INDS - Individualized Interdisciplinary Major (B.A.)

The self-designed, interdisciplinary major is for students whose exceptional intellectual interests cross disciplinary boundaries. These majors should reflect a plan of study that cannot be reasonably approximated by existing major(s) at Trinity. Like other majors, a student-designed one must be coherent, provide curricular depth, and include a writing-intensive course and capstone project. It must represent a clearly defined field of study, more than a narrow research topic; and it cannot be pre-professional in orientation. Because students designing their own major are not attached to a particular department or program, they must be self-motivated academically and capable of working independently.

The deadline for proposing a student-designed major is October 1 for approval in the fall semester and March 1 for approval in the spring semester. Proposals should be submitted no later than in the first semester of the junior year. The form for the major must be completed and submitted electronically to the Curriculum Committee.

Additional requirements for student-designed majors are as follows:

• ˆ GPA Requirement. Students proposing a self-designed major must have a minimum GPA of 3.0.

• Number of Courses. A student-designed major should consist of a minimum of 12 courses.

• Interdisciplinarity. A student-designed major must include courses from at least two different disciplines; no more than half of all courses for the major should be from a single discipline.

• Advanced Courses. At least six of the courses in a student-designed major must be at the advanced level (300-level or above). They must span at least two disciplines.

• Structure of the Major. Each student-designed major must include a set of foundational courses; advanced courses that give coherence and depth to the major; and a capstone project, which synthesizes and integrates learning in the major.

• Rationale. In the proposal form, students must clearly and convincingly explain, in paragraph form, the rationale for the overall focus of the self-designed major and for each proposed course. Clearly explain why a course in the “foundational” category is foundational, or how an advanced course builds upon prior learning to give coherence and depth.

• Capstone. Students must explain the plan for their capstone project and show that they have approval for this plan from the appropriate parties (i.e., if the capstone plan is to complete a senior seminar generally reserved for students of a particular major, that the student has approval to take that course when the time comes; or if the capstone plan is to write a thesis with a faculty member from a particular department, that a faculty member is available and willing to direct the student). Generally, the capstone project will be writing-intensive; if this is not feasible (e.g., some projects in the arts), a writing-intensive course must be part of the major.

• “Double Majors/Minors”. For students who have a second major, a maximum of three courses may be counted toward both fields of study. In general, if a student has more than one major and/or minor, these should not be in closely allied fields.

• Transfer Credits. A maximum of three courses not taken at Trinity may be counted towards a self-designed major.

• Advisers. Two faculty members from different disciplines must support the proposal, serve as academic advisers to the student, and agree to oversee the capstone project.

• Honors. The two faculty sponsors may decide jointly to award honors to a student in a self-designed major, based on academic performance and the quality of the synthesizing project. All candidates for honors must have at least an A- (3.67) grade point average in all courses taken towards the self-designed major.

Students interested in proposing a self-designed, interdisciplinary major should consult as soon as possible with their current academic adviser and both prospective sponsors of the self-designed major. Department chairs and/or program directors of the prospective sponsors will be contacted via e-mail to confirm their support of the proposed student-designed major.

The committee reserves the right to limit resubmissions of denied proposals.