School of Education & Human Development

Leadership

Dean

Marvin Lynn, Dean and Professor

Associate Deans

antwan jefferson, Inclusive Excellence
Barbara Seidl, Teacher Education and Undergraduate Experiences

Assistant Deans

Patricia Ball, Finance and HR
Sandy Mondragon, Student Success and Enrollment Management

Contact

Admissions
Office of Admissions & Outreach
1380 Lawrence Street Center, Suite 701
Phone: 303-315-6300
Email: education@ucdenver.edu
Website: https://education.ucdenver.edu/academics/undergraduate

Mailing Address
School of Education & Human Development
P.O. Box 173364, Campus Box 106
Denver, CO 80217-3364

Overview

The School of Education & Human Development is a vibrant community of practicing educators and counselors, educational leaders and researchers who have a strong service ethic locally, nationally, and globally and a dedication to excellence.

Mission

Education and Well-Being for Equity* – To prepare equity-minded and inclusive educational, community, family, and mental health practitioners, scholars, and leaders dedicated to eradicating inequalities and discrimination. We champion change that leads to well-being, opportunity, and life-long learning in the diverse urban, rural, and global communities that we serve.

*In using the term "equity," we mean creating a just, safe and inclusive environment as defined by the CU Denver Strategic Plan.

Vision

We will distinguish our school by fulfilling our commitments to inclusive education, collaborative research, and equitable, anti-oppressive and anti-racist practices. While recognizing the past, we strive toward a socially just and democratic world.

Our Role in the Community

We are committed to developing forward-thinking educators and counselors who have a deep sense of inquiry, a concern for pressing social problems, a great desire to live their lives purposefully, a passion for giving back to the community and the cultural competence needed to serve urban and diverse populations.

Inclusive Excellence Principles

We are a community of humans--diverse in identities, roles, experiences, expertise--committed to the difficult work of educational and social equity. In this work, we maintain a radical vision for our own individual and collective well-being. We do this through:

Forms of learning evident in scholarship, partnership, and leadership that thoughtfully engages with children and youth, families, schools, higher education institutions, businesses and nonprofits with diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
Continuous collective reflection and self-reflection on the ways in which race, ethnicity, economic resources, languages, abilities, histories, geography, first-generation status, age, gender, sexual identities, veteran status, and cultural and faith practices surface and inform our shared commitments and interactions.
Prioritizing psychological, emotional, and physical ^.
Prioritizing the sense of ^^ for all members of our community.
Courage in our commitments to risk, reflect, and improve.

^Safety is both the practice and condition (safe) of ensuring that within an interpersonal or collective environment, individuals experience (feel, think, believe) fair and reasonable opportunities to share their perspectives, including those that differ from other perspectives (and particularly those from historically minoritized backgrounds, as described above), and are comfortable taking risks and failing without fear of being harmed, shamed, or retaliated against consequently. All members of the CU Denver community can raise related concerns about their learning/ working environment without retaliation. When targeted or threatened, members of CU Denver community will be protected through the enactment of protocols, grievance procedures, and other mechanisms.

^^Belonging is the experience of acceptance, support, connection, value, and respect within a community, for each member, where one feels valued and respected from a built foundation of shared experiences, beliefs or personal characteristics. For individuals from historically minoritized backgrounds, a sense of belonging encourages and supports their full and authentic participation as physical, mental, emotional, religious, intellectual, social, and cultural beings. Additionally, belonging at CU Denver is directly tied to the likelihood of success and retention of staff, students, and faculty, and this requires that the CU Denver community ensures that individuals from historically minoritized backgrounds gain acceptance, attention, and support from members of the entire community, while also providing the same care and attention to other members of the community.

Accreditation

The University of Colorado Denver is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The commission can be contacted at: 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500 Chicago, IL 60604 Telephone: 1-800-621-7440

In addition, several programs in the SEHD are accredited by regional and professional organizations.

