Guidelines for the Student-Designed Major
I. Background for the Guidelines
While most Clark students can and do fulfill their academic goals through
regularly-established departments and interdisciplinary programs, the University
recognizes that some students may have special interests and goals that cannot
be met through the normal channels. The Student-Designed Major (SDM) program is
designed to provide flexibility for these students while ensuring rigorous
academic standards. The SDM is clearly not appropriate for most students at
Clark. Students are expected to carry a 3.0 GPA to pursue the SDM. We already
have a wide variety of strong majors in the college, but we recognize that some
students may develop an interest in a particular problem that creatively cuts
across existing majors, maintains intellectual rigor and coherence, and draws on
existing faculty expertise. While the SDM may be taken in combination with a
concentration or a minor, it is not normally pursued as part of a double major.
Because the student-designed major does not fall within the supervision of
regular departments, it requires special effort on the part of the participating
students and faculty and the Associate Dean of the College to see that the
students acquire a level of intellectual stimulation, training, depth, and
breadth comparable to what they would be expected to acquire in a regular major.
Departments at Clark work hard to conceptualize majors that provide a high
degree of structure and coherence, and that insure students will gain both depth
in a single discipline, and breadth within the discipline and related
disciplines. The freedom to develop an independent student-designed major should
entail an intellectual effort comparable to that which departments experience in
developing their majors. In fact, this activity—conceptualizing a major with the
same intellectual rigor as any established major—is perhaps the most demanding
and the most rewarding aspect of the student-designed major.
Because flexibility is central to the purpose of this program, there is no
single formula for the development of a student-designed major. However, the
following questions must be explicitly addressed in the intellectual rationale
for a student-designed major.
1. What are your explicit goals in this major? How can these goals be met
with existing faculty expertise at Clark (and, if appropriate, with possible use
of resources in the Worcester Consortium)? Why is it impossible (or difficult)
to meet these goals through a regular major?
2. What are the primary methods and modes of inquiry to be used in this
major? Why is an interdisciplinary approach particularly suitable for your
proposed topical focus?
3. How will this major provide you with intellectual breadth across several
areas of knowledge? And how will it provide depth through an intensive
intellectual exploration of one particular problem or in one particular field of
knowledge? In other words, what is the structure of this major? How are your
courses related to each other? And how will they improve your ability to analyze
your topic at increasingly higher levels of sophistication?
4. Finally, how will this major meet your intellectual goals at Clark, and
how does it relate to your career goals after Clark?
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II. Guidelines
1. The student-designed major (SDM) is intended for the student who wishes to
focus on the systematic exploration of a particular problem or a particular body
of knowledge that does not fall within the bounds of existing majors or
departments at Clark. It should typically involve three or more disciplines, and
draw upon existing Clark faculty expertise and courses offered regularly at
Clark.
2. The student-designed major requires a detailed (1-2 pages single-spaced)
description and rationale of the major and a list of required courses, to be
developed by the student in consultation with a faculty advisor and two other
faculty members (who together constitute the student's supervisory committee).
This committee must approve the rationale and course requirements for the major
no later than the end of the student's first semester of the junior year.
3. All student-designed majors shall include a minimum of 12.00 course units,
including four courses at the 200 level. These courses should be carefully
planned by the student and his or her committee, to include courses from three
or more disciplines, and to progress from introductory courses to more advanced
levels of sophistication by the senior year.
4. In the senior year (usually the second semester), the student will
complete a capstone requirement intended to draw on and integrate earlier course
work, and to include an independent research component, either through a senior
research thesis, a supervised internship experience (that includes research), or
some kind of creative independent project.
5. The administration of student-designed majors is handled by Dean Kevin
McKenna, Associate Dean of the College (phone x7468), who is available to advise
all students interested in this program.
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III. Procedures
1. The student who wishes to consider developing a student-designed major
should first read the SDM guidelines and consult Kevin McKenna, Associate Dean
of the College, concerning the SDM requirements and procedures. If it is
mutually agreed that the student’s interest and abilities and Clark faculty
resources, seem appropriate for a student-designed major, the student should
proceed as outlined below.
2. The most important step in the program is the selection of a faculty
committee chair and two other faculty members to serve on the student's
supervisory committee. These faculty members should (in most cases) be in three
different departments. The supervisory committee will be responsible for
overseeing the academic content of the major, for monitoring the student's
progress through the program, and for insuring the fulfillment of these
guidelines for the student-designed major.
3. Before a student-designed major can be approved, the student must develop
the statement of intellectual rationale for the major, recruit the three members
of the faculty supervisory committee, meet together with the committee and the
Associate Dean of the College, and secure unanimous committee approval of the
rationale and a mutually-agreed-upon set of course requirements for the major.
4. After unanimous approval by the faculty committee, the written proposal
for the major—consisting of the cover page, statement of intellectual rationale,
any documentary support (e.g., reference to existing programs to be used at
other institutions in the Worcester Consortium), and the list of required
courses—should be submitted to Dean McKenna, Associate Dean of the College. The
proposal will then be reviewed for conformity with the SDM Guidelines. If
problems are identified, the student may be asked at this point to clarify or
elaborate on the proposal in person, or to submit a written modification of the
proposal. Copies of the approved proposal will be circulated to the student, to
all members of the faculty committee, and to relevant department chairs, and
will be kept on open file in the office of the Associate Dean of the College.
5. In order for students to receive honors in a student-designed major, they
must have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or above, and they must develop an honors
project proposal by the end of their junior year. This normally will consist of
an honors thesis based on two or more directed-research courses. The faculty
committee will typically function also as the honors thesis committee, and upon
completion of the thesis, the student will have a one-hour oral defense of the
thesis with the faculty committee. The committee will evaluate the research,
writing, and oral defense of the thesis, and recommend whether or not the work
merits the distinction of honors and what level of honors (Honors, High Honors,
or Highest Honors). If the committee judges a thesis as not worthy of honors,
the student will receive credit for the work completed, but will not receive
honors.
6. After initial approval of a student designed major, subsequent changes in
the student's program may be approved by the faculty committee, with the
committee chair advising the Associate Dean of the College and the Registrar's Office accordingly. Upon final completion of all requirements, the
committee chair must certify the student's final completion of the major, and
the level of honors, if any, to the Dean of the College, the Associate Dean of
the College, and the Registrar's Office.
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revised 11/04
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