Design Your Own Major
Create your own interdisciplinary, out-of-the-box course of study
![two students study outside with computers](/sites/default/files/styles/500x246/public/2024-05/design-major.jpg?h=f5d58040&itok=TPsP8DMk)
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
![Pratya Poosala holds up a children's book she created in Nepali with an illustration of a monkey on a tree.](/sites/default/files/styles/728x990/public/2024-05/Pratya-Poosala-24-with-childrens-book-1024x683.jpg?h=199d8c1f&itok=gnCBFImS)
“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](/sites/default/files/styles/728x939/public/2024-05/Malaya-Caligtan-Tran-1x1-2.jpg?h=1f82f633&itok=U-a1muh8)
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](/sites/default/files/styles/728x939/public/2024-06/kaila_teague_approved_cropped.jpg?h=464018b3&itok=p9sBTRkb)
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](/sites/default/files/styles/160x212/public/2024-06/Phil-Zuckerman-768x1052.jpg?h=e9d2da78&itok=ZiH_mGII)
- Professor of Secular Studies and Sociology
- Associate Dean of Faculty
- Secular Studies and Sociology Field Groups