Developing a proposal for an Integrative Studies major takes time, and involves lots of research and conversations with faculty. There are three main components to the application: the proposal form, the course list, and a letter from your Faculty Mentor.
Be prepared to spend about 8-10 weeks developing an application; getting started early and sticking with it are key to submitting proposals in time for the final review by the Integrative Studies Advisory Board. Developing a system and regular habits for preparing your application will be really helpful.
First step:
Meet with the Integrative Studies Coordinator.
This initial conversation will help you understand the parameters of developing an effective and feasible plan, and whether there might be other approaches for you to meet your goals, such as by combining existing majors and minors at the College. The Coordinator may also recommend you consider developing your plan around one of the possible platforms that have been identified and developed by faculty based on years of student interest.
Next steps include:
First: Researching majors offered at other colleges.
Investigate majors offered at other colleges that are similar to the program of study you are interested in pursuing. Existing majors at other institutions can often serve as models for plans. You can obtain information about the curricular offerings at other colleges by looking at their web pages or by contacting them directly.
Second: Reviewing Homer – Courses Offered – and department web sites.
Homer course schedules for recent semesters provide information about courses offered by each department, and department web sites often have additional information about special courses. This research will help you to prepare the course list (see the Application Process section) that will need to accompany your proposal.
IF needed (determined by coordinator): Meeting with faculty in the areas you want to include in your plan.
If you don’t know faculty in these areas yet, the Integrative Studies Coordinator can help you figure out who to contact. Chairs of departments in which you want to take courses and/or assistant/associate deans can be helpful. The chairs and deans can give you advice on the curriculum, on which courses may be relevant to your goals, and they can tell you when courses will next be offered. They may also refer you to faculty members who are particularly knowledgeable about the areas addressed by your plan.
During this process, you must also work to identify a faculty member who can serve as a Faculty Mentor for your plan.
If needed (determined by the coordinator): Planning meeting with faculty.
Time permitting, once you have begun to clarify your goals, the Integrative Studies Coordinator may bring together a group of faculty to meet with you so you can get more ideas about and directions for your plan.
If needed: Contacting the Center for Career Exploration and Development.
They have a wealth of information on careers and alumni networks. Stop by and make an appointment to talk to a Career Center counselor.
If graduate school is on your radar, talk with your faculty mentor about those plans.
Final Steps to Approval
1) When the Coordinator determines that your application is complete, a draft of the complete application package is provided to the Associate Dean for preliminary review.
2) Once the Associate Dean has affirmed that the proposal is ready for final review, your proposal is submitted to the Integrative Studies Advisory Board for a recommendation for final approval by the Associate Dean. Additional revisions may be requested after this review. Note that the Advisory Board meets once a semester to review proposals, so it is important to complete all the required elements of the proposal well in advance of that meeting.
3) After approval by the Advisory Board, including any revisions requested, the Coordinator then circulates your course list to chairs and deans of departments represented in your course list. Chairs and deans may, at this stage, request changes in your proposed course list, based on availability of courses.
4) Once these approvals are confirmed, the Associate Dean will officially sign off on your proposal, and notify you via email. You can then submit the Change of Major form, and at this point, you become an official Integrative Studies Major.