School of Education & Human Development Admissions Information

For admission to the School of Education & Human Development, applicants whose cumulative high school GPA and test scores fall into the middle 50 percent range are strong candidates. A minimum 2.4 cumulative high school GPA is recommended, however, students with a 2.0 cumulative GPA are considered. Note: Submitting test scores is optional, and won't negatively impact your application.

Note: The Professional Year, a two-semester (fall and spring) residency in the student’s final year of the undergraduate degree with licensure programs, requires a separate application and acceptance is not guaranteed. For instructions and minimum requirements, please see the Education and Human Development website.

All students apply online. Instructions for undergraduate students are found at http://www.ucdenver.edu/admissions/. Instructions for graduate students are found at Admissions - Graduate Education at CU Denver.

Information about all degrees, programs and admission requirements can be found on the school’s website at https://education.ucdenver.edu/

(For Graduate Programs and information please refer to the Graduate catalog.)

School of Education & Human Development Departments and Programs

Education and Human Development

Bachelor of Arts: Education and Human Development

T-PREP at Otero College Partnership Pathways

T-PREP at Trinidad State College Partnership Pathways

T-PREP at Northeastern Junior College Partnership Pathways

T-PREP at Lamar Community College Partnership Pathways

CLAS Secondary Teacher Education Programs

Secondary Education Licensure - CLAS Major Pathway

Bachelors to Masters Program (BAMA)

Education and Human Development BAMA with Multiple MA Options

Minors

Certificate

Teaching Young Bilingual Children Certificate

Human Development and Family Relations

Bachelor of Science

Minor

Human Development and Family Relations Minor

School of Education & Human Development Graduation Requirements

For additional information regarding Graduation policies and procedures, please visit the Graduation section of the catalog.

Minimum Grade Requirements

Students must earn a final grade of at least a C (2.0) in major courses and a B- (2.7) or above in designated major courses and Professional Year Residency courses within the major. These courses/requirements must be repeated if the student fails to earn the grade required.

Classroom-Based Field Experiences

Students must complete required classroom-based field experiences.

Other Requirements

Students must complete all program assessments and professional milestones as outlined on the degree plans. For teacher education licensure students, this includes passing the appropriate Praxis exam.

Major

Students must complete all requirements associated with their SEHD major.

Applying for Graduation

All students should meet with their advisor at the beginning of their final term for a graduation check-out appointment. We recommend students schedule an appointment PRIOR to the add/drop deadline of their final term in case schedule adjustments need to be made to fulfill final degree requirements. After meeting with their advisor, students should apply for graduation online through the UCDAccess portal before the graduation application deadline.

Academic Honors

Academic honors are awarded at the time of graduation, based on the cumulative University of Colorado undergraduate GPA. To be eligible for honors, a SEHD student must have completed a minimum of 30 semester hours at the University of Colorado (on any CU campus). A cumulative CU GPA of 3.650-3.749 earns cum laude, a 3.750-3.849 earns magna cum laude and 3.850 or above earns summa cum laude honors designations.

Petitioning for Exceptions to Standing Academic Policy

Students are required to complete the degree requirements that were in effect when they began as a degree-seeking student at CU Denver, including CU Denver Core, major, and track requirements. If a program revises its curriculum, students have the option of following their original degree requirements or the revised curriculum. Courses under the original requirements may no longer be taught or may not be available for a set duration. In this case, the program will approve course substitutions. In cases where the Colorado Department of Education requirements for licensure or endorsements change, program plans may also change to align with these requirements.

Course substitutions in the major or minor must be approved by the Program Leader in the specific program area. Course substitutions in the SEHD major must be approved by the Program Leader.

The SEHD Student Committee reviews students’ academic appeals regarding retention, disenrollment, dismissal and other academic matters such as grade appeal, academic dishonesty, or honor code issues. Instruction on how to submit an appeal can be found at http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/SchoolOfEducation/CurrentStudents/Resources/Pages/CurrentResources.aspx.

School of Education & Human Development Policies

For additional information regarding policies and procedures, please visit the Records and Registration section and the Academic Policies and Procedures section of the catalog.

