Academic Programs – General Information

Indiana University Southeast has seven undergraduate degree-granting academic units: School of Arts and Letters; School of Business; School of Education; School of Natural Sciences; School of Nursing; School of Social Sciences; and General Studies.  In addition, IU Southeast has an Honors Program for highly motivated students.

Within the undergraduate schools are the academic departments, offering major and minor programs. The "List of Academic Degrees" section of this bulletin provides a list of degrees and majors offered at IU Southeast. Descriptions appear elsewhere in the Bulletin.

Purpose and Philosophy

The purpose of an IU Southeast undergraduate education is to prepare students to act as thoughtful, informed, and productive citizens and lifelong learners in the context of a complex and rapidly changing society. We believe that the best education is one that provides not only specific knowledge and skills but also intellectual breadth. Such an education enables students to develop into well-rounded human beings who can provide the leadership their communities need in an era of rapid change.  We embrace the notion of a set of common goals for an undergraduate education at IU Southeast and recognize that the means of attaining those goals will vary among degree programs. The coherence of an IU Southeast education lies more in the pursuit of common goals than in the completion of common courses. The pursuit of these goals is a shared responsibility of faculty and students. Courses in the major contribute to general education and those in general education contribute to the major. Thus all faculty members foster both the breadth and the depth of the education of all students in their courses.

Common Goals

These are primarily the goals of general education.

1.  To develop essential skills, including:

• Written and oral communication skills
• Quantitative reasoning
• Reasoning about moral and ethical questions and diversity
• Critical Thinking
• Information literacy

2.  To understand humanity and the world through the central ideas, issues, and methods of inquiry found in the arts and humanities, the natural and physical sciences, and the social and behavioral sciences.


These are primarily the goals of the major:

1.  To acquire a depth of knowledge in a specified area of study.

2.  Within the context of a specified area of study, to reason, to think both critically and creatively, and to solve problems.

The faculty have approved specific learning outcomes for each of the general education goals. These outcomes can be found at www.ius.edu/generaleducation/.