Students may be admitted to the Education Studies and Human Relations major through Direct Admission, Regular Admission, or Transfer Admission.

Direct Admission is designed for first-year students applying to Iowa for the fall semester. Applicants who present an ACT composite score of 21 or higher (waived for fall 2024 and spring 2025) and a final high school GPA of at least 3.0 are eligible for Direct Admission into the Education Studies and Human Relations major. First-year students who do not meet requirements for admission to the major may declare Education Studies and Human Relations Interest in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and apply later for Regular Admission to the major. 

Regular Admission is available to students who have completed a minimum of 12 s.h. of graded course work at the University of Iowa and who have a UI cumulative GPA of at least 2.50. 

Transfer Admission is available to students who have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.50 on a minimum of 24 s.h. of acceptable graded credit earned after high school graduation. 

If you have career goals in education or a helping profession but do not wish to pursue classroom teaching, ESHR may be right for you!  The University of Iowa’s College of Education offers an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts with a major in Education Studies and Human Relations.  The following information will provide you a snapshot of the major. 

ESHR . . .

• Is a multidisciplinary major in education.
• Furthers career goals or prepares you for future graduate study in areas of education and helping professions. 
• Enhances your broad liberal arts and sciences education.
• Develops strong academic preparation including skills in critical thinking and interpersonal communication. 
• Includes courses from across the four academic departments in the UI College of Education. 
• Includes two subprograms along with the broader ESHR major.
• Includes multiple informal concentration areas to help you select courses.

Nuts and Bolts . . .

• 30 credits in major (minimum; 27 must be unique to the major)
• CLAS gen eds required
• Expand on ESHR with additional concentration areas, a minor, or a dual major.
  • Check page 4 for the requirements for double majors (including ESHR with TEP), transferring from the HR minor, or combining the ESHR major with the HR or EP minors.
• 120 total credits for BA
• Requires cumulative UI GPA is ≥ 2.5 and at least 12 credits earned for admission for current UI students
• To declare the major, complete the "change colleges" process
• Advising assistance: Sheryl Bass (sheryl-bass@uiowa.edu)
• Program assistance: Kathy Schuh (kathy-schuh@uiowa.edu)

How to choose your ESHR courses:

1. Choose between ESHR (full curriculum), Education Studies subprogram (ES), or Human Relations subprogram (HR). 

• Education Studies subprogram - preparation for careers in learning technologies, school district support roles, education policy, assessment and evaluation, education programming and management, organizational learning, and competitive preparation for future graduate study in educational measurement, education policy, learning sciences, educational psychology, higher education, student affairs, and related fields.
• Human Relations subprogram – preparation for careers in helping fields that rely on interpersonal communication and personal problem solving (e.g., addiction, case management) and competitive preparation for future graduate study in professional counseling, health-service psychology, couple and family therapy, community leadership, and related fields.

2. If you wish, select an informal concentration area within a subprogram to help you build a cohesive program of study or create a concentration area of your own by choosing courses that fit your career goals.  Choose these courses in consultation with an advisor.

Core Course Requirements

Take all of these courses:

Diversity/Multicultural Requirements

Take one of the following courses:

ESHR Electives

Choose 15 s.h. including at least two different College of Education disciplines (first four letters of the course numbers, e.g., EDTL, EPLS, CSED, PSQF). Most classes are 3 s.h.; consult the University Catalog for descriptions.

¹If not used to meet the Diversity/Multicultural Requirement

²Emphasis area depends on topic.  Approved for EPLS:3240 Belize. 

