevent you from meeting deadlines or requirements.
- Respecting that others will bring diverse values and opinions to class.
- Annual communication with the PoE Academic Adviser to review and update your academic plan
Grading Rubric
To maintain consistent grading policies across all of our courses, PoE has a standardized grading policy allowing any student to calculate his/her approximate grade at any point in the course. For more details on grading policies at the University of Washington, see the following websites:
The UW Student Guide section on Grading
The UW Faculty Resource on Grading (FROG)
Each course will assign a total amount of possible points during the quarter, including all tests, quizzes, assignments, papers, participation, etc. The number of points for each will be known by the students in advance. Adding up these points will give the total number of points available in the course.
Each assignment will be graded either on a percentage scale, and/or on a point scale.
For instance, a 15 point assignment could receive a 12 out of 15, or an 80%.
If the grading is entirely by percentage within assignment, the weight of each assignment must be indicated.
For instance, if a student receives an 80% on the first test and a 90% on the second, he/she needs to know that the first test is 20% of the final grade, and the second test is 30%, for a running score of (80*.2+90*.3=43/50=86%).
Final grades will be calculated by converting from points to percentage (if the grading is in points), and from percentage to grade points (see table below).
| Grade Point | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 4 | 95-100 |
| 3.9 | 94 |
| 3.8 | 93 |
| 3.7 | 92 |
| 3.6 | 91 |
| 3.5 | 90 |
| 3.4 | 89 |
| 3.3 | 88 |
| 3.2 | 87 |
| 3.1 | 86 |
| 3 | 85 |
| 2.9 | 84 |
| 2.8 | 83 |
| 2.7 | 82 |
| 2.6 | 81 |
| 2.5 | 80 |
| 2.4 | 79 |
| 2.3 | 78 |
| 2.2 | 77 |
| 2.1 | 76 |
| 2 | 75 |
| 1.9 | 74 |
| 1.8 | 73 |
| 1.7 | 72 |
| 1.6 | 71 |
| 1.5 | 70 |
| 1.4 | 69 |
| 1.3 | 68 |
| 1.2 | 67 |
| 1.1 | 66 |
| 1 | 65 |
| 0.9 | 64 |
| 0.8 | 63 |
| 0.7 | 62 |
| 0 | 61-0 |
At any point in the course, students can calculate their running grade (grade to date) by adding up their points, dividing by the total number of possible points, and using this handy table to convert from percentages to grade points.
For instance, as of Halloween, Scott had received the following grades:
| Scott's Score | Out of | Percent of Total Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiz 1 | 8 | 10 | 1.5 |
| Quiz 2 | 9 | 10 | 1.5 |
| Quiz 3 | 3 | 10 | 1.5 |
| Test 1 | 43 | 75 | 11.4 |
| Assignment 1 | 44 | 45 | 6.8 |
| Quiz 4 | 10 | 1.5 | |
| Quiz 5 | 10 | 1.5 | |
| Quiz 6 | 10 | 1.5 | |
| Test 2 | 100 | 15.2 | |
| Assignment 2 | 55 | 8.3 | |
| Final Assignment | 100 | 15.2 | |
| Final Test | 125 | 18.9 | |
| Participation | 100 | 15.2 | |
| TOTAL | 660 | 100 |
His total points to date are 107 out of a possible 150 (Scott didn’t study very well for the first exam). This translates into a 71%, or a grade point of 1.6 for the course to date. Luckily for Scott, he still has just over 77% of the course grade left (or 510 more points), so he has more than enough room to significantly boost his score.
Could Scott still get a 4.0?
Nope. In order to get a 4.0, Scott would have to receive 627 out of a possible 660 points. He needs 520 more points, but he only has 510 to go. The best Scott can do is a 93.5% or a final grade point for the course of 3.8; of course, some instructors would round this up to the next grade point of 3.9. Rewarding such a heroic turn-around would be perfectly reasonable.
Credit Overlap Policy
An Environmental Studies major pursuing either a double major or a double degree is allowed to overlap credits (that is, count credits from one course towards requirements of two programs simultaneously) as follows:
- General Education Requirements: Credits counting towards ‘General Education Requirements’ can overlap without restriction.
- Supporting Courses: Credits counting towards the Biology, Chemistry, and/or Statistics requirement for the Environmental Studies major can overlap without restriction.
- Other Courses: An additional 15 credits of coursework can overlap and count towards requirements of another major. Within this limit, overlapping courses can count towards any requirement in the major except for the Environmental Studies Capstone (ENVIR 490, 491, and 492) or Environmental Studies Departmental Honors requirements.
