Science Elective Policy for CE Program of Study (April 2007)

Students on the CE program of study are required to take 3 credits of an approved science elective, of which the following NAU classes are automatically approved:

BIO 181, PHY 263, CHM 152, or GLG 101:103.

This elective course contributes to the CE Program’s fulfillment the ABET requirement of:

“one year of a combination of college level mathematics and basic sciences (with some experimental experienced) appropriate to the discipline.”

To provide our students, especially students transferring in from other universities or community colleges, a bit of flexibility, the CENE does permit other science courses to fulfill this elective requirement. These “other” courses that satisfy the science elective requirement include:

 Any transfer course deemed equivalent (by the appropriate NAU department) to the above classes.  A science course that is “higher” than the above courses such as BIO 182 or CHM 230 as examples.  Other university-level science courses that are “required for the science major” and include the scientific method of inquiry. Survey courses will typically not satisfy this science elective.

If a student is utilizing the “other” course option of above, the student’s advisor must document via the “Course Equivalency/Substitution” process this substitution.

Students wishing an exception to the above policy must petition the Faculty of the CENE via a memo for their consideration at one of their regularly scheduled meetings. The exception must be explained in a memo that includes sufficient information about the course the student wishes to substitute. The student’s advisor is responsible for taking this petition to the department meeting and completing the necessary follow-up documentation.

Faculty are reminded that the 2008-09 ABET Accreditation requirements for the Civil Engineering Program Criteria will eventually require a change to this CE Science Elective policy in our program and catalog, whereby the emphasis will be to add breadth via “at least one additional area of science”. Likely candidates for this include biology, ecology, geology/geomorphology, and geospatial representation.

Revisions: 4/20/07, 5/29/07 dsl