List of ''A Different World'' episodes

Denise begins her sophomore year at Hillman clashing with her assigned roommate, Jaleesa Vinson. Denise quickly takes her cue and switches roommates, ending up with self-styled Southern belle Whitley Gilbert. Again, Denise clashes, but somehow Whitley makes Jaleesa look good. Denise also meets freshman and fellow Brooklynite Dwayne Wayne, who immediately becomes smitten with her.

Denise and Jaleesa get a new roommate, transfer student Maggie. But Denise learns her checks for dorm fees bounced and they could be forced out of the dorm. Reluctant to ask her parents for help, she is determined to find a solution to the dilemma on her own.

Guest stars: Bill Cosby and Keshia Knight Pulliam

Denise and Maggie convince Jaleesa to face-off against Whitley in a campaign for dorm monitor, and Jaleesa wins. When new dorm rules to reduce littering in shared areas go into effect, Denise is embarrassed when she is forced to wear a fake pig nose on a first date.

Dwayne offers to tutor Denise in calculus after she scores poorly on an exam, but their session runs late and he misses curfew. Whitley's reputation is put on the line after Dwayne is caught climbing out of her window by Stevie.

Maggie and Whitley debate over whether women can successfully balance a career and family life. But when Maggie's boyfriend visits and asks her to move to Washington, D.C. with him, the issues become personal.

Guest stars: Damon Wayans and Keenen Ivory Wayans

Rudy Huxtable spends the weekend at Hillman–and winds up spending more time with Whitley, entranced by her glamour and charm, and neglects Denise in the process.

Denise concocts a plot with her roommates to be the first women to participate in the Homecoming tradition of stealing the head of the opposing team's mascot, not knowing that her visiting grandfather Russell intends to carry out a similar plan with Dwayne's help.

Coach Walter offers Denise a tryout for the Hillman track team, and she seems capable of the challenge—until she realizes the commitment required and the pressure from home to follow in the Huxtable tradition.

A number of female students, including Denise, have more than science on their study lists when a new geology professor arrives at Hillman.

A Secret Santa program has Jaleesa and Maggie unwittingly each assigned to give to the other as Whitley wrestles with the news that her divorced father has a new, much younger girlfriend and wants her to spend Christmas with them in Switzerland.

Denise works as a peer counselor during finals week, and while she is good at helping other students with their problems, she neglects her own work.

Leticia "Lettie" Bostic, a Hillman dropout with a colorful past, becomes the new resident director at Gilbert Hall, and the ladies are surprised when her straight-talking methods contradict her legend.

Guest star: Ron O'Neal as a Hillman faculty member; he would return for three guest spots as Whitley's father.

Denise befriends a student known as "Cougar" from her philosophy class, not realizing that her brilliantly intelligent classmate is hiding some secrets of her own.

Jaleesa panics at the prospect of making a speech in front of her poetry class, Maggie obsesses over the money Denise borrowed from her more than a month ago, and Whitley gets Dwayne and Ron to fix her illegal humidifier.

Denise's mother Clair visits and lectures Denise about her grades, putting the kibosh on her big summer vacation plans. Meanwhile, Whitley feels depressed and left out when everyone is too busy to remember her birthday.

Denise at long last accepts a date with Dwayne, but their evening out is interrupted by Whitley's desperate search for an alternative to going home for the summer.

Assigned to take care of an egg in place of an actual baby, Maggie seeks out advice about the real thing from single mom Stevie. But when she leaves "Artie" with babysitter Jaleesa, "he" mysteriously disappears.

Denise's brother Theo visits Hillman and gets the wrong impression about how much fun college life could be.

Guest stars: Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Keshia Knight Pulliam

Whitley returns to the dorm and has to adjust to her new roommate, freshman pre-med student Kimberly Reese. Jaleesa's new roommate, free-spirited freshman Winifred "Freddie" Brooks, has developed a crush on Dwayne—who is trying hard to avoid taking a calculus class with Col. Bradford Taylor, an allegedly tough professor nicknamed "Dr. War".

Dwayne and Ron try to write a philosophy paper together, but Dwayne gets infuriated when Ron takes the easy way out. Kim beats out Freddie for a job at The Pit as a short-order cook, leaving Freddie thinking she's unqualified to get any job.

In order to win a competition to sing backing for Gladys Knight, Jaleesa and Whitley join forces with a wanna-be opera diva who ends up trying to upstage them.

Clair Huxtable returns to Hillman for a business seminar, bringing daughter Vanessa and her friend Kara, who proceed to get interested in campus men Dwayne and Ron.

Whitley's mother visits to find Whitley a husband, despite Whitley's pleas to study.

Walter and Jaleesa examine their relationship as Jaleesa goes on a date with her ex-husband Lamar.

Overscheduled Kim begins dreaming of "Killer B's", while the Gaineses argue over the return of their seemingly shiftless son, Darnell.

