ISU students are establishing their own majors, ones apart from the list that the University already offers.

According to Jane Jacobson, program director of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, students are able to go through a process to receive an interdisciplinary major in the College of LAS. 

“If there are students who find that they have a particular interest that cannot be accomplished through the standard majors that we have, or the combination of majors and minors, they can propose an interdisciplinary studies major,” Jacobson said.

If students decide to create their own major, they need to contact Kathleen Timmons, academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Students start in a meeting with her where she explains the process and helps them get started. 

“Then they are expected to identify faculty people here at Iowa State who might have a similar interest or can kind of understand the goals of the student,” Timmons said. 

Timmons explains that this major incorporates coursework from several different disciplines, but they are all related in a particular way.

Once an interdisciplinary major, women’s studies has become an offered major at Iowa State.

“In the past, that’s how Women’s Studies got started,” Jacobson said. “It was more of an individualized major. That is more of a recent example of something that became a standard template that we can use, that we now use as a stand alone major.”

If student want to pursue their own major, Jacobson recommends beginning their first year. 

“You need to first look around at what the University has to offer you, and start identifying what…majors…are at least associated with what you want to do.

“It is a very intentionally thought-filled process,” Jacobson said. “We want to make sure students have given a lot of thought to it.”

Iowa State alumna Alexandria Sveum created her major in American Indian Studies and graduated in the summer of 2013. She believes that there were many benefits by creating her own major.

“One of the benefits was that I was able to become closer to my professors, which opened up a lot of doors into the professional world that I was entering,” Sveum said. 

Creating her major and working toward it took a lot of time management skills, which was another big thing she said she benefitted from. However, there were some fallbacks.

“You’re kind of setting yourself up. Instead of having one independent study, I had three,” Sveum said. “Also, a lot of the work was mostly non-profit, so I’m still trying to find a professional position.”

Despite the fallbacks, Sveum said, choosing an interdisciplinary major greatly pays off.