Design Your Own Major
Create your own interdisciplinary, out-of-the-box course of study
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.
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:
- Identify your self-designed major subject interests.
- Attend a required self-designed major informational meeting.
- 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.
- 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
“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
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 StoryResearch
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
- Professor of Secular Studies and Sociology
- Associate Dean of Faculty
- Secular Studies and Sociology Field Groups