Freddie goes on a date with Garth Parks, a handsome new player for Hillman's baseball team. However, Dwayne discovers that Garth is hiding a sinister side.

Guest star: Taimak

Dwayne runs for student council president, but can't seem to get anyone else to care about serious issues. Political activist and former U.S. presidential candidate Jesse Jackson visits the campus and inspires Jaleesa and Kim in their search for the perfect gift for Freddie's 18th birthday.

The students' summer plans take unexpected turns: Dwayne and Ron's beautiful new apartment becomes an impossible dream, and Walter and Jaleesa decide to grant each other the freedom to date others over the vacation. Whitley battles to work rather than holiday with her mother, until Dwayne convinces her that she'll have a long life in which to contribute to society; the two nearly share a kiss, but are interrupted by the party.

Dwayne takes Whitley to New York for her father's wedding and visits the Huxtables; he is shocked to learn that Denise is now married and will not be returning to Hillman.

Ron tries to become a father figure to his study partner's son. Dwayne invites rap group Heavy D and the Boyz to perform on campus, and he and Whitley argue over the artistic merits of hip hop.

Kim and Freddie skip homecoming to go to a rap concert, which doesn't sit well with Kim's father.

Whitley becomes a Scrooge at Christmastime since her mother prefers being in France with her friends, so the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future help Whitley understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Whitley falls for a transfer who's boycotting a company with South African ties that's offered Kim a scholarship.

The gang heads to the beach for spring break, only to get involved with drug dealers.

Dwayne and Ron disguise themselves as women to evade the drug dealers and notify the police, but a rainstorm shuts down the ferry, making the situation more dire.

Dwayne's mother makes a surprise visit just as he's to be inducted into Hillman's academic fraternity Phi Beta Kappa.

Whitley returns from her travels determined to begin a relationship with Dwayne; however, he has moved on to a romance with newcomer Kinu, a student at nearby Avery University whom he met while in Japan. Col. Taylor's son Terrence arrives from Germany, quickly earning the nickname "Pee-Wee Hormone" for his clueless pursuit of women.

Whitley tries to make Dwayne jealous by accepting a date with Ron, who knows but hopes to change her feelings; students compete to win places in Professor Randolph's African-American History class, including Freddie and her cousin Matthew, a White student visiting from Avery.

Guest star: Roger Guenveur Smith

Whitley looks forward to a visit from her father until she learns he has come to cut up her credit cards and force her to live on a budget; Matthew and Freddie conspire to convince Kim to balance her MCAT studies with a social life.

Ron and Whitley concoct a plan for her to earn money by cleaning Dwayne's apartment and further driving a wedge between him and Kinu.

Guest star: Patti Labelle

Freddie and Ron are made the chairs of a committee to decide the contents of Hillman's 1990 time capsule; Dwayne must find a way to be a good boyfriend while remaining a good student.

Ron wrestles with telling his father that he'd rather be a professional musician than a car salesman, and Terrence argues with his father over the Col.'s Taylor's interest in joining a previously racially restricted golf club.

During a Christmas visit to Brooklyn with Dwayne and Ron, Whitley is anxious to change the negative impression that Mrs. Wayne has of her. But her efforts progress from bad to worse when she gets robbed on the subway by a man posing as Santa Claus and arrives late for dinner.

Hillman alumnus Zelmer Collier visits his childhood friend Dwayne to break the news that his Army Reserve unit is being sent to the Persian Gulf; Dwayne, Freddie, and Col. Taylor each have distinctly different responses to the news.

Guest star: Blair Underwood

When Whitley's ex-boyfriend Julian arrives for a visit, she is hounded by the news that he is engaged to another girl who doesn't seem that much different from herself.

Whitley organizes a "Men of Hillman" calendar and Dwayne is upset that it doesn't include him. Ron juggles three Valentine's Day dates while Jaleesa spends the holiday with Col. Taylor.

Sixth-year Hillman undergraduate student Shazza Zulu divides the campus along gender lines with his self-published book about the alleged shortcomings of Black men.

Dwayne tries to decide between a job at Kinishewa or graduate school at Hillman. Jaleesa's sister, impressed by Jaleesa's independence, contemplates some major decisions of her own.

Whitley goes to her first art auction for her internship, then gets fired for bidding on a piece of art the firm didn't want. Freddie starts a radio call-in show, with little success until she invents an advice-giving Caribbean persona.

Walter decides to arrange a telethon to raise extra money for the Outreach Center, and the Hillman students take the opportunity to showcase their individual talents.

Guest star: Kiki Sheppard

Challenged by a speech-class assignment Josie reveals that she is HIV-positive, prompting her fellow students to re-examine everything they thought they knew about AIDS.

