Majors

There are two types of CIS majors, each with its own requirements. 

Student-Designed Majors

Student-designed majors are created by students in close consultation with at least two interested faculty members. Like other majors, they require courses that offer both a breadth of study as well as depth of knowledge and methodology in a particular field. Please begin the process of declaring your CIS major by completing the application found in our Application Guidelines. You will need to present your idea for an interdisciplinary major to faculty members who will sign a plan of study and commit to active participation in the CIS. An example of a student-designed major is Linguistics.

Center-Established Majors

Most interdisciplinary majors are center-established majors. These are majors that have already been designed by faculty but cannot definitively be regularly offered for a variety of reasons. Center-established majors have been reviewed internally and externally, and like other majors in the college, have a set list of required and elective courses. For a detailed description of the major application process, please contact any of the chairs of the following programs:

• Bioinformatics
• Film, Media and Digital Studies
• Genomics
• Global Literary Theory
• Philosophy, Politics & Economics
• Public Health

CIS is currently not accepting applications for the major in Neuroscience. Students interested in Neuroscience should pursue the minor in conjunction with a traditional departmental major. 

Both student-designed and center-established majors require a great deal of planning and communication with faculty members. It is a good idea to begin exploring possibilities in the spring of your first year, and no later than the fall semester of your sophomore year.

We strongly discourage double majoring with CIS. If you were to double major, then you would need to obtain permission from your advisor(s) and the CIS Director in advance.  CIS is meant to be for students whose curricular interests are not covered by an existing major.

For questions about CIS, please contact CIS Director Prof. Lauren Stutts.