In this year’s Majors and Minors Fair, faculty members and students from more than 100 majors and 70 minors presented to students about the benefits of their departments. The fair, which was held at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Emerson Suites, was sponsored by the Office of Career Services, the Academic Advising Center and the Exploratory Program.
The fair featured faculty and student representatives from every major. Nikki Lynn, a career counselor in Career Services, said the event will make exploring different majors and minors easier for students.
“Students can get information about all the different majors and minors that we have here on campus, all in one spot,” Lynn said.
Natalie Grande, a freshman exploratory major, said she thought the Majors and Minors Fair was a great opportunity to see which programs she was interested in. She said she talked to the Departments of Business Administration and Economics and is thinking about pursuing a counseling minor.
“I don’t know what I’m going to study, I don’t know what I want to do with my life, and this seems like it’ll be a good way to add a little bit of structure,” Grande said. “It’s kind of like a buffet table of majors, and I just am picking up all the fliers.”
In addition to meeting with representatives, students were able to receive academic advice at the event. Staff members from the Academic Advising Center, Career Services, the Office of International Programs and the Office of the Registrar were at the event to work directly with students.
“Students can take the information that they get from the departments and go to Academic Advising and see what types of classes they would need to take if they wanted to declare a major or a minor,” Lynn said. “They could go to Career Services and say, ‘What can I do with this major or this minor?’ and then they could go to the Registrar and start the process of what they would need to do to change majors.”
Phuong Nguyen, assistant professor for the Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity, said he represented his program at the fair to share opportunities with students about minors in the CSCRE program — African Diaspora studies, Latino studies, Asian-American studies and Native American studies.
Nguyen said he thought the fair was a great opportunity for students to learn more about potential courses.
“The fair is probably one out of many good opportunities to find out what’s available at Ithaca College,” he said. “We have a website that has a lot of information about what classes students have to take to minor in any of these four different fields, or they can feel free to come to CHS 101.”
Elizabeth Bleicher, associate professor of English and the academic director of the exploratory program, said the new Academic Advising Center, staffed by professional academic advisers, is an important resource for students.
The Advising Center is located at 130A Rothschild Place. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and accepts walk-ins and appointments.
“If we have a student in one school who wants to transfer into another school, they can help be the bridge among and between schools,” she said.
Lynn said, at the event, attendees will be asked for feedback about how the fair can be improved, because this is the first time since 2004 that the Majors and Minors Fair is being held.
Online News Editor Jack Curran contributed to this article
