More About our Degrees

Courses: 25 credits

Majors develop interdisciplinary scholarship, community engagement, and metacognition (reflective thinking) through five strategic courses.

• IDLS 2300 Interdisciplinary Inquiry develops your research skills and character traits to fuel the interdisciplinary attitude. You consider together the humanities and sciences, and envision a personal mission in your education and beyond.
• IDLS 3000 Leadership for Community Engagement is the original SU course created for students to work with community partners. These partners assist members of the local community, and you become a part of that work while studying leadership, diversity, and community engagement.
• IDLS 3200 Special Topics: Interdisciplinary Project topics are purposefully complex and culturally relevant so that your interests and social convictions can breathe in the course. Recent topics include Personal Identity, Narratives of Trauma, and Non-Violent Social Action.
• IDLS 3300 Methods of Interdisciplinary Research allows you to choose a complex issue to investigate for the entire quarter. Building on IDLS 2300, you learn how to do interdisciplinary research – integrating insights from multiple disciplines to construct a more advanced understanding of your chosen issue.
• IDLS 4900 Senior Synthesisis the space within which you create your legacy project – an integration of your learning and capstone for your college career. With guidance, you figure out what main goal you need to accomplish before you graduate and accomplish it.

Areas Of Knowledge (35 Credits)

Majors work closely with professors and advisors to choose from scores of courses in four areas of knowledge.

• Humanities (3000–4000-level) (15 cr)
• Choose from English, film studies, fine arts, language, history, interdisciplinary liberal studies, philosophy, religious studies, women and gender studies, some Asian studies, and UCOR Humanities and Global Challenges, including five credits in composition/writing.
• Social Sciences (3000–4000-level) (10 cr)
• Choose from anthropology, communication and media, criminal justice, economics, education and interdisciplinary studies, international studies, marketing, management, nonprofit leadership, political science, psychology, public affairs, sociology, social work, some Asian studies, some environmental studies and UCOR 3600 social sciences.
• Natural Science Elective (any level) (5 cr)
• Choose from biology, chemistry, environmental science, most environmental studies, physics, psychology 2400, sport and exercise science, and UCOR 1800 inquiry seminar and 3800 natural sciences.
• Quantitative and Computational Reasoning Elective (any level) (5 cr)
• Choose from accounting, computer science, digital photography, most economics, some environmental studies, math (1010 or above), philosophy 2600, statistics, and UCOR 1200 quantitative reasoning.

• IDLS welcomes students at all phases of their academic careers, first year, major change, or transfer.
• IDLS is part of the new movement of integrative Interdisciplinary Studies, represented internationally by the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (we are an institutional member and the IDLS director is on the Executive Board). Learning the Interdisciplinary Research Process is a program focus.
• Project-Centered Coursework is an innovative curricular design in which majors approach real-world problems through planning, design, problem-solving, creating artifacts, and communicating results. Rather than supervisors, faculty become mentors to engaged and self-motivated students.
• Leadership Seminars are uniquely offered in IDLS. Majors secure real world experience working with non-profits and the community.
• Personalized Electronic Portfolios, unique at SU, allow majors to gather accomplishments, reflect on them, and invite friends, family, and prospective employers to view endeavors
• Teaching at the elementary school level requires broad training and a flexible program. This is the preferred degree program in the College for any student wishing to teach at the elementary level. Students wishing to pursue a Masters in Teaching for certification to teach should complete this BA in IDLS. Students wishing to graduate after senior year certified to teach should pursue the B.A. in IDLS with Elementary Specialization (K-5)

GPA cumulative minimum: 2.0
GPA major minimum: 2.0

COURSES INCLUDE

IDLS Courses:

• IDLS 2020 - Teaching Diverse Classrooms
• IDLS 2300 - Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Liberal Studies
• IDLS 3000 - Leadership for Community Engagement
• IDLS 3200 - Special Topics: Interdisciplinary Project
• IDLS 3300 - Methods of Interdisciplinary Research
• IDLS 4900 - Senior Synthesis

Education Courses: All EDLS courses are field-based.

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• EDLS 3100 - Principles of Effective Teaching in Diverse Schools
• EDLS 3200 - Culturally Linguistic and Responsive Teaching in the Elementary Classroom
• EDLS 3300 - Special Education Foundations
• EDLS 3400 - Literacy Instruction and Assessment in Schools
• EDLS 3600 - Social Studies Instruction and Assessment in Schools
• EDLS 3700 - The Arts, Health, and Fitness in Learning
• EDLS 3750 - Child Abuse and Related Issues
• EDLS 3800 - Mathematics/Science Instruction and Assessment I
• EDLS 3820 - Mathematics/Science Instruction and Assessment II
• EDLS 4000 - Start of School Year Field Experience
• EDLS 4100 - ELL Elementary Instruction I
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• EDLS 4400 - Elementary Assessment and Positive Learning Part I

• EDLS 4450 - Elementary Assessment and Positive Learning Part II

• EDLS 4700 - Clinical Internship
• EDLS 4710 - Clinical Internship Seminar
• EDLS 4800 - Issues and Advocacy in Education
• MATH 2080 - Mathematics for K-8 Teachers
• PSYC 3220 - Growth and Development

5 credits of Humanities electives at the 3000-4000 level.

• Select classes from English, film studies, fine arts, language, history, interdisciplinary liberal studies, philosophy, religious studies, women and gender studies, some Asian studies, and UCOR 3410-3440.

5 credits of Social Science electives at the 3000-4000 level.

• Select classes from anthropology, communications, criminal justice, economics, international studies, nonprofit leadership, political science, psychology, public affairs, sociology, social work, some Asian studies, and UCOR 3610-3640.

A UCOR course cannot count for both Core and the major.

No more than 15 credits from this major will be counted towards any minor.

40 credits in the major must be taken at the 3000-4000 level; 25 of these must be taken at Seattle University.

• The best preparation to teach includes significant experiences in classrooms. More than 700 hours in elementary classrooms included.
• Carefully planned time in elementary schools means you steadily increase your understanding, confidence and responsibility in classrooms.

• This specialization integrates the expertise of the College of Education and Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies (IDLS) in a powerful partnership for SU students.
• There is a clear connection between a teacher’s content knowledge and ability to teach. We are a nationally top-ranked integrative program providing you with that knowledge.
• IDLS is an ideal teaching degree since interdisciplinary studies is combined with community engagement, and students learn how to approach complex problems, practice perspective-taking and create common ground amidst disagreements.