As Dwayne and Whitley prepare to graduate, Ron finds out he can't join them unless he passes the European history final. Meanwhile, Walter leaves Hillman to take a job at a community center in Philadelphia.

Guest star: Robert Guillaume

Dwayne and Whitley evaluate their relationship in the face of a summer of separation in which she will work in New York while he remains at Hillman to teach; Kim and Matthew also are to be separated by her overseas study opportunity.

Guest stars: Art Evans and Robert Guillaume

As the fall term starts, Col. Taylor and Jaleesa reveal that they eloped over the summer. Meanwhile, Dwayne asks Ron to pick up Whitley's engagement ring from the jeweler, but he gets the wrong one.

Whitley's employer needs a receptionist, so Whitley recommends someone from Jaleesa's temporary employment agency and Jaleesa reluctantly sends Freddie.

Anxious about the wedding plans, but unable to get Whitley to sit down and talk, Dwayne is attracted to a female graduate student he meets at a faculty mixer.

Dwayne's and Whitley's parents arrive for the engagement party, but their mothers continue to feud with each other. But Dwayne's growing doubts about the wisdom of the marriage and Whitley's feelings of hurt lead the couple to make a big decision on their future.

As the newly married Taylors and Terrence prepare for their first holiday together as a family, they cannot decide how to combine traditions in a harmonious celebration. Meanwhile, Dwayne, Whitley, and Whitley's therapist are each invited and must learn to get past their differences.

Ron enters a band competition to win a recording contract and enough money his half of the rent with Dwayne.

While attending a Hillman football game on enemy territory, Ron and Dwayne are involved in a bias incident with three White students from the opposing school.

Whitley is subjected to sexual harassment by her immediate supervisor; when she complains to upper management, however, he claims she was the aggressor.

Whitley and Dwayne meet one of Mr. Gaines' former employees: Hillman alumnus and Virginia state senatorial candidate Byron Douglas III.

Whitley and Dwayne tell Byron what happened, but Whitley insists that she no longer has feelings for Dwayne. Meanwhile, Freddie and Shazza start being brutally honest all the time, which is brutally annoying to everyone else. Prospective freshmen Charmaine Brown and Lance Rodman visit Hillman.

When Freddie tries to learn the identity a woman she saw being beaten, Lena is shocked to realize her usually strong-willed roommate Gina may have been the victim.

With only days to go before the statewide elections, Byron's campaign is shaken up by a sex scandal involving a stripper and the candidate. Jaleesa also gives birth to a daughter.

Dwayne surprises Whitley with a visit on the night before her wedding, and their talk leads Whitley to ponder her future as she walks down the aisle: Will she choose Byron or Dwayne?

Guest stars: Diahann Carroll, Bebe Drake-Massey, Orlando Jones, Barbara Montgomery, Ron O'Neal and Michael Warren.

Everyone returns to Hillman for the start of the new school year, including newlyweds Dwayne and Whitley. A discussion of the Rodney King police brutality trial leads to the Waynes' recount of their honeymoon in Los Angeles, which coincided with the riots that ensued following the verdict.

Guest stars: Sister Souljah and Gilbert Gottfried. Debbie Allen makes a uncredited cameo appearance cleaning her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tempers flair, anxiety increases, and Dwayne and Whitley are separated as the Los Angeles riots begin around them. Freddie's summer transformation from a peace-loving hippie into a suit-wearing law school student impresses Ron but shocks Shazza.

Ron mediates Dwayne and Whitley's conflict over whose belongings will go and whose will stay in their new apartment—and gets his own room downstairs. The underclassmen engage in a stepping challenge, hoping to promote unity.

After Terrell is accused of taping a "digit ho" sign onto Charmaine's back during math class, a mock trial tests the students' attitudes on gender harassment and threatens Terrell's future at Hillman.

Kim has trouble dissecting her first cadaver in anatomy class, but fellow medical student Spencer Boyer helps her regain her confidence. Ron offers Kim support at home, but can't shake off his attraction to Freddie. Whitley goes on an overnight business trip, leaving Dwayne home alone for the first time.

Whitley convinces Dwayne to spend their savings on an expensive painting, but her professional life takes a wrong turn and the painting is later stolen in a home invasion. During a couples dinner Ron, Kim, Freddie, and Shazza try to work out their differences with each other.

Guest star: Tom Wright.

Work pressures have Dwayne showing less romantic interest in Whitley, who calls in her problem to The Montel Williams Show — unaware that Gina has organized a dorm-wide viewing party. Freddie also struggles with the need to reveal to Kim her relationship with Ron.

Whitley's mother shows up for Thanksgiving with an apparent new fiancé, whose motives Whitley doubts, while Dwayne's mother likewise shows up unannounced; the fighting that ensues leads to the mothers being embroiled in a local protest for Haitian rights and being hauled off to jail. Waiting for their children to show up with bail money, the jailed mothers-in-law are shocked to learn of the recent blows to the family finances; each makes up with her child after expressing the grief she had felt over the circumstances of her only child's wedding. Revealing that he knows Freddie is cheating on him with Ron, Shazza breaks up with her.

