LIBERAL ARTS AND GENERAL EDUCATION
A student's coursework over the four-year career not only includes a major, but also a broad study of the liberal arts in general education courses. In 1850, IWU was founded as a liberal arts university, educating students across the curriculum in the social and natural sciences, the humanities, and the fine arts.
The general education program at IWU is designed to foster skills and values fundamental to the liberal arts: intellectual independence, critical thinking, imagination, social awareness, and sensitivity to others. These qualities of mind and character are developed through a coordinated academic and co-curricular program of active learning, problem solving, collaborative inquiry, and community involvement.
The breadth of the liberal arts education offered by IWU allows students to develop interests beyond their majors, in addition to giving them the chance to pursue multiple interests simultaneously. The classes that students take for their general education requirements should not be looked at like a checklist, but rather as an opportunity.
IWU's General Education Categories:
♦ Gateway Colloquium
♦ Analysis of Values
♦ The Arts
♦ Contemporary Social Institutions
♦ Cultural and Historical Change
♦ Formal Reasoning
♦ Intellectual Traditions
♦ Literature
♦ Second Language
♦ The Natural Sciences
♦ Physical Education
♦ Encountering Global Diversity
♦ Encountering U.S. Diversity
♦ Writing Intensive Courses