Undergraduate Advising Guide |
IntroductionWelcome to the University of Tennessee’s Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department (BESS). The purpose of this Undergraduate Advising Guide is to provide you with background information essential in making decisions regarding your study program and course selection. Understanding this material clearly will help you maximize the benefits of your college education. Our core belief is that while faculty facilitate learning, they can not make students learn; learning is ultimately the student’s responsibility. Ideally, our graduates are not just technically competent engineers and scientists, but good communicators with professional skills and the desire and ability for life-long learning.During your time at the UTK BESS, you will have many opportunities to learn, both inside and outside the classroom--take advantage of them. Enrich yourself by learning about your profession’s history, about ethics and values in science and engineering, about art and literature and music. Get involved in the departmental, college, university or greater Knoxville community. To do all this will require creativity, organization, and discipline on your part, but it will pay rich dividends. Contact your advisor if you feel you need help with organizational or time management skills. Services are available on campus to help you with such issues. Students and their advisors must make many decisions in planning academic programs. Choices include: majors, concentrations, elective courses, substitutions, dropping courses, and many others. All engineering and science programs are rigorous, and few electives are available. The Environmental and Soil Science program has very few free electives, and there are none in Biosystems Engineering. In that program, all electives are designated (design, technical, general education, etc.) Courses that do not meet these designated elective criteria cannot be used to meet graduation requirements. For this reason, regardless of your program of study, you should consult with your academic advisor before selecting elective courses. After-the-fact approval of course substitutions may not be possible. The Environmental and Soil Sciences program allows more flexibility in electives, but close coordination with your advisor is still important. Failure to do so can result in delayed graduation. Another problem sometimes faced by students and advisors involves dropping courses after the normal deadline (late drops). The UTK policy on late drops is clear and is strictly enforced. Advisors will not write letters of support unless the request meets the UTK requirements. This document is provided to help both students and advisors in making correct decisions. Our objective is to provide the best possible educational experience for each student, insuring that university requirements and ABET accreditation criteria are met. |