Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies

Changes are coming to the IDLS major!

Starting Fall 2019 incoming first-year students interested in becoming licensed Virginia state teachers declare four new majors designed to equip them with a teaching license in Elementary Education, Inclusive Early Childhood Education, Special Education, and Middle Education. For more information about these programs, please contact your JMU first-year advisor or the respective department head in the College of Education!

Future revisions to the current IDLS major and a new Liberal Studies minor are coming and will be available soon in the JMU 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog and on this webpage. Please check back in the months to come for updates.

Currently enrolled IDLS majors pursuing the 5-year licensure program will continue to follow the program information published in the catalog year corresponding to their JMU admission date.

Questions? Please contact one of our IDLS administration staff.

The IDLS program equips classroom teachers with appropriate subject-area knowledge to work with young students in Virginia schools. Our curriculum meets Virginia teacher competencies by providing breadth and integration across the content areas of English and language arts, history, social sciences, mathematics, natural sciences, and technology.

Spring 2020 Humanities & Social Sciences Concentration Courses 

Track 1 .  Track 2 .  Track 3 .  Track 4 .  Track 5 .  Track 6 .  Track 7 .    

Spring 2020 M/S/T Concentration Courses (coming Oct. 31)

Before enrolling on MyMadison, note the specific section number of the course (not all sections of the same course are approved) and click on the course section number for prerequisite notes that may limit your initial enrollment (departments initially limit enrollment to all but their majors then open up to all JMU students). Updates are likely throughout Fall enrollment week, so please use information posted here the day of your enrollment period. Thank you!