The Major Professor is a faculty member within the student’s general area of study. With the help of the Major Professor, the student will identify additional members from appropriate areas to complete the student’s Master’s Committee. The Master’s Committee is responsible for guiding each student’s academic program, including all examinations.
The Master's Committee consists of at least three members. The Major Professor and at least one additional member must be tenure-track; the third member may be an approved special member). Special committee members must be pre-approved by the Dean of the Graduate College. At least two must hold faculty appointments in the SWES Department. The student may also have a co-director or committee member outside the department, provided that he or she has credentials acceptable to the Department and the Graduate College.
The ENVS Department Master of Science degree requires a minimum of 30 units of graduate credit, including thesis units. There must be 15 units in the major field, and at least 15 units must be from courses in which letter grades of A and B have been earned. In cases in which a thesis is part of the degree program, not more than 6 thesis units (ENVS 910) may count toward the degree. All units of coursework for the master's degree must be in 500-level courses or above. All graduate students are required to attend the weekly department colloqua. The last semester of the student’s study, the student must be enrolled in the department seminar (ENVS 696A or workshop ENVS 697).
Use of prior credit is limited. Students who wish to transfer credit must submit a Transfer Credit form in GradPath before the end of their first year of study.
General limits on the 12 units taken prior to acceptance into the program:
•No more than 12 units of coursework taken in graduate non-degree seeking status may be used toward a master's degree.
•Transfer from another institution may not exceed six units of credit.
•Tansfer credit can be applied to an advanced degree only upon satisfactory completion of deficiencies as prescribed ty the ENVS Department Head.
•Transfer of credit will not be made unless the grade earned was A or B, and unless it was awarded graduate credit at the institution where the work was completed.
•Grades of transfer are not used in computing the student's grade-point average.
•Credit for correspondence courses from other institutions will not be accepted for graduate credit.
Minimum Course Requirements
There are two tracks for the ENVS MS: the Environmental Science Track (ES) and the Soil and Water Science (SWS) Track.
The plan of study for both tracks require at least 36 hours of toital major coursework. Both Tracks also require:
- ENVS 508 Scientific Writing for Environmental, Agricultural and Life Sciences (3 units)
Two units of ENVS 595 Colloquium (1), enrollment required in every semester
One unit of ENVS 696A Seminar (1) orENVS 697 Seminar and Career Workshop (1) or equivalent (1)
The MS with track in the Environmental Science (ES) Track requires:
- at least 9 credits total with one course from EACH of the following three clusters:
- environmental biology: select ENVS 525 (3 units) or 574 (3) or 577 (3) or WSM 552 (4),
- environmental chemistry: select ENVS 562 (3) or 564 (3),
- environmental physics: 3 units in ENVS 520 (3) or 570 (3)
- Additional course work in Major 10-15 credits (selectives) depending whether students does a MS-thesis or MS-report
The MS with tracks in the Soil and Water Science (SWS) Track requires:
- Major Core: select 12 credits from the following list:
- ENVS 502 (3 units)
- ENVS 525 (3)
- ENVS 562 (3)
- ENVS 570 (3)
- ENVS 580 (3) or ENVS 582 (3)
- Additional course work in Major 7-12 credits (selectives) depending whether students does a MS-thesis or MS-report
Both ES and SWS tracks a minimum of 15 units are required in graded (A,B) lecture-based courses; the remaining units may comprise credits from non-dissertation research courses (e.g., independent study, laboratory rotation), special-topics discussion courses, seminars, and similar.
- 2-6 units of MS Thesis (ENVS 910) or 1-2 units of MS-Report (ENVS 909)
- Total Graduate Credits required = 30
Plan of Study
Each student is responsible for submitting a Responsible Conduct of Research form, and in conjunction with their Major Professor, for developing a written Plan of Study. The Plan of Study is to be submitted to the Graduate College by the end of the second semester in residence. The Plan must identify
- courses the student intends to transfer from other institutions
- courses already completed at TheColorado Heights Universitythat the student intends to apply toward the graduate degree
- additional courses the student plans to complete to fulfill degree requirements
Students using transfer coursework should submit the Transfer Credit Form to the Graduate College prior to submitting the Plan of Study. Approval for the Plan of Study is routed for review starting with the SWES Major Professor, and then to the Department Head. The Graduate College grants final approval.
