Vol. 38, No. 18

3-1-2005
By: Susan Wittstock

Personalized Study program: When 170 majors just isn't enough

The vast majority of Ohio State students eventually find a major that suits their intellectual and career interests. Want to be a lawyer? Think about political science, history or English. Love science? Take your pick of biology, entomology, molecular genetics, or any multitude of majors. Interested in being a classicist or a linguist or a dietician or a nurse or an engineer or, well, any of thousands of careers? Chances are good that one of Ohio State’s 170 majors is appealing.

For those who don’t see themselves fitting into any of those categories, the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences offers the Personalized Study Program. It’s an opportunity to work with faculty to design a major that is specific and personal, and matches a particular passion on the part of the student that just can’t be squeezed into a standard major.

“Really, what these students and faculty are doing is education almost in its purest sense,” said Larry Greenfield, one of the academic advisers who assist PSP students. “It’s an education that is free of categories and isn’t locked into the artificial structure of the university.”

About 25 to 30 students a year take advantage of the opportunity to pull together an individualized course of study. The program has been in place at least since the early 1970s, according to John Wanzer, assistant dean for Undergraduate Student Academic Services.

Choosing to veer from the established path should not be taken lightly, Greenfield said. “It’s like the difference between buying off the rack and getting a tailor-made suit of clothes,” he said. “Students who do this successfully need to prepare themselves for a lot of footwork. There’s a lot of work for the students, the faculty adviser and the Arts and Sciences adviser.”

Students who choose the option are self-motivated.
“They have to take a great deal of initiative,” Wanzer said. Some of them start inquiring about the PSP option as early in their Ohio State career as at first-year orientation; others make the decision in their fourth year.

“The students who pursue this tend to be very creative and thoughtful,” Greenfield said. “They are a very interesting bunch.”

Greenfield’s role is to help faculty and students craft a major that is broad enough to sustain them through 50 credit hours, but not so broad that it’s unworkable. A student who proposes a major that focuses only on, say, films by director Quentin Tarantino, will not be successful. “As much as I like Quentin Tarantino movies, that’s not enough for a major,” Greenfield said. Another student may propose a major that encompasses every aspect of film. “I try to talk with them to get a sense of what to concentrate on.” An acceptable focus for a film major might be film production and criticism.

Greenfield also is there to point students toward majors already in existence that might fit their needs. “I had a student come in with a proposal once that was a detailed description of the criminology major,” he said.

Others pursue slightly more quirky study paths. One student designed an interior plant-scaping major by taking a mixture of biology, horticulture and architecture courses. Another self-designed a lobbying major with political science, public speaking, communication and marketing courses. Others have opted to study animal behavior, forensic science, human interface factors with technology, photojournalism and sports marketing.

Exploring East Asian history through architecture and art is the major of choice for junior Katherine Santer. Santer originally was an engineering major, then applied to the architecture program for her sophomore year, but didn’t get in. “I decided to go for a PSP because I could incorporate my interest in East Asian culture with architecture,” she said. With guidance from Aron Vinegar, assistant professor of history of art, Santer has developed a curriculum that draws on Ohio State’s many courses on Asian subjects, as well as architecture courses, and hopes she’ll be accepted into a graduate program in architecture. “I would like to be either a practicing architect or consult on historical restorations,” she said.

Sophie Le opted to pursue a double-major in sexuality and sociology. Le, who graduated in March 2004, took a human sexuality course from the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the beginning of her senior year. “I found it fascinating and wanted to take more classes, but there wasn’t a major,” Le said. Creating a second major in sexuality, from psychology, sociology and English classes, helped her clarify her goals. “Eventually, I might like to become a counselor or research sexual behavior,” she said.
Meanwhile, she will be entering the Moritz College of Law in the fall to study harassment and human rights law.

Advisers encourage PSP students to think about what sort of career or post-graduate education the major prepares them for. “We want them to think about how this might affect them if they’re going into a field that requires licensing. Or, how they plan to describe what they’ve studied to future employers,” Greenfield said.

A minimum of 40 credits out of the 50 they earn need to be in upper-level courses, and they are encouraged to place an emphasis on one or two disciplines. “We want there to be some theoretical underpinning, some sort of discipline, so it’s not just a collection of courses,” Wanzer said. “This is not a general studies major.”
Putting the plan for an individualized major together is an educational process in and of itself, Greenfield said.
“It’s like a research project. There’s a thesis to investigate. You need to decide what course work is relevant, so you need to learn about the subject.”

“It is a research process,” Wanzer said. “It isn’t just picking a major and being fed the required course work.”

All PSP students have to find a faculty member who is an expert in a related field who is willing to serve as their adviser. “The students work very closely with faculty who are able to provide insight and support. They play a pivotal role,” Greenfield said.

Greenfield finds working with PSP majors to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of his job. “For me, it’s a fun and exciting experience because you’re helping someone to create an idea they have that’s unique and personal. I like being in a position to facilitate that,” he said.

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