Students chart their courses, define degrees with abstract academics

Jun. 15, 2009 – Jordan Goldklang spent much of his childhood mesmerizing friends and family with tricks and optical illusions. In middle school, he’d grab a deck of cards or a fistful of coins and spellbind his classmates whenever he got the chance.

Teachers begged him to stop, saying the magic was disruptive. They confiscated his cards, told him to put the coins away and even called his parents pleading for help, but nothing worked. School was the ultimate testing ground for his tricks, he said, a place where he could both perfect his art and connect with his peers.

When he arrived at IU four years ago, he thought he’d have to give up his beloved hobby to study “something serious.” But in an ironic twist, the 22-year-old just graduated with a degree in magic, after taking a range of classes to both hone his performance skills and develop an understanding of the psychology behind the age-old craft.

“It’s been kind of a dream come true,” he says. “For so long, I was told not to do magic in school, and now I’m going to school for magic.”

He’s one of a growing number of students breaking away from prescriptive majors and choosing to design their own degrees through IU’s Individualized Major Program. The program, part of  the College of Arts and Sciences, allows students to create a customized mix of classes — usually spread throughout different schools and departments across campus — that match their interests.

Some degrees defy convention. One student  majors in comedy writing, while others pursue offbeat topics such as violin making or concert and festival production. A few years ago, a student created a major in beer. He studied entrepreneurial brewing in hopes of eventually opening his own microbrewery.

Those zany degrees attract attention, but they’re just as tough as any other on campus, Ray Hedin, former IMP Director said. Students need to meet all of the requirements of COAS’ bachelor of arts degree plus complete at least a 25-page final paper or a creative project prior to graduation.

In Goldklang’s major, he wasn’t learning how to shuffle cards or make a rabbit disappear into a hat. Instead, he enrolled in anthropology, theater, business and psychology courses designed to deepen his understanding of magic. In anthropology, he’s studied witchcraft and alternative beliefs. In theater, he learned how to refine his stage presence and perform in a front of a live audience. At the Kelley School of Business, classes such as “L201: The Legal Environment of Business” will teach him how to ink contracts with comedy clubs, while psychology allowed him to get inside the minds of his audience.

IU’s Individualized Major Program developed in the late 1960s as students questioned authority and fought to take charge of their own education. For years, it maintained a low profile, enrolling about 30 students at any given time. Over time, though, the program increased its stature and pumped out notable alums, including New York Times crossword master Will Shortz, who graduated with a degree in enigmatology, or puzzle-making, in 1974.

Still, so-called designer-degree programs are hardly the norm. On a campus of more than 40,000 students, only about 150 are enrolled in the IMP at one time. Most enter the program as sophomores or juniors after trying out a conventional major and realizing it wasn’t actually what they wanted.

Senior Nikki Ashkin started as a business major but decided she wanted to pursue an environmental science major with a certificate from the Liberal Arts and Management Program. When that wasn’t possible, she designed her own major — “sustainable management” — that incorporates both management and the environment. Her goal is to someday work for her father’s “green” cleaning consultancy or become a university professor. The Individualized Major Program, she said, lets her sample all kinds of relevant courses.

“It’s really neat, because each semester, it’s not like I’m only taking business classes or I’m only taking science classes,” she said. “With my program, I can kind of take a whole range of classes, and as long as I can prove that it relates back to my focus and as long as I fulfill all of the requirements for COAS, it’s acceptable.”

The program doesn’t only help students: It also acts as an incubator for degrees that later become full-fledged majors within the University. Women’s studies — later renamed gender studies — started in the IMP, as did cognitive science and musical theater. In that sense, the IMP serves as a “cultural register” or an early trend spotter, Hedin said.

“We send signals to the University as to where interest is developing, which is very useful to the institution,” he said.

The current growth area is “problem-based majors” that address issues of sustainability, alternative energy, globalization and the environment.

Senior Julia Greenwald came up with a major that combines her interests in politics and fair trade. The major, Nonprofit Retail Management with Concentration in Fair Trade, focuses on the principles of fair trade, poverty and inequality. She’s taking economics classes to learn how financial systems operate in other countries, and she’s dabbling in merchandising courses in case she one day works for a fair trade retailer or importer. She says the payoff will come with her first job.

“I just find that my generation overwhelmingly wants to do something,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because we’re in college right now and we’re naive and we want to do something that changes the world, but I feel like we want to do something that helps the environment and doesn’t hurt the environment.”

Goldklang, the magician, sees another appeal. The program, he said, lets people pursue their interests even if they don’t have a place within most University degree programs.

“I came here to study music, but it turned out to be the perfect school to major in magic,” Goldklang said. “Here’s this passion that I have that I can’t study anywhere else.”