³Cognitive Principles for How People Learn

KSI K-12 Student Interventions; SCS Supporting College Students; SSI Sports, Society, and Inclusion; ES Education Studies; LD Learning and Development; LDM Learning, Design & Media; DE Diversity Education; HR Human Relations; CF Couples and Family; TIA Trauma Informed Advocacy;

Making ESHR work with another major or minor

ESHR requires only 30 credits in the major, so it’s easily paired with one of the minors offered through the College of Education (Educational Psychology or Human Relations) or a major or minor from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Through this process, you can build on ESHR to meet your academic and career goals. Just remember,

• At most, three credits may be counted towards both majors, or the major and minor unless otherwise specified (i.e., see ESHR and TEP). 
• The ESHR major must include at least 27 unique course credits not counted elsewhere unless otherwise specified (i.e., see ESHR and TEP).  
• No general education credits can be double counted in the ESHR major.  Here are the gen ed requirements: http://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/liberal-arts-sciences/general-education-program/ 

ESHR major with Educational Psychology (EP) or Human Relations (HR) minor

• The EP minor and the HR minor each include 15 s.h. of course work (check the University Catalog for specifics and requirements).
• One course from the major and the minor may be double counted.
• That means, a minor must include at least 12 credits that are not also counted towards the major. 
• Doing the math – if you want the ESHR major plus an HR or EP minor, you will complete 42 unique credits (30 for ESHR, 15 for the minor, less 3 credits allowed to be double counted).

ESHR and Teacher Education Program Double Major

• You may double count the following courses if pursing a double major with ESHR and TEP:  PSQF:1075, EPLS:3000, and EPLS:4180. 
• You may not double count any other courses that overlap between the two majors, thus allowing you to add competencies to your skill set. 

Transferring from the Human Relations (or the Educational Psychology minor) to the ESHR Major

• While the HR minor is a great addition to any major, a double major may better position you for graduate school, in particular, if you are interested in a helping profession.  The ESHR major is designed to make that transition from the HR minor to the ESHR major straightforward. 
• Any courses that you have taken towards the HR minor will be used to meet ESHR required or elective course requirements.  These courses cannot be used to replace required courses with different course numbers. 
• Your advisor will have to place these accepted classes into your program of student on an individual basis.
• The HR minor will be removed from your program of study when you enroll in the ESHR major.    
• If you want to have an ESHR major plus an HR (or EP minor), you will complete 42 unique credits (see above).

Enrolling in ESHR by changing colleges

If you are a current UI student and would like to change your major to ESHR complete the following steps

• Make sure that your cumulative UI GPA is at least a 2.5 and you have completed at least 12 semester hours of graded undergraduate course work.  If your GPA falls short, see the admission appeal process. 
• Access the Change of College Application by logging into MyUI and navigating to the "Student Information Section". 
• Select College of Education / Education Studies and Human Relations from the drop-down menu.
• Select the session you would like the change to become effective.
• Provide answers to the supplemental questions for the selected program.
• Submit the application.
• Once you’re notified that you have been accepted into the major, please contact your advisor (University Academic Advising Center if you have less than 30 s.h. or Sheryl Bass, ESHR advisor, if you have completed more than 30 than s.h.). 

Admission appeal process

If you are interested in declaring ESHR as your major, but your UI cumulative GPA is less than 2.5, you may appeal to be admitted.  Be aware that all appeals are not granted – the goal in the appeal process is to provide students who may have had extenuating circumstances that contributed to their lower GPA the opportunity to share that information and have it be part of the admissions decision process.  Our goal in the College of Education is to admit students who we believe will be successful- meaning they will make good progress towards graduation, will graduate, and will do so without being placed on academic probation.  If you would like to have your admissions into the ESHR major considered while you have a lower GPA, complete the following steps. 

• Send a letter to Kathy Schuh, Director of ESHR. This can be a formal letter attached to an email or a formal email.
• In the letter say you would like to petition to be admitted to ESHR with a cumulative UI GPA of [include your GPA].
• Give a little explanation of why you’d like to be admitted to ESHR. Why do you feel that it is a good major for you?
• Share any information that you’d like about circumstances or situations that have come into play in your college career at the University of Iowa that may have made it a challenge for you to get a higher GPA.  Realize that we are not looking for an excuse but trying to figure out if there is something that might have made it difficult for you to work to your full potential. 
• Indicate how you will push ahead so that your GPA will improve during the next semester.  In other words, explain why the GPA will not be an issue for your continued success.  For this you should be specific – what types of things will you do differently so you can have a different academic outcome?
• You may be invited to an interview (in person or via zoom) with either the ESHR director, ESHR advisor, or both. 
• You will be notified via email regarding the appeal decision.