Design Your Own Major

Create your own interdisciplinary, out-of-the-box course of study

two students study outside with computers

Learn more about Pitzer's self-designed major, one of the many unique academic opportunities we offer.

Our self-designed major is an option for students who wish to forge a customized academic path. 

5% Percentage of Pitzer students who design their own major

Self-Designed Majors at Pitzer

Our interdisciplinary academic approach allows students to make connections among a broad range disciplines. If you're interested in studying a blend of subjects and have a unique viewpoint on how they interact, and it's not an already-offered program, self-designing a major is a great option to explore. 

You'll work with two faculty members who will help create and approve your proposed course of study. 

Recent self-designed majors: 

  • Global/Local Community Engagement through Soccer
  • Climate Toxicology
  • Documentary Activism
  • Queer Health Justice
  • Urban Justice Studies

Your Road Map to a Self-Designed Major

Our review committee will ensure your proposed course of study meets state, academic, and graduation requirements. 

You'll go through the following steps: 

  1. Identify your self-designed major subject interests.  
  2. Attend a required self-designed major informational meeting. 
  3. Develop a proposal at the start of your junior year. Your proposal should be developed with and approved by two advisors from the appropriate fields. 
  4. Submit your proposal to the Registrar's Office for a Curriculum Committee review. 

Your proposal will go through a rigorous approval process. If the Curriculum Committee rejects your proposal, you will have the opportunity to appeal. 

Pitzer Voices

Pratya Poosala holds up a book she created for her self-designed major
“By designing this major I was able to have more space to think in a way that is more creative, social-oriented, and emotional.”

Pratya Poosala ’24

she/her

Neuroscience and Narrative Medicine self-designed major

Student Achievements

Malaya Caligtan Tran poses in front of Pitzer's orange groves

Awards

Malaya Caligtan-Tran ’22, a self-designed Indigenous Public Health major and Environmental Analysis minor, received a Fulbright award to research the impact of privatization and resource extraction on communities in the Philippines.

Read Malaya's Story
Kaila Teague poses outside of the grove house

Research

Kaila Teague ’22, Foreign Language self-designed major, served as a research assistant on virtual language acquisition in the summer of 2020.

Self-Designed Major Guidelines

  • A self-designed major proposal should be developed with and must be approved by a minimum of two faculty advisors in appropriate fields. 
  • When particular fields are highly represented in the self-designed major, the advisor(s) must come from those fields. 
  • Students must have at least one Pitzer advisor, so if both self-designed major advisors are from off-campus, the student must have a third Pitzer advisor.
  • Students must attend the information meeting on self-designed majors before they submit a proposal. 
  • Proposals should be submitted to the Registrar’s Office to be forwarded to the Curriculum Committee for review, comment, and approval.
  • The Curriculum Committee will not accept self-designed major proposals during the senior year, unless the self-designed major proposal could be accepted without revision.

Contact

portrait of Phil Zuckerman
Phil Zuckerman
  • Professor of Secular Studies and Sociology
  • Associate Dean of Faculty
  • Secular Studies and Sociology Field Groups