College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Bachelor of Liberal Studies

Coordinator: Dian Gottlob
Undergraduate degree: B.L.S.
Web site: http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/ccp/bls

The Bachelor of Liberal Studies (B.L.S.) program is offered by each of the three Board of Regents, State of Iowa, universities (The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and The University of Northern Iowa) to serve adults whose job, family, geographic location, or other personal circumstances prevent them from attending college as full-time, on-campus students. The B.L.S. program has no on-campus residence requirement.

Students may complete the degree without attending a course on campus, but they must complete 30 s.h. of University of Iowa course work.

Credit applicable toward the degree may be earned through several types of courses, including Saturday & Evening Classes, web-based independent study courses, semester-based web courses, extension courses at sites throughout Iowa, interactive and broadcast televised courses, and regular session courses. Courses from any of the three Regents universities may be applied toward the degree, as may appropriate courses from other accredited institutions.

At The University of Iowa, the B.L.S. is awarded by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and administered by the Division of Continuing Education. Since the B.L.S. is a general undergraduate degree without a traditional major, B.L.S. students may not earn minors. However, the requirements are sufficiently flexible to allow students, with the assistance of a B.L.S. advisor, to structure a program that meets their individual needs and objectives. Many B.L.S. students plan programs designed to help them advance in their chosen career, begin a new career, or prepare for graduate or professional study. Students who have specific career goals or advanced degree programs in mind should learn what educational background they will need in order to achieve their goals, and they should include appropriate courses in their B.L.S. programs.

Bachelor of Liberal Studies

B.L.S. students are required to complete the General Education Program (contact the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for more information).

Since there are no traditional majors available through the B.L.S. program, students organize their study by earning at least 12 s.h. of credit, including 6 s.h. of upper-level credit, in each of three of the following distribution areas.

Humanities (e.g., literature, history, philosophy, religion)

Communication and arts (e.g., journalism, speech, drama, art, music)

Natural sciences and mathematics (e.g., geology, biological sciences, statistics, computer science)

Social sciences (e.g., geography, psychology, economics, political science, anthropology)

Professional fields (e.g., business, education, nursing, social work, library science)

Semester hours applied toward completion of the General Education Program may not be used to meet the B.L.S. distribution area requirements, but they may be counted toward the required 45 s.h. of upper-level course work, if applicable.

Students must maintain a g.p.a. of 2.00 or higher in all course work applied toward the degree, all course work completed after admission to the program, and all upper-level course work.

All other College of Liberal Arts and Sciences policies regarding pass/nonpass and satisfactory/fail grading, academic standards, and so forth apply to B.L.S. students.

Contact the Center for Credit Programs for more information about the B.L.S. program.

Admission

All applications to the program are screened. Students who have access to the full range of the University's daytime classes should seek admission to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in order to pursue a major leading to a degree other than the B.L.S. Non-B.L.S. students interested in tailoring a degree program to their individual interests should consider pursuing the interdepartmental studies major (see Interdepartmental Studies in the Catalog).

To be eligible for admission to the B.L.S. program, students must have earned either:

an Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree from an Iowa area community college that participates in the Iowa Community College/Regents Articulation Agreement, with a g.p.a. of 2.00 or higher; or

at least 60 s.h. of collegiate work acceptable for credit toward graduation, with a g.p.a. of 2.50 or higher.