College Eight has a three quarter core course.

The courses are taught by senior tenured professors from the Social Science, Physical and Biological Science, and Engineering Divisions of UCSC.

The goal of the core course sequence is to provide students with a solid scientific and policy foundation for environmental citizenship.

Each of these three courses qualifies for General Education Credit, and at the completion of all three courses students receive a College Eight Certificate of Green Citizenship.

Here are the details:

Fall Quarter:

CLEI 81A (The Environment and Us), taught by Ravi Rajan, Provost of College Eight (Department of Environmental Studies); and 

CLEI 80 A or B (Environment and Society), taught by College Eight and UCSC Writing Program Faculty.

General Education Credit: TA; and C1/C2

Note: BOTH courses are mandatory for all freshmen. 

Winter Quarter:

CLEI 81B, Fundamentals of Environmental Science, taught by Ingrid Parker, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Patrick Cheung, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

General Education Credit: MF

Spring Quarter: 

CLEI 81C, Technological Innovation and Environmental Challenges, taught by Ken Pedrotti, Professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering, John Vesecky, Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Ali Shakouri, Professor of Electrical Engineering.

General Education Credit: SI

Note:

1. Admission to the Winter Quarter and the Spring Quarter Core Courses will be open to about half of the incoming class, as well as current College Eight Sophomores, who can take them for General Education Credit. Interested students are strongly advised to enroll as soon as the portal opens in order to be assured of a place. 

2. The Winter and Spring courses need not be taken in sequence. Students are welcome to take one of them in their freshmen year and the other in their Sophomore year.

3. Students who take all three courses will receive a College Eight Certificate in Environmental Citizenship.

4. Students who complete all three courses with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and above will receive Honors in the Core Course. 

5. The Winter and Spring Quarter courses are paired with special, parallel courses taught by the Writing Program.These courses will share the same readings as 81B/C, which will make for a more in-depth learning experience. More details on the Winter and Spring Quarter courses and their corresponding writing courses will be posted on this website soon.