What should every college graduate know, regardless of their major?

It’s a question colleges and universities have wrestled with for generations — and one the University of Northern Iowa has answered in very different ways throughout its history.

A new six-part digital exhibit traces that evolution from UNI’s early years as the Iowa State Normal School through the present. Created by UNI history professor Barbara Cutter as part of the UNI Sesquicentennial Celebration, the project looks beyond lists of required courses to explore the ideas behind them. Across nearly 150 years, UNI’s approach to general education has reflected changing beliefs about citizenship, democracy, health, equality, career preparation and the role of higher education itself.

“When you mention ‘general education,’ most people may not immediately see it as an exciting topic,” said Cutter. “But it gets at the heart of important questions about the meaning and value of a college education and the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy. I wanted this project to show why general education matters by exploring how its history at UNI fits into the larger relationship between education and citizenship in American history.”

Drawing extensively from UNI Special Collections & University Archives, Cutter and 2025 UNI history graduate Paige Hibbs examined university catalogs, student newspapers, faculty documents, photographs and other historical materials that reveal how the curriculum, and the conversations surrounding it, changed over time. The resulting exhibits were created using FotoStory, an open-source digital exhibit tool developed through Fortepan IA, allowing visitors to explore original photographs and documents alongside the history they help tell.

Cutter said one of the most surprising discoveries was how closely physical education was tied to ideas about citizenship.

“In the early 1900s, activities like basketball and football weren’t seen simply as exercise or athletics. They were viewed as ways to develop qualities like self-reliance, cooperation and self-control that educators believed were important for participation in a democratic society.”

Over the decades, UNI’s general education curriculum continued to evolve alongside larger changes in American society and higher education. World wars, postwar debates about the purpose of college, student activism and renewed attention to foundational skills all influenced conversations about what students should learn.

The balance between a common educational experience and individual choice shifted as well, as did ideas about the relationship between broad learning and preparation for life beyond college. Each revision offered a different answer to the same underlying question of what every student should gain from a UNI education.

That conversation continues today.

“The requirements themselves have changed enormously over time, but UNI has continually returned to the question of what every graduate needs from a college education, reflected Cutter. “Following those changing answers gives us another way to understand the university’s history and how ideas about citizenship, education and the purpose of college have evolved.”

Course titles, requirements and priorities have changed considerably since the days of the Iowa State Normal School. But the history of general education at UNI reflects a continuing effort to define what students need from a college education and how that education can prepare them for the world beyond campus.

EXPLORE THE FULL DIGITAL EXHIBIT: csbs.uni.edu/history-gen-ed