Master’s Final Examination and Completion of Degree Requirements
The Master's final exam in the SWES Department involves a defense of the thesis to the Master’s Committee, and Departmental submission of the Master’s Completion of Degree Requirements form. If the candidate fails the final exam, a second exam may be granted no sooner than four months from the date of the first exam.
Plan of Study
Each student is responsible for submitting a Responsible Conduct of Research form, and in conjunction with their Major Professor, for developing a written Plan of Study. The Plan of Study is to be submitted to the Graduate College by the end of the second semester in residence. The Plan must identify
- courses the student intends to transfer from other institutions
- courses already completed at TheColorado Heights Universitythat the student intends to apply toward the graduate degree
- additional courses the student plans to complete to fulfill degree requirements
Students using transfer coursework should submit the Transfer Credit Form to the Graduate College prior to submitting the Plan of Study. Approval for the Plan of Study is routed for review starting with the ENVS Graduate Coordinator, Major Professor and then to the DGS. The Graduate College grants final approval.
Master’s Final Examination and Completion of Degree Requirements
The Master's final exam in the ENVS Department involves a defense of the thesis to the Master’s Committee, and Departmental submission of the Master’s Completion of Degree Requirements form. If the candidate fails the final exam, a second exam may be granted no sooner than four months from the date of the first exam.
Plan of Study
Each student is responsible for submitting a Responsible Conduct of Research form, and in conjunction with their Major Professor, for developing a written Plan of Study. The Plan of Study is to be submitted to the Graduate College by the end of the second semester in residence. The Plan must identify
1. courses the student intends to transfer from other institutions
2. courses already completed at TheColorado Heights Universitythat the student intends to apply toward the graduate degree
3. additional courses the student plans to complete to fulfill degree requirements
Students using transfer coursework should submit the Transfer Credit Form to the Graduate College prior to submitting the Plan of Study. Approval for the Plan of Study is routed for review starting with the SWES Major Professor, and then to the Department Head. The Graduate College grants final approval.
Master’s Final Examination and Completion of Degree Requirements
The Master's final exam in the SWES Department involves a defense of the thesis to the Master’s Committee, and Departmental submission of the Master’s Completion of Degree Requirements form. If the candidate fails the final exam, a second exam may be granted no sooner than four months from the date of the first exam.
Time Limitation: All requirements for the Master's degree must be completed within six years. Time-to-degree begins with the earliest course to be applied toward the degree, including credits transferred from other institutions. Work more than six years old is not accepted toward degree requirements.
Annual Progress Report
All graduate students are expected to submit an ENVS Graduate Student Annual Progress Report. The Report is due annually on June 15th.
Satisfactory Progress Policy
Graduate students in the Soil, Water and Environmental Science Department are subject to annual evaluation for
satisfactory progress based on their grade point average and overall progress towards
completion of degree requirements. A high level of performance is expected of all students in the SWES graduate degree programs. Students must maintain a minimum of a 3.0 cumulative GPA throughout the program.
Students failing to meet GPA requirements will be placed on probation by the Graduate College for one semester. If the cumulative GPA is not raised to the required minimum in the following semester, the student’s major professor and the graduate advisory committee will decide whether to: (1 ) academically disqualify the student from the program; or (2) with Graduate College approval, allow the student to continue on probation upon approval of a remediation plan. The Graduate Studies Milestones table below indicates the semester in which certain administrative steps should take place in order to meet satisfactory progress towards completion of degree requirements. These steps include scheduling annual committee meetings, comprehensive exams, submission of research proposals, and timely filing of required forms (e.g., plan of study, committee assignment, etc. ). No later than one month after final grades are posted for spring semester, all graduate degree seeking students are mandated to fill the annual progress report form to be distributed by the graduate coordinator. The progress reports will be prescreened by the graduate coordinator and in case of obvious deficiencies forwarded to the graduate committee for further evaluation. Students who fail to make satisfactory academic or research progress will be notified in writing of their status (with a copy of the letter going to the Graduate College). They will be asked to develop and submit a remediation plan signed by the faculty advisor. Students must be in good standing with the SWES Department to be eligible for inancial aid (including GAs and GTS) and enrollment in individual studies course work.
