FOCUS: A Minor Opportunity

Students now have a number of ways toStudents now have a number of ways totake courses and obtain minors in programsStudents now have a number of ways totake courses and obtain minors in programsbased outside of their home school. Sophomore Cindy Young takes five classes a semester in order to graduate with an English minor and a double concentration in the Wharton School of Business. "I've always liked English and if I wasn't in Wharton, I would probably be an English major," Young said. Young is one of many undergraduates seeking minors outside of their home schools. To encourage this, administrators have developed a program called University Minors. The Student Committee on Undergraduate Education's 1994 White Paper first proposed the University Minors program -- which involves joint minors between departments in two different schools. But some College students are not aware they can minor in subjects involving courses in more than one school. College freshman Miranda Knowles said she has never heard of University Minors. "It may not be something I'd go into, but I'd certainly like to know my options," said Knowles, who has yet to declare her major. College freshman Kaywin Boonyapredee also said he did not know there were opportunities to minor in University Minors. "Now that I know about this, I'd like to get more information on it," Boonyapredee said. Last week, the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Committee approved an Actuarial Mathematics minor -- a joint endeavor between the College's Mathematics Department and Wharton's Insurance and Risk Management Department. For the first time, College students will have the opportunity to obtain a minor from a Wharton department, pending the program's approval by the Wharton Faculty Committee. The Actuarial Mathematics minor includes courses from the College and Wharton in its requirements. It therefore complies with the College's policy restricting its students from taking more than four classes in another undergraduate school. College junior Mark Gegenbach, a Mathematics major, has already taken enough insurance courses to graduate with an actuarial science minor. "With the minor it gives me a little more flexibility in taking Wharton classes," Gegenbach said. Minors in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Nursing School have always been available to students outside of those schools. But because of the College's restrictive policy, College students could not complete the six courses necessary for most minors. But SCUE and University administrators may reexamine the College policy next year. Until 1995, Wharton students also could not receive credit for a minor in another school, although they could take unlimited courses for elective credit. But since that policy was changed, several Wharton undergraduates have received College minors with their Wharton degrees. Young said she is receiving a better liberal arts education by obtaining an English minor. "It complements my studies," she said. Foreign language minors are the most popular among Wharton students, Young added. It is difficult for Wharton to create University Minors with other schools because Wharton does not have specific majors like the College does, Wharton Undergraduate Dean Richard Herring said. "We'll continue to see how we can make an alliance that has intellectual merit and are feasible," he added. The Engineering School and the College are currently developing a University minor in computer information science and technology. The idea had been proposed two years ago but did not come to fruition until this year, according to Engineering Undergraduate Dean David Pope. The seven-course minor includes four Engineering courses and three related College courses, Pope said. "I see this as a standard model where a student will have a major in one school and a minor in another," he added. "I think that's ideal." A Cognitive Science minor in the Engineering School is already offered to College students. It combines courses in computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. "It's good for students to be able to concentrate in some adjunct area to their major," College Dean Robert Rescorla said. This is the first year that students can graduate with a Nutrition minor that combines courses in the Nursing School and the College. According to Nursing Professor Zoriana Malseed, seven students are registered for the minor and several more expressed interest at an information session the Nursing School held last month. "We hope to continually add courses to the minor and possibly formulate a capstone course which would be individualized to the students," Malseed said. Although Nursing freshman Karen Baldomero said she would not pursue a University Minor because of the extra work it requires, she said that having the opportunity to take advantage of such programs is important. "I know a lot of the people in Nursing that are thinking of doing the Nutrition minor or entering a dual degree program," Baldomero said. "You have more of a chance to explore different things." Courses in health care management also provide Nursing students with more opportunities to enter the profession as administrators, she added. Aside from University Minors, there are other programs that allow students to receive two degrees from different schools -- the Management and Technology program and the International Studies and Business program. Unlike University Minors, students must apply directly to these programs before they are even accepted to the University. "Both of these programs have succeeded spectacularly in attracting the best students from around the country," Herring said. Wharton and Engineering freshman Aaron Yap said he chose Penn over other schools because of the Management and Technology program. "I liked the fact that the program was set up here," Yap said. "At the other schools you could do something like this program but you'd have to make your own major." The IS&B; program has run into a few problems since its formation two years ago. As a result, the course's requirements have been reworked. According to College and Wharton sophomore Gloria Suen, an IS&B; major has to be careful when selecting which courses to take. "I took some classes that I didn't need and because you have forty credits you need to fulfill, if you make one mistake you have to take summer school," said Suen, a Daily Pennsylvanian Finance department staff member. Also, with the current political situation in China, there have been difficulties in developing the study-aboard semester that is required in the IS&B; program, Suen added. A third dual degree program is being designed in which a student could graduate with a Wharton degree and a Nursing degree, Herring said. The program will focus on health care management, he added. An internationally-oriented 46 credit dual degree program that involves the Nursing school is in the early planning stage, Nelson said. Nursing students interested in working professionally in another part of the world would complete a comprehensive language and area study for this program, Pope said. Rescorla said he is eager to see more dual degree programs develop. "Whenever you create a new program you get a new kind of intellectual energy," he said. "Most these programs expand the thinking about materials in a different way which engages the students in their courses." Not only are the four undergraduate schools creating interdisciplinary programs, but the University's professional schools are also entering joint ventures with the schools. Currently, the Graduate School of Fine Arts administers the Design of the Environment major and the Graduate School of Education sponsors an Early Education major -- both undergraduate programs in the College. Although the University is proposing and offering new University minors, most juniors will have a difficult time fulfilling requirements for them unless they have already taken most of the necessary courses. College junior Mary Dobwitz said in her case, she will not be able to obtain an Actuarial Mathematics minor since it would be impossible to fit all of the required courses into her senior year schedule. "It's great thing for the sophomores and freshmen coming in to mathematics, but for most of the juniors it looks very iffy," Dobwitz said. Rescorla said he prefers students to minor in another area of study as opposed to double-majoring. "The minor is a nice compromise and it still leaves you free to sample other classes," he said. Yap said if he wasn't in the Management and Technology program, he would double-major instead. "My interests are very diverse and if I weren't in M&T;, I would definitely be doing something in the College in addition to my Engineering degree," he added. Although Suen said the restrictiveness of her program prohibits her from pursuing all of her interests, she thinks interdisciplinary minors and programs are beneficial. "I think it's good because nothing in the real world is just one thing," Suen said. "These programs give you a different perspective."