Landscape Architecture Academic Policy
Students admitted to the Department of Architecture are governed by UNL scholastic standards and requirements. Students should consult the University Bulletin to read these policies. Univeristy policies and guidelines are also available for review online at Academic Services Handbook .Comprehensive Education Program
All students are required to meet the requirements of UNL's Comprehensive Education Program. The Essential Studies requirement maps out a minimum experience for an undergraduate student in a broad range of university offerings. The Integrative Studies requirement is intended to engage students in actively developing their ability and desire to analyze, evaluate and communicate complex material and positions. Both Pre-Architecture and Pre-Interior Design students should keep track of their CEP courses from the start of their academic careers.
Pass/No Pass
None of the classes in Department of Architecure are offered Pass/No Pass (P/NP), but a maximum of 12 P/NP credit hours of humanities, social sciences, or open electives may be taken from departments outside the College of Architecture. P/NP credit is not allowed to fulfill the required courses in English composition, art, art history, natural science, computer science, speech, physics, or math, nor can P/NP credit be used to fulfill the “professional elective” requirements in the architecture or interior design curricula.
Incomplete grades
Incomplete grades are granted only for reasons outlined in the policy statement adopted by the University Senate. Incomplete grades are only used when a student is unable to complete the course requirements because of serious illness, military service, hardship, or death in the immediate family. (Lack of planning on the student’s part is not an acceptable reason for requesting an incomplete.) In addition, incompletes are only given if the student has substantially completed the major requirements of the course. College of Architecture students receiving an incomplete grade are permitted a maximum of two weeks to complete all course work and remove the incomplete when a course is a prerequisite to classes in which they are currently enrolled. Failure to complete course work during this two-week period and remove the incomplete grade could result in the automatic dismissal from courses taken the following semester that require the course that has remained incomplete as a prerequisite.
College-Degree-Major-Advisor Change
A CDMA Form needs to be filed if a student wants to change colleges, degrees, majors or minors, or advisors. The forms are available in the Dean’s Office and have complete instructions to follow listed on them. Completion of this form is required even if you wish to change the degree program within the same college.
Drop/Add
The University’s drop/add policy is outlined in the Schedule of Classes (printed on newsprint) each semester. In general, classes can only be added during the first week of the semester. You may drop a class from your schedule anytime during the first eleven weeks of the semester. After the eleventh week, a withdrawal from the class is possible only for extraordinary circumstances and will be granted only by petition. Grounds for extraordinary withdrawal include: medical illness, death in immediate family, personal trauma, or complete absence from all courses without officially withdrawing.
The specific deadline for dropping a class is listed in the Schedule of Classes. Students can use the NRoll telephone registration system (402-472-7272) to drop or add classes. Please be warned, failure to attend classes does not constitute proper notification of dropping a class. If you are unable to attend classes you need to see or telephone your instructor as soon as possible. Failure to do so may jeopardize your chances for dropping the class. If you wish to drop all your courses, you need to use the Withdrawal from the University form. See the section below for a description of this process.
The Drop/Add form is available in the Department Office on the counter.
Academic Probation and Dismissal
First-year pre-architecture and pre-interior design majors are required to maintain a minimum of 2.0 semester GPA and a 2.0 cumulative GPA or they will be placed on probation. Second-year prearchitecture and pre-interior design majors are required to maintain a minimum 2.6 semester GPA and a 2.6 cumulative GPA or they will be placed on academic probation. Third and fourth year architecture students are required to maintain a minimum 2.6 GPA each semester. Further, at the end of each of these years, students whose GPA for the year is between 2.6 and 3.0 will be required to submit for review of the designated faculty committee their studio work for that year for consideration of continuance in the program. Those students whose work is judged to be below standard will be required to repeat that year’s studio sequence. Interior design majors are required to maintain a minimum 2.6 cumulative GPA or they will be placed on academic probation.
BSD students on probation will not be allowed to take any new architecture or interior design courses without permission of the department chairperson. Students will, however, be allowed to retake architecture and interior design courses while on probation. Students are not permitted to take the same architecture or interior design courses more than three times.
Students who have been placed on academic probation by Department of Architecure for two consecutive semesters will be transferred out of the College of Architecture to General Studies.
Please remember classes taken during the summer affect your academic record, and poor performance will result in academic probation.
Withdrawal from the University
Dropping all classes in which you are enrolled constitutes a withdrawal from the University. Before the mid-point of the semester you can withdraw from all your classes using the NRoll system (472-7272, transaction code 9), file an Application for Withdrawal at the Registration Service Counter in the Administration Building, or send a letter to the Registration Office. After the halfway point one can NOT withdraw using the NRoll System.
If you are receiving financial aid it is strongly recommended that you visit with this office before you initiate the withdraw. You may be liable for the return of funds.
Removal of D and F Grades
An undergraduate student receiving a “D” or “F” for an overall course grade may remove that grade by retaking the same course again and receiving a higher grade. The higher grade will be used to compute the student’s cumulative grade point average, but all grades appear on the student’s transcript. The P/NP option cannot be used to remove a “D” or “F” grade from the undergraduate grade point average. Please be advised that once a course is no longer taught and no longer offered by the department it is not possible to remove a “D” or “F” grade through substitution or any other means.
Should you perform poorly in many courses during a semester it is possible to bankrupt the entire semester’s grades. This is a drastic action, and should be pursued only after a visit with your advisor.
A significant criteria for acceptance into the third year of the architecture or interior design programs is grade point average (GPA) and design GPA. Therefore, an effective strategy is to retake classes when one has performed poorly. However, you are encouraged to consult your advisor prior to retaking course work.
Grade Appeals
A student wishing to appeal a grade should initially contact the course instructor. If the dispute cannot be resolved with the instructor it is recommended that the student meet with his/her advisor.
Having exhausted these avenues a student may then choose to make a formal appeal. The appeal is in the form of a written statement from the student to the Department Chair. The Department Chair will then forward the letter to the Department of Architecture Faculty Affairs Committee. The deadline for filing a grade appeal (which includes a written statement from the student) is 30 calendar days after the first day of classes of the next regular semester (fall or spring). Appeals filed after the deadline will not be heard.
Course Substitutions
Students wishing to propose a course substitution in their curriculum of study must petition the Department of Architecture Professional Program Committee by completing a substitution form.
The substitution form should be filled out in consultation with your academic advisor. All proposals must include a detailed explanation for the substitution. The student’s advisor must review and sign the completed form before it can be submitted to the Professional Program Committee. It is very important that these procedures by followed for an expeditious response to the proposal. Substitutions must be approved before enrolling in a substitute course.
Students are advised the Professional Program Committee meets once a month, and will not consider any substitution proposals without a completed form and explanation signed by the advisor. The process to obtain a course substitution is lengthy and cannot be accomplished at the “eleventh hour” to compensate for poor academic planning!
Copies of the Department of Architecure substitution form are available in the Department office.
Independent Study Contracts
Credit hours earned through independent study (ARCH 398, 498, 598, 898) need to be formally arranged with the faculty member supervising the work prior to registration for those credit hours. This is accomplished through completion of the Independent Study Contract available in the Department Office. It must have the signature of the faculty sponsor and be filed with the Department office in order to be valid. Students may take a total of 9 credit hours of independent study.
Ownership of Classwork
Student work may be retained for record and accrediting purposes. All other student work must be retrieved by the student no later than 7 working days past the end of the semester or it will be “disposed”. The Department of Architecure does not store student work or materials.