Dwayne takes on the difficult task of mentoring two teenagers from rival gangs.

Guest stars: the rap duo Kris Kross, who also perform the song "It's a Shame."

After her clothes were stolen in the home invasion, Whitley buys an expensive suit for a job interview with the intention of returning it. But she stains the suit before she can, does not get the job, and is forced to file for unemployment. Charmaine's long-distance relationship with Lance ends with a missed train and a phone call.

Guest star: Alaina Reed Hall.

Whitley takes a position teaching rebellious students at a school in a low-income neighborhood, eventually breaking through to them by teaching them African-American history not contained in their outdated textbooks. Lena's burgeoning relationship with Dorian may be threatened when he reveals that he is practicing abstinence.

Guest stars: Marla Gibbs, Marques Houston, Romeo Jones, and Marquise Wilson.

Disappointed with how her year has gone, Whitley determines to plan herself the best surprise birthday party ever by prying Dwayne's plans out of Kim. Meanwhile, Charmaine and Terrell take desperate measures to pass their French midterm exam.

Ron and Mr. Gaines purchase a nightclub together, but the cancellation of the opening night act threatens to send Ron into financial ruin. To save the day, Mr. Gaines calls in his four nerdy but talented grandnieces—Faith, Hope, Charity, and Henrietta.

Guest stars: Bebe Drake-Massey, Aries Spears, and the original members of the R&B quartet En Vogue, who also perform the song "Free Your Mind."

Dwayne develops a grammar-baseball video game and sells it to Kinishewa, who not only buys the concept but offers Dwayne a job in Tokyo. Whitley finds out she is pregnant. The mothers-in-law and Mr. Wayne come to prepare Dwayne and Whitley for the move, then proceed to get drunk after discovering their first grandchild will be born in Japan. Ron and Dwayne have a falling out over Ron's input in creating the video game. When Ron contemplates suing Dwayne, it causes Freddie to question their relationship. Freddie gets her articles published in the Hillman legal journal and, after many tries, Kim finally says "yes" to Spencer's marriage proposal. Everyone gathers together at The Pit to give the Waynes a surprise farewell party the night before their departure. Ron and Dwayne reconcile in the final scene of the series.

Guest stars: Diahann Carroll, Bebe Drake-Massey, Patti Labelle, Josephine Premice, and Harold Sylvester.

Dwayne is convinced to apply for a summer job at Kinishewa...and is surprised when his ex-girlfriend Kinu shows up as the interviewer. But when he doesn't get the position Dwayne wonders is his breakup with Kinu was the root cause.

Guest star: Alisa Gyse Dickens.

Gina, Dorian, Lena, Charmaine and Terrell participate in a dance marathon fundraiser for Amnesty International. Ron offers his nightclub to host the event, but organizer Freddie is unconvinced that his materialistic approach to promoting is the right means to achieve her ends. Whitley agrees to look after one of her students for the weekend, and she proves to be as much of a handful at home as she is in the classroom.

Guest stars: Aries Spears and John Marshall Jones.

Strapped for cash, Whitley and Dwayne opt to share a cabin with Mr. Gaines and his wife, in an attempt at a long-delayed honeymoon. The Gaineses have a major fight over Vernon's distant relationship with their son—whom he left in charge of The Pit in his absence—and refuse to share a room, throwing a major curve into the Wayneses' plans for a romantic weekend.

Guest star: Bebe Drake-Massey and T.K. Carter.

While preparing for a history assignment on the only meeting between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, Terrell and Charmaine are physically threatened by several local residents, causing Terrell to take drastic measures that could spell the end of his matriculation at Hillman; Spencer proposes marriage to Kim as often as four times a day without receiving a clear "yes."

Lena receives a visit by her friends from Baltimore, including ex-boyfriend Piccolo, which causes a rivalry with Dorian and a rift in Lena's other relationships.

Guest stars: Shaun Baker, Monica Calhoun, and Tupac Shakur.

When famed singer-actress Lena Horne comes to campus, Whitley mounts an elaborate tribute with her students, but Kim is struck by Whitley's inability to pay similar respect to Ms. Horne's contemporary, Mr. Gaines.

Guest stars: Lena Horne, Marques Houston, and Romeo Jones.

Gina, Lena, Charmaine, Dorian, and Terrell rent an off-campus apartment from a grumpy older man who turns out to be a reclusive, former professional baseball star. He is inspired to consider attending college, particularly after seeing an old flame who is now a professor. Gina's abusive ex-boyfriend returns to try to establish contact anew, frightening her and infuriating her friends.

Guest stars: Billy Dee Williams, Leslie Uggams, and Edafe Blackmon.