Fair highlights U.'s efforts to promote smaller departments

The Majors Fair on Friday gave students the chance to either explore major options or find out more about their favorite department.

Departments, especially small ones, tried to convince students to concentrate.

Since last year, the administration has called attention to the fact that over half of students choose to concentrate in five departments — English, politics, history, economics and the Wilson School.

In an effort to inform students about the opportunities among small departments, the University released "Major Choices" — a book of profiles of alumni from smaller departments — earlier this semester.

Professor Robert Phinney of the geosciences department, which had 17 junior and senior concentrators last year, said he believes smaller departments have to try harder to attract students.

He explained his rationale in terms of the geology department

"There's no AP course in geology, and it's not really taught in high school," Phinney said. "Students coming into Princeton have either had no experience with real geology, or they've had harmful exposure with a stupid eighth grade science class."

But, the situation is not unique to the geosciences department.

Elizabeth Washburn '08 said she knew before arriving on campus that she wanted to major in either Spanish and Portuguese or French and Italian. "I had actually met with a Spanish and Portuguese professor last spring," Washburn said. "I was also a bit angry that 'Major Choices' did not have an alumnus from Spanish and Portuguese."

"It definitely helps that the department is small," Washburn said. "But if econ were my passion, I'd major in econ."

RuthAnne Lavis, French and Italian undergraduate coordinator, said she thinks the department could increase in size while still retaining the same feel and attractiveness for students who desire a small department. "We do have assets because we're small. We have 14 senior concentrators, and one full-time faculty. It's a one-to-one, personalized relationship. A comfortable size would be about 20 to 25 students in each class. We'd like to grow, but we want to keep our personalized relationships."

Lavis also emphasized one of the themes that "Major Choices" highlighted — that smaller departments might be better preparation for life after Princeton. "Some people do think that you have to major in history to go to law school," Lavis said. "But majoring in a language will set you apart from the other thousand applicants. It shows that you're creative and willing to think outside the box."

Seth Blumberg '08 is still unsure of his future concentration and visited several departments at the Majors Fair, including physics, economics, mathematics and philosophy. "I mainly asked questions about specific courses I could take in the next two semesters to set myself up for these majors," Blumberg said.

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Blumberg said he believes student-faculty interaction is a crucial part of the Princeton education. "One of the reasons we came to Princeton was so we could be spoiled with a lot of personal attention," Blumberg said. "It separates Princeton from other places."

But Blumberg said size of a department would not turn him away. "If you're very active in the economics department, I'm sure you'd get noticed," Blumberg said.

Daphne Cecil-Cockwell '08 is excited about the prospect of becoming a geological engineer. "I am interested because it's a smaller department," said Cecil-Cockwell, who originally intended to enter the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. "There's travel opportunities in it, for instance."

Phinney believes that the administration's efforts will pay off. "Before the administration starting publicizing this issue, departments would say 'why bother' with increasing its size from five to maybe 10 people," Phinney said. "If the administration didn't care about this, we'd be discouraged and not care either. This is now definitely not the case."

DDS:

In 2001, the Romance Languages Department became two departments: the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Department of French and Italian. "Ever since we split, we've constantly faced the challenge of being a small department," . "There was the question of how we would be able to compete with Comparative Literature."

Lavis believes that there would be more majors if students knew more about the department. "There's a misconception, perpetuated by that column in the Prince, that our department isn't flexible. But you don't even have to start out proficient in French or Italian."

Cecil-Cockwell said she believes there is a limit to the number of students can become geological engineers. "It's mostly about rocks," said Cecil-Cockwell. "I love it, but other people might not."

The geology department would like to increase its size. "There are students who would be ideal geology majors," Phinney said. "But they need to have at least general knowledge about us. If more students got the buzz, there would be more geo majors. An ideal size would be about 15 to 20 majors per class."