Academic culture continues to change the face of North Central College as two majors and three minors will be initiated as academic fields of study next year.
During the 2013-2014 academic year, theatrical design and technology was declared as an official major for those who wish to pursue careers at working behind-the-scenes of musicals and plays. Such classes like Fundamentals of Design, Costume Design and Drafting are courses that develop the overall ideology of successful plays at the College.
“The introduction of (this) new program was part of a multi-year strategy to offer revised and new programs in theatre, musical theatre, music and dance that take advantage of the exciting expansion of performance spaces that accompanied that building of Wentz Fine Arts Center and Meiley-Swallow Hall,” said Francine Navakas, associate academic dean.
Following suit of the expansion of the fine arts department, music performance was also introduced to the music major along with several minors such as film studies, Middle Eastern and North African studies and sports management.
“While these programs were all legislated, many of them will be introduced into the schedule for 2015-16,” Navakas said. “We want to provide state-of-the-art programs across the comprehensive liberal arts to serve the needs of the students, stay current and forward-looking and to invite connections across areas of study.”
Much research and discussion had to be made for these programs. Navakas explained that the film studies minor had been under discussion for years. Many obstacles had to be triumphed such as finding the right faculty to teach students, campus-wide interest for all current and prospective students and cost of class materials like film technologies. For the new global studies minors, deeper investigation was a main focus.
“There was a great interdisciplinary interest in filling in a gap in our offerings in global studies, including adding the study of Arabic,” said Navakas. “We were fortunate to receive a federal grant to support this initiative and to assist with some of the start-up costs.”
To explore some of the new extensions with the arts, even degrees in fashion design or fashion merchandising could be a new angle to offer for students to expand on their creative side. The world of style and trends must constantly create and modify new ways of wearing specific attire and also to teach those consumers of what colors match well together. With more options to create works of art from fabric and thread, more opportunities to intern and even work for prestigious designers like Ralph Lauren or Michael Kors would be offered.
The biology major could expand into concentrations such as marine biology. Although Illinois is nowhere near an ocean, it could give interested students an opportunity to get certified in scuba diving and travel abroad to Australia, Italy and other countries where the oceans are clear and beautiful to explore different sorts of marine life. From the smallest sea urchins to the largest great white sharks in the Great Barrier Reef, the students could make the biology department less generic and more daring.
The large amount of opportunities that are available for North Central College students is continuing to increase. The official breakdown of these new majors will be available in the upcoming course catalog for undergraduates as well as the campus website.
“There is great excitement about making these offerings available, connecting them with existing programs and drawing upon new or existing faculty to create new learning opportunities and co-curricular plans,” said Navakas.
