Essential Education Minors allow you to shape your education around themes that matter to you and the world. Each minor combines coursework across disciplines, so you can explore new ideas, broaden your perspective, and develop essential abilities that employers and communities value.
By completing an Essential Education Minor, you’ll not only deepen your knowledge in a topic of interest but also complement your chosen major with skills that strengthen your communication, cultural awareness, creativity, and problem-solving.
How It Works
Each Essential Education Minor is built around a set of courses chosen from a topic-specific list. The structure is designed to give you flexibility while ensuring you gain experience across a variety of learning areas.
By completing these courses, you’ll meet all of your Essential Ed requirements and graduate with a minor that showcases your interests, broadens your perspective, and adds real value to your degree.
Talk with your advisor about registering for courses to complete an Essential Education Minor.
Current Essential Education Minors
AI Ethics
AI is changing everything—are you ready to shape its future? The AI Ethics minor explores the social, cultural, and ethical questions behind artificial intelligence, giving you the tools to think critically about technology and its impact on the world.
Creativity and Expression
Fuel your imagination while building skills employers want. The Creativity and Expression minor gives you the freedom to dive into the arts—drawing, music, theatre, writing, and more—while also learning how creativity shapes culture and drives innovation.
Economics and Society
From public policy to business strategy, economics drives decision-making. The Economics and Society minor blends business, policy, and social science to help you analyze problems and find solutions that make an impact.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a business—it’s about seeing opportunities, creating solutions, and making an impact. The Entrepreneurship minor shows employers you can think creatively, lead projects, and drive change.
Human-Centered Design
Good design isn’t just about what works—it’s about what works for people, communities, and the environment. The Human-Centered Design minor gives you the tools to solve problems with empathy and impact.
Leadership
Leadership is more than a title—it’s a skill you can build, and employers value graduates who can step up and lead. The Leadership minor helps you develop decision-making, communication, and teamwork abilities that make a difference in any career.
Population Health
Health is more than medicine—it’s shaped by environment, policy, and community. The Population Health minor blends science, policy, culture, and advocacy to give you tools to address complex health problems in careers from healthcare and research to law, business, and engineering.
Public Policy and Law
Want to understand how laws and policies shape the world—and how you can make an impact? The Public Policy and Law minor gives you the tools to analyze, interpret, and influence the rules that govern society.
Sustainability Studies
Sustainability touches everything—from energy and policy to business and communities. The Sustainability Studies minor gives you the tools to understand environmental, social, and economic challenges and design solutions that make a difference.