Matthew Murphy, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
New majors in creative technology and international business are in the process of becoming official and available to students.
Each of the two new majors was created for a different purpose. Dean of the Campbell School of Business, John Grout, said international business was created because of student and prospective student interest.
“The International business major was developed because the admissions officers that I meet with every summer gave me feedback indicating that it would be of interest to many students that they talk to,” Grout said. “We’re anxious to provide them with the kinds of things they are interested in.”
The international business major is set to be a fifteen hour co-major and is coupled with other existing business majors such as accounting, management, marketing, and finance.
Dr. Basil Englis, chair of the Campbell School of Business curriculum committee, said the major in international business is supposed to prepare students for the business world at a global perspective.
“The goal is to broaden student exposure to important international business issues and to foster greater knowledge and sensitivity to global social, environmental, economic and commercial issues,” Englis said.
Students are hoped to learn through the international business major about several different aspects of business from a global perspective.
“I hope that they will learn how different cultures that they may encounter in the world can be taken into account when students manage organizations,” Grout said.
Students of international business would take several business courses related to the topic directly as well as other government-type course relating to global politics and the international world.
“All of the international business major courses come from either existing courses in international business or a list of options from the Evans school that involve international relations,” Grout said.
Grout said students are also encouraged to take a foreign language. New foreign language classes will be created to be geared towards business language.
The international business co-major has already been approved by the academic council and will begin in the fall of 2014.
The creative technology major has yet to be approved by the academic council, but it is currently in the process of being constructed.
Dr. Nadeem Hamid, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, said he sparked interest in the creative technology major because of a class that he taught on Physical Computing. This class caught the interest of Dean Grout, who according to Hamid was also interested in the topic.
The creative technology major is also being explored because of the board of trustees and administrations interest in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education.
“We already have a great science program; we already have a really good math department. So we could either go down an engineering track or a technology track,” Grout said. “Our belief is that a technology track would fit better with the liberal arts approach of the college than engineering would have.”
Students in the proposed creative technology major would be expected to take classes across several different disciplines.
“For the creative technologies class, it will be a variety of courses from across campus,” Grout said. “There will be business courses; there will be computer science courses, and there will be creative technology courses.”
One specific course in the creative technology major is a basic prototyping class, where students will utilize technology, such as 3-D printers to creative objects.
Students with a degree in creative technology are expected to be marketable in terms of the job market.
“I don’t know exactly what job they [the creative technology majors] are going to get, but I know that people with that set of talents is likely to get employers’ attention,” Grout said.
Overall, Grout said that both of the new majors will be beneficial for students after their undergraduate experience.
“I think that both of these majors will create individuals who will be attractive for a variety of positions,” Grout said.