Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Cornelia Lang, associate dean for undergraduate education

This memo is number two of three: updates pertaining to CLAS programs of study and CLAS policies can be found in separate memos.

This memo contains updates to the General Education CLAS Core approved during the 2024-2025 academic year and included in the 2025-2026 General Catalog. These changes are effective as of the fall 2025 session unless otherwise indicated. 

  • During the 2024-2025 academic year, two CLAS Core areas were renamed. “Diversity and Inclusion” became “Understanding Cultural Perspectives,” and “Values and Culture” became “Values and Society.” Student requirements regarding these areas did not change.
  • The CLAS Marketing and Communications team redesigned the student-facing web page for the General Education CLAS Core curriculum, emphasizing the broad range of skills fostered by general education and highlighting courses that encourage curiosity, exploration, and discovery.
  • General Education CLAS Core areas undergo regular assessments on a rotating basis. These assessments review areas’ requirements, learning outcomes, and alignment with accreditation standards, as well as the range and availability of courses within each area. During the 2024-2025 academic year, an assessment of the Rhetoric area was finalized; the full report and a three-page document summarizing highlights for faculty are available on the CLAS resource site. An assessment of the Interpretation of Literature area is in the process of being finalized, and an assessment of Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts will be conducted next.
  • Ten additional Advanced Placement (AP) exams (with a score of 4 or 5) will give students entering the UI in summer 2025 or later credit toward a GE CLAS Core area. It has been CLAS’s practice for about the past ten years to award GE credit for an AP exam score only if that AP course is considered equivalent to a course we offer that has been approved in that GE area. Based on a recent assessment of AP credit policies across UI colleges and peer institutions, the College will return to its former way of evaluating AP credit, where it is possible for an AP exam score to fulfill a GE area even if the AP course is not considered an exact equivalent to one of our courses. As a reminder, AP credit is assigned based on when students enter the university, not when they complete the exam, and no changes to AP credit policies are applied retroactively.
  • CLAS will now accept transfer credit to fulfill the Understanding Cultural Perspectives GE area. In the years since that GE requirement was established (and, with it, the rule that it must be fulfilled at UI), several of the factors that led to that policy have changed. One of these changes is that many other colleges and universities have begun offering comparable courses that meet the learning outcomes of the area. Because this change is effective fall 2025, and changes to GE policies are never retroactive, courses taken at other institutions prior to fall 2025 will not fulfill this area. This policy change will also not affect the University of Iowa’s AA or Iowa Regents Institutions articulation agreements. Transfer students with AA degrees from two-year institutions that have articulation agreements with the University will still need to complete Understanding Cultural Perspectives if it is a requirement of their University of Iowa college. Students who have completed general education requirements at the University of Northern Iowa or the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University will still need to complete Understanding Cultural Perspectives if it is a requirement of their University of Iowa college.

The following courses were approved in GE CLAS Core areas:

Effective spring 2025:

  • CINE:2626 Introduction to Animation (Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts)
  • EDTL:4410 Language, Power, and Multilingual Education (World Language and Cultural Exploration)
  • GRMN:1685 Castles, Cathedrals, and Composers: German Cultural History (World Language and Cultural Exploration)
  • HONR:2993 Generative Creative Writing (Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts)
  • LING:1075 World Englishes (World Language and Cultural Exploration)
  • LING:1090 Language and Globalization (International and Global Issues)

Effective summer 2025:

  • ARAB:2525 We Are What We Eat: Food Culture in the Middle East and North Africa (World Language and Cultural Exploration)

Effective fall 2025:

  • EPLS:4020 Being in Civic Dialogues (Values and Society)
  • HIST:2155 Global Jewish History (Understanding Cultural Perspectives)
  • HIST:2156 Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel (Understanding Cultural Perspectives)
  • IS:2400 Global Citizenship and the College Student (International and Global Issues)
  • PSQF:3104 Multicultural Issues in Counseling and Psychology (Understanding Cultural Perspectives)
  • SIED:4110 Environmental Issues of the Colorado Rockies (Natural Sciences with Lab; Sustainability)
  • SMC:1050 Sport and the Media (Values and Society)
  • SRM:1049 Foundations for Sport and Physical Activity: Catalyst for Sustainable Communities (Values and Society; Sustainability)
  • URP:2056 Cities Across the World (renamed from The Splendor of Cities) (International and Global Issues)

Several courses formerly approved in two GE areas will have one area removed. CLAS is gradually moving toward a goal of having no course approved in more than one GE area, with the exception of the Sustainability area. The following courses will have one of their two GE areas removed, effective fall 2025:

  • ANTH:2100 Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • ANTH:2136 Race, Place and Power: Urban Anthropology will drop International and Global Issues and keep Social Sciences
    • GEOG:1090 Globalization and Geographic Diversity will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • GEOG:2910 The Global Economy will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • POLI:1400 Introduction to Comparative Politics will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • POLI:1401 Introduction to Russian Politics will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • POLI:1449 Introduction to European Politics will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • POLI:1500 Introduction to International Relations will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • POLI:1501 Introduction to American Foreign Policy will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • POLI:2415 Latin American Politics will drop Social Sciences and keep International and Global Issues
    • RELS:1130 Introduction to Islamic Civilization will drop Values and Society and keep International and Global Issues
    • RELS:2852 Women in Islam and the Middle East will drop Values and Society and keep International and Global Issues
    • RUSS:1132 Russia Today will drop Values and Society and keep International and Global Issues

Several courses will be switching from one GE area to another one, adding Sustainability to their previous GE status, or dropping GE status altogether:

  • FREN:3120 French Civilization will drop Historical Perspectives, effective fall 2025
  • PSY:2401 Introduction to Developmental Science will drop Social Sciences, effective fall 2026
  • SIED:3164 Introduction to Global Socioscientific Challenges will keep Natural Sciences without Lab and add Sustainability, effective fall 2025
  • TR:1070 Leisure, Play, and the Human Experience (renamed from Perspectives on Leisure and Play) will drop Social Sciences and add Values and Society, effective fall 2025

Finally, beginning fall 2025, several courses offered by the Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology will be renumbered from the 1000 level to the 2000 level and/or have their GE statuses removed, to better reflect the difficulty and specialization level of the material. Those courses are as follows:

  • HHP:2100 Human Anatomy will be renumbered from HHP:1100 and will drop Natural Sciences without Lab
    • HHP:2110 Human Anatomy Laboratory will be renumbered from HHP:1110 and will keep Natural Sciences Lab only
    • HHP:2200 Physical Activity and Health will drop Values and Society
    • HHP:2400 Fundamentals of Human Physiology will be renumbered from HHP:1300 and will drop Natural Sciences without Lab
    • HHP:2410 Human Physiology Laboratory will be renumbered from HHP:1310