The quality of education from Environmental Design will continue to be world-class with in-person events and more online resources to meet your design interests. For the first time, you will be able to live in a learning community among other incoming ENVD students while having access both remotely and in-person to key resources that will further your success in your studio and tech classes. You will have access to flexible working spaces, first-year mentoring and academic support, and site visits to advance your education and ensure a strong first-year experience.
No, these events will be virtual this fall to ensure a wider participation of students, staff and faculty. One of the main goals for this day is for you to meet your Environmental Design peers, faculty and staff. You will be invited to online webinars, student panels and other fun interactive sessions. More information will be emailed to you on behalf of the New Student and Family Programs Office by early August.
Environmental Design first-year students have been pre-enrolled into 11 credits out of the 14-16 recommended credits for the first semester. The New Student & Family Programs Office will notify students of the updated enrollment windows by mid-July. You will need to enroll in one additional course, either general education or other course, that will be identified with your advisor. Enrollment for first year students will begin on July 20 and you can select your enrollment window through the Buff Portal. If you need to make a change to any of your pre-enrolled courses, you will need to meet with an advisor. All pre-enrolled courses have a drop hold which requires advisor approval before being moved around. Once your enrollment window closes, open enrollment for all students will be available again on Aug. 3. This is another opportunity for students to revise their fall course schedule, if appropriate. Please contact your academic advisor if you have any questions.
Starting on July 16 (enrollment periods display in Buff Portal).
A typical first-year Environmental Design student’s schedule includes two 8-week design studios, two Environmental Design lecture courses, a technology course, a Research Colloquium and a General Education course. Review the Major Curriculum Guides here.
CU expects to receive AP and IB scores mid- to late-July, and the Admissions Office will post any AP or IB earned college credit to student records by the end of July.
Contact your academic advisor for assistance.
Possibly, but students may experience some limitations in their ability to switch around their classes due to cohorting. You will need to work directly with your academic advisor to change or drop an ENVD course. You will not be able to make the change yourself due to a drop consent on each of the ENVD classes.
Students may contact the Admissions Office to see if they are eligible to change major and/or college.
To support safety and reduce the number of people each student comes into contact with, we will be housing students based on their academic program. This will allow students to live and take classes with the same small group. Our new cohorts will support student interaction, connection and safety due to their intentional “community within a community” design. You will have the opportunity to connect with other Environmental Design students who share similar professional and extracurricular interests and create opportunities to collaborate on class projects. For Fall 2020, most Environmental Design first-year students will live in Willard Hall. This residence hall is central to campus and located next to the Center for Community. If you have a question about your housing or room assignment, please contact the Housing Office.
The Housing Office will be notifying students throughout the summer, with all students receiving their room assignment on or before August 3. See the Housing FAQ for more information.
First-year freshman students who are commuting to campus will also be cohorted, which means they will also have a local community through Commuting Buffs.
Housing is unable to offer any assignment changes before move-in. Please refer to the housing updated timeline for the dates assignment information. At this time, room change options after move-in have not been determined. Please contact the Housing Office for additional questions.
The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is your first-year experience. All students who have accepted their offer of admission are automatically enrolled into ELP. This program is designed to provide academic and social community programs that advance your education and collegiate experience through collaboration and support from students who have already completed their first-year in ENVD. All of our programs are opt-out versus opt-in which means you have a choice in which programs connect to your individual interests and needs. Students who participated in 0 events last year walked away with an average GPA of 2.98 after their first-year and students who participate in 6+ events per semester, had an average GPA of 3.65. This mentor team wants to see you succeed. If you have further questions in the meantime, email dylan.west@colorado.edu or check out our page for further information. Those who participate in 18 events over the academic year, uphold a 3.5 gpa by end of Spring 2021 and maintain full-time standing (12 credits or higher) will be eligible for a $500.00 studio supplies scholarship for their second year.
Designers Without Boundaries is a Scholarship Student Support Service program intended for first-generation students, historically underrepresented students and student allies of these populations. The mission is to enrich the academic experience of students through inclusive excellence and provide opportunities to build community with other students, staff and faculty in meaningful ways that promote a collaborative, cooperative and supportive environment. Incoming first-year students who identify as students of color, are Pell Grant eligible, and/or are first-generation students can apply to DWB through the general CU scholarship application or can contact Fernando.Martinez@colorado.edu for more information. Learn more.
The blend of in-person, hybrid, remote and online courses that will be offered in fall 2020 does not diminish the quality and value of a degree from CU Boulder.
The main accreditation criteria for our courses remain the same whether they are taught in person, online or remotely: our courses must involve regular and substantive instructor interaction with students. With remote and online teaching, faculty and instructors are still able to:
- Provide regular instruction and interact regularly with their students.
- Be proactive and available in providing information or responding to students’ questions about the content of the course.
- Provide full and substantive assessments and regular feedback on students’ coursework.
Faculty across campus continue to incorporate best practices for teaching and learning in various teaching modalities into the design of their courses.
In addition, the Center for Teaching & Learning has partnered with Continuing Education, the Office of Information Technology and the Office of Academic Innovation to offer workshops and provide resources and individual consultations for faculty on effective, evidence-based practices for remote and online teaching.
We are also prioritizing classes for in-person delivery whose academic outcomes are difficult to achieve virtually (e.g., computer labs, performance classes, studios).
Finally, the Boulder campus is going to great lengths to modify our campus operations in a way that will allow us to safely provide on-campus experiences for our students. The Boulder campus continues to make significant investments in our COVID-19 health and safety infrastructure in order to provide a safe learning and working environment for our students, staff and faculty.
Students will only be able to visit students within their own residence hall. Otherwise, we suggest to socially distance and meet outside.
We have greatly increased online capability. Students can actually receive counseling online, which includes a fully embedded therapist in Environmental Design. Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) will also be open by appointment should you prefer an in-person experience. The embedded therapist assigned to your college/school will be doing telehealth for fall 2020.
This is also actually why CU has chosen to continue with roommate pairings. We believe that connection is critical for CU students. Lastly, the cohorting by college model is in response to limit intermingling and support contact tracing for the fall, but it is also because we know students do better when connected in smaller cohorts. This has actually been a challenge at CU for a long time, we are a large university and students can feel alienated. By moving to the cohort by college model, we are better-supporting students where they live to connect with one another.
As for ENVD, all incoming students will also have opportunities to engage with their peers through a fully embedded first-year experience program in Environmental Design called the Emerging Leaders Program, which offers one-on-one mentoring, community engagement programming, and academic support as your student navigates some of their key assignments in first-year. Community is a key part of the ENVD experience and the staff and faculty do a great job at building out ways to engage with all students entering ENVD for fall 2020.
The answer is no unless the university residence halls made the decision to fully close. Otherwise, you would leave your belongings and just take what you need as usual for a typical break, and then return to the same room for the spring semester.
All of our required supplies for ENVD students can be found here. A copy of this document can also be found in your student's online orientation experience. We encourage students to be prepared with a sketchbook and a series of sketching pens, of various sizes listed, for the first day and they can accumulate additional supplies as the projects continue, or you can choose to purchase a majority of the supplies upfront. The choice is yours but sometimes students learn what works best for them as they go especially in our 8-week studios.
Questions regarding our testing process and procedures can be found on the Road Map to Fall 2020 website.