Undergraduates Taking Graduate Coursework

Undergraduate students are not typically permitted to take courses at the graduate level. SEHD undergraduate students interested in taking graduate-level courses should consult with the instructor and the program, as well as with their academic advisor. The exception to this policy is licensure students admitted into the BA/MA which requires students to take 9 semester credit hours at the graduate level during their final year (the professional year) and HDFR students admitted into the BS/MA.

Internships

Internships are a large part of our work in SEHD, but have varying requirements by program. Please refer to program handbooks and materials for policies regarding internships.

How to Declare or Change a Major or Minor

Undergraduate majors in the SEHD include the Bachelor of Arts in Education and Human Development (EDHD) and the Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Relations (HDFR). Additionally, the EDHD major has several tracks, including Elementary Education (K-6 licensure), Special Education (ages 5-21 licensure), Early Childhood Education licensure (birth-age 8 licensure), Early Childhood Education non-licensure, and several secondary pathways (math, science, English, social studies, middle school math). It is important for students to declare a major and track (if applicable) as early as possible in their academic career to ensure they take appropriate courses.

Students who wish to transfer to the SEHD from another school/college must meet with an academic advisor and formally apply for an intra-university transfer (IUT). Students must have a minimum of 2.000 cumulative University of Colorado GPA to be eligible for an IUT to the SEHD. Students should also be aware that, for teacher education licensure tracks, a minimum of a 3.000 cumulative University of Colorado GPA is required for admission to their final year, the Professional Year (students with a lower GPA may be considered under certain conditions; please see SEHD website).

Grade Appeals

Students must follow the process below.

Discuss concerns with the faculty member.
If the issue is not resolved after a conversation with the faculty member, the student may appeal to the SEHD Student Committee. The process for submitting a student appeal can be found here.

Special Grading Options

Courses taken as P+/P/F or S/U are subject to the same minimum grade standards as specified for the requirement. Students must earn a final grade of at least a C (2.0) in major courses and a B- (2.7) or above in licensure or endorsement courses within the major. Major licensure and endorsement courses requiring a B- or better are not permitted to be taken as P+/P/F or S/U grading.

In addition to the above, please consult the CU Denver policy covering the P+/P/F grading option (see the Registration and Records section of this catalog) for P+/P/F limits and application to general education courses.

Note: Effective Summer 2023 courses that were previously graded on the basis of Pass/Fail (P/F) are now graded with Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U). This is based on faculty approval of APS 1025 in May 2022. Students still have the option to use the P+ grading system (P+/P/F) by student selection for elective courses up to the maximum allowed by their program.

Incomplete Grade

Students who wish to request a grade of Incomplete (“I”), should refer to the SEHD Course Completion Agreement for Incomplete Grade. The full policy and form are available on the SEHD Student Resources webpage.

Attendance Policy

Students are required to attend classes, including online classes, on a regular basis. Absences must be arranged with the instructor in advance and must conform to university and instructor policies on attendance.

Course Repeat Policy

Students may repeat any course. All courses, including repeated courses, remain on the transcript and all grades are included in the student’s University of Colorado GPA calculation. Course credit toward graduation is counted only once for a typical course, no matter how many times the course is repeated. Some types of courses (e.g. Internships, Independent Studies, etc.) may be repeatable for applicable credit within a certain range of total semester hours. Special Topics courses may be repeatable for applicable credit within a certain range of total semester hours, as long as the topic is different. See course descriptions for the maximum semester hours applicable from each course.

Teacher education courses must be passed within the first two attempts of the course. Exceptions will be considered through a petition process. Students should consult with their advisors about this process.

Credit for Prior Learning & Experience

We recognize learning occurs outside of the traditional academic environment, and we have a process that offers undergraduate students the opportunity to earn credits for this learning. Students can earn up to 15 credits, 9 for Early Childhood workforce trainings/credentials and up to 6 for field experience.

School of Education undergraduate students interested in these credits should reach out to their Academic Advisor for more information.

Credit for Prior Learning & Experience credits can be applied to School of Education undergraduate degrees, but the application and transferability of these credits to other degrees at CU Denver or other universities/colleges is not guaranteed.

2025-2026 Academic Catalog