© Career & Academic Planning, James Madison University, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from Career & Academic Planning, 301 Wilson Hall MSC 1016, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 or cap@jmu.edu.
Acknowledgements
Career and Academic Planning expresses appreciation to Nina Stensby-Hurst who serves as editor for this publication, Chandra Lane CAP Webmaster, and our website student assistants for updating this publication on our website each year.
Career and Academic Planning expresses gratitude to all the academic department heads, program directors, and coordinators for their feedback and expertise regarding information on their perspective majors.
Other Decision-Making Resources
Career and Academic Planning is pleased to provide you with our publication, Career Guide to JMU Majors. This guide is intended to assist students in learning more about academic majors at James Madison University and their relationship to career choices. Choosing a major is an important decision for students and impacts the level of satisfaction they experience in their academic studies and their qualifications for their entry into certain types of career fields. Some students arrive at JMU having already made a decision about their major, while other students use their freshmen and sophomore years to explore a variety of subjects. It is hoped that this guide will assist faculty, advisors, and students in the discovery and exploration of the many degree programs at James Madison University. It is important to note that alumni surveys indicate that JMU graduates go into a wide variety of careers, some of which are not directly related to their academic major, but utilize the broad range of skills and experiences students have developed during the college years. For the purposes of this guide, Career and Academic Planning focused on both career fields that have some direct and indirect relationship to the major described.
For students who would like additional assistance in choosing a major or career field, Career and Academic Planning recommends the resources and programs described on our Choosing a Major/Career page.
Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies
Interdisciplinary liberal studies (IdLS) is the undergraduate major for students pursuing teaching licensure in the following areas: inclusive early childhood (birth-grade 3); elementary (pre K-6); middle grades (6-8) and exceptional education (K-12). IdLS offers extended breadth and integration across content areas of English and language arts, history and social sciences, mathematics, natural sciences and technology. The IdLS major requirements support Virginia teacher licensure competencies. For information concerning IdLS, contact Dr. Fletcher Linder, IdLS Director, at 540-568-5270 or lindergf@jmu.edu. If you are interested in pursuing educational licensure, click here for Education Program career options.
Who majors in IdLS?
ONLY students planning on teaching in the areas of inclusive early childhood (IECE), elementary (ELED), middle grades (MIED) or special education (SPED) major in IDLS.
If you choose to declare the IdLS major, you will also declare the pre-professional education program corresponding to your teacher licensure interest. You will NOT major in IdLS if you are interested in teaching at the high school level (with the exception of special education). Future high-school level teachers must major in the relevant discipline (e.g. English, math, Spanish, biology, etc.) and minor in secondary education (SEED). If you are interested in teaching high school history or social studies, contact Dr. David Dillard (dillarpd@jmu.edu).
Admission and Progression Standards for this major:
Click on the link to learn more about the admission and progression standards of this major: http://www.jmu.edu/advising/snapshots/SSIDLS.shtml
