{"id":3503,"date":"2015-06-15T20:23:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T00:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/02\/03\/education-by-design\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T14:21:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T18:21:52","slug":"education-by-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/education-by-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Education by design"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Furman<\/a>Furman offers more than 40 majors, which may sound like a lot\u2014especially if your graduation year begins with a 19. But in an ever-more-complex world, they barely scratch the surface of possible futures for a college freshman in 2015.<\/p>\n

There are nearly 1,500 academic programs available to undergraduates, and while places like the University of Michigan and Arizona State University have gone on the offensive by rolling out more than 250 areas of study that isn\u2019t an option for a small, liberal arts school. Being a nimble problem-solver is, however, and Furman\u2019s Individualized Curriculum Program (ICP) is a quintessential liberal arts solution.<\/p>\n

ICP allows students to design their own major if their educational goals \u201ccannot be met by existing majors or interdisciplinary minors.\u201d Such was the dilemma faced by Hope Ogunsile \u201916 when she realized Furman\u2019s film studies minor wasn\u2019t going to cut it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted to go into film before I came to Furman,\u201d the Mauldin, S.C., native said. \u201cI figured I would study business and take that where it would go, but I didn\u2019t like it. It wasn\u2019t enough. So I ended up just making my own major.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ogunsile\u2019s \u201cend-all, be-all, biggest dream\u201d is to be a film producer, but to do that she needs to be educated in all aspects of film making\u2014from writing to directing to acting\u2014as well as all aspects of film marketing. So Ogunsile created something now called film and media studies, which features a curriculum that sees her \u201ctaking courses in every department except the science building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really a major that is found at other schools, mainly because most schools, even though they try, they don\u2019t take in the sense of media studies or they don\u2019t take in the film aspect and the business aspect as well,\u201d she said. \u201cSo a lot of time individuals end up one-sided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other current ICP majors include sustainable development and social change; marketing design; health journalism; philosophy, politics, and economics; and global health. Alice Williams \u201915<\/a> says the work required to create her global health major\u2014which included coming up with a complete list of required courses and electives, writing a comprehensive essay explaining the need for her major, meeting with the head of every department involved, and presenting her case to the ICP committee\u2014was daunting but worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ICP major gave me the freedom to pick and choose classes that were specifically relevant to what I wanted to do and also gave me the flexibility to study abroad and also major in Asian Studies,\u201d she said. \u201cI could have taken the same classes when I was just an Asian Studies major, but having the global health degree shows specifically to employers and grad schools what I\u2019m interested in. I think it is an under-utilized program, partially because it\u2019s not that well known and partially because it\u2019s a lot of work. It was like having an extra class the semester I was working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renee Chosed, Ph.D., a biology professor, served as the ICP committee chair in 2014-15. Also Williams\u2019s advisor, Chosed says the program is a great option for students to have, though many discover it\u2019s not an easy path to go down.<\/p>\n

\"Furman<\/a>

ICP allows students to design their own major if their educational goals \u201ccannot be met by existing majors or interdisciplinary minors.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen freshmen come here they are just super excited they could create their own major and do whatever they want, and then they learn a little more about the process and realize it\u2019s not for everyone,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s for super high-achieving students\u00a0. . .\u00a0There are lots of students who start the process and don\u2019t finish the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Marianne Pierce, Ph.D., Furman\u2019s senior associate academic dean, ICP has been in existence since at least the early 1970s. Students can\u2019t declare an ICP major until after their freshman year, and fields of study are not limitless\u2014only classes in which Furman has accredited instructors can be offered, which eliminates things like architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what a liberal arts education is all about,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re not being trained in a narrow discipline. Your major doesn\u2019t determine your career. It doesn\u2019t limit your career, and we don\u2019t want the ICP to be a limiting career-focused thing either.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICP has helped Furman serve its students better, however. Because of multiple ICPs, the school created communications and neuroscience majors and may soon add global health, according to Chosed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ICP program in general embodies liberal arts and engaged learning,\u201d Williams, who recently accepted an invitation to join the Peace Corps<\/a> after graduation, said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the luxury of a Furman education. Hopefully the ICP program will help me find a way to give back.<\/p>\n

A conversation with her freshman advisor alerted Ogunsile to ICP, and she got almost everything she wanted. Almost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only problem I think they had at the end of the discussion was they didn\u2019t like the name, because I wanted to go with film and business. But obviously it\u2019s film and media studies,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Furman offers more than 40 majors, which may sound like a lot\u2014especially if your graduation year begins with a 19. But in an ever-more-complex world, they barely scratch the surface […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":14370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,34,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","category-admission","category-parent-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33152,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503\/revisions\/33152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}