Meet Your Major event series introduces Lawrentians to academic opportunities

On Friday, Jan. 10, Lawrence began hosting its annual Meet Your Major event series, this year consisting of 20 major showcase events throughout the next month. Associate Dean of Academic Success and Director of Academic Advising Jacklyn John Fischer, one of the coordinators, described the series as a way for Lawrentians to explore potential areas of study by building connections with a discipline’s faculty and students through major-related activities. The series began on Friday, Jan. 10, with the environmental studies, environmental science and geoscience departments’ “Earth and Environment Exploration” event. It will end on Thursday, Feb. 20, Major Declaration Day; the final event of Meet Your Major — the theatre arts department’s “Theatre Skills are Life Skills” showcase — will take place the just the day before on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

John Fischer said that the goal of Meet Your Major is to connect undecided students to the faculty and students currently involved in a department to introduce the major through both perspectives to them. She said the goal is ultimately to educate students to make well-informed decisions in choosing a major. Alongside students still deciding, she also encouraged students already pursuing a major to attend the events of their area(s) of study to learn of potential post-Lawrence pathways and other supplemental opportunities for the major of which a student may be unaware.

“Making time for major exploration early on in your academic career helps ensure that you find a major that best aligns with your interests, strengths and values,” John Fischer said. “And even if you have already decided on a major, attending the Meet Your Major series can also expose you to things like student research, study abroad programs, internships or student clubs that can help you make the most of your major.”

According to John Fischer, the coordinators of Meet Your Major have encouraged departments of related disciplines to collaborate with one another in their events this year in hopes to expose students to more potential areas of study. As a result, the series’ 20 events will showcase a total of 34 academic disciplines. Some of these combined efforts include, but are not limited to, the government and international relations departments’ panel discussion “U.S. Foreign Policy in the Trump Era” that took place on Tuesday, Jan. 14; and “Global Languages and Cultures at Lawrence,” co-hosted between the global studies, linguistics, East Asian studies and foreign language departments on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

The coordinating parties of Meet Your