Within our nine undergraduate schools and colleges, our faculty serve as partners throughout your academic journey at the U. Here, students have the ability to construct their learning around their individual strengths, curiosities, passions, and goals. Your college education belongs to YOU. It is a foundation of the work you will do and the life you will live. This is the principle behind our Cognates Program of General Education.
What is a Cognate?
A cognate is a set of at least three related courses. Students take one cognate in each of the three areas of knowledge: Arts and Humanities, People and Society, and STEM. Grounded in these three foundational areas, our Cognates Program allows you to use those options to create an education that is both broad and deep—one that reflects who you are and what you care about. You will get the most out of your education—and do your best work—if what you learn interests and excites you.
How to Fulfill a Cognate
The structure of the Cognates Program is straightforward: your major will fall into one of the three areas of knowledge, and you will complete two additional cognates of your own choosing: one in each of the two areas of knowledge outside your major. This structure allows you to build a well-rounded education with advanced knowledge in at least three subject areas. You will get an education that draws from any number of combinations that represent your curiosities, passions, and career explorations.
For example, a cognate might focus on a discipline (The World of Music), a genre (Epic Literature), a problem (Environmental Policy), a topic (Earth, Stars, Wind, and Water), a region (Religion in the Americas), a method (Applied Ethics), a time period (The Ancient World), or some other principle our faculty develops.
For more information, visit:
Cognates Search Engine
The cognates listed in the above search engine have been approved by the University Curriculum Committee for the current academic year. More cognates will be added to the search engine as they are approved.
