This paper describes how the University of Dayton, Ohio, has strengthened teacher education through the creation of two institutional general education initiatives that integrate general and professional education in a coherent learning experience. The first is a CORE program that is open to all students pursuing degree work in the elementary program. CORE is an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to fulfill and integrate the university's general education requirements. Students take 10 courses that fulfill all general education requirements as well as the basic skills requirements in reading and writing. The second includes a Humanities Base and thematic cluster in fulfilling general education course requirements. It has all students examine what it means to be human through four required general education courses in the humanities. To facilitate an integrated view of various domains of knowledge and to encourage students to understand the broad world around them, all undergraduates must complete one thematic cluster. These program efforts emphasize integration and coherence so that students can see the connectedness of the disciplines and the interrelationships of disciplinary ideas. (SM)