The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is renaming two areas of its General Education CLAS Core.
Beginning on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, the Diversity and Inclusion General Education area will be renamed Understanding Cultural Perspectives. The college is also renaming the Values and Culture General Education area to Values and Society to differentiate it from the Understanding Cultural Perspectives category. These name changes follow a university review of DEI-related general education categories directed by the Iowa Board of Regents.
What this means for you
You will not need to take any additional or different courses because of the renaming.
All students currently required to complete the Diversity and Inclusion GE area will be required to complete Understanding Cultural Perspectives
All students currently required to complete the Values and Culture GE area will be required to complete Values and Society
Students who have already fulfilled the Diversity and Inclusion requirement have fulfilled Understanding Cultural Perspectives, and students who have already fulfilled the Values and Culture requirement have fulfilled Values and Society
All courses currently approved for GE status in the Diversity and Inclusion area will remain approved for Understanding Cultural Perspectives, and all courses currently approved for GE status in the Values and Culture area will remain approved for Values and Society
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences administers these general education areas, but many other University of Iowa colleges with undergraduate programs, including Tippie College of Business, the College of Nursing, the College of Education, and the College of Public Health, use the same GE areas—meaning students beyond CLAS will notice this change.
Students will see the new names in MyUI and sample plans on or soon after Sept. 23. Other materials that refer to GE areas, including your degree audit, websites, and printed handouts, will be updated over the remainder of the fall 2024 semester.
The General Catalog for 2024-2025, including course descriptions and program requirements, was finalized in the spring. The online version will contain an explanatory note about the renaming, but the 2025-2026 catalog will use the new area names.
For more information
Visit the General Education CLAS Core webpage for more descriptions of the areas. For general questions, please email clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu. If you have specific questions about how this change applies to your degree requirements, please contact your academic advisor.