Creighton students were encouraged to shop around and explore their options at the annual Major and Minor Fair on Wednesday.
The fair was held in the Skutt Student Center Ballroom and co-hosted by Creighton’s Career Center and Ratio Studiorum Program. Every department and school were represented , as well as other programs.
Social work professor Dr. Barbara Harris was present to promote the social work major.
“Students who are interested in a health science major should take a look at doing social work,” Harris said. “It’s also great for pre-med majors because they get the patient care experience. All our students do hospital rotations.”
Harris also said that for some students, the fair helps clear up some questions about different majors.
Harris explained that some students may not recognize the difference between social work and sociology and the fair helps students realize that maybe they have misinterpreted what certain majors and minors are all about.
“I teach one of the intro classes and some of our students spend about 500 hours out in the field,” Harris said. “The work they do is more clinical than sociology.”
Arts & Sciences junior Tess Blackwell is a social work major.
“I’ve come to the fair several times since I was a freshman,” Blackwell said. “I guess what I learned was that I just needed to take an intro class in social work if that was something I was interested in.”
After taking the intro course Blackwell said she just needed to make a commitment to the major.
“I was undecided when I was a freshman and had absolutely no idea what I even wanted to do, so the Major and Minor Fair really helped me to focus my interests,” Blackwell said.
Creighton Career Center Assistant Director Sandy Ciriaco said that many changes were made to different majors and minors because of the prioritization.
“There are fewer minors than last year because a lot of departments were either eliminated or consolidated,” Ciriaco said.
The Major and Minor Fair strategically takes place after midterms in case some students feel like they might have to change their intended major based on their midterm grades. This event provides students with the opportunity to explore their options if they need to make a plan B.
Ciriaco, who has coordinated the event for seven years, said that they use ID scanners to take attendance for RSP students as well as to collect data so they have an idea as to how many students attended the event.
Arts & Sciences freshman Katie McGuire attended the fair.
“I came because of my RSP class and I’m thinking about doing a communications major, so I want to check that out while I’m here and have the chance to get more information,” McGuire said.
Assistant Dean of the College of Business Charisse William said that many students tend to make a decision after midterms.
“The Major and Minor Fair helps students get talking to more people without the pressure of making a commitment,” Williams said.
Williams also said that she teaches an RSP class and that she expresses the importance that students never know what they might find.
“I’ve had a lot of doctors, physical therapy and dental students come by because they realize they want to take more business classes,” Williams said. “Those in the medical profession need these classes because they are needing more managerial skills.”
Williams said the College of Business created a new MD, MBA program geared toward third-year medical students and allows them to take a sabbatical from their medical program to take these business classes.
“It’s also becoming more popular for students to decide on a major and then make business their minor,” Williams said.
Ciriaco emphasized that if students come to the fair and find something they are interested in, they need to be proactive and self-reliant for following up on those interests and to go after what they want and what their true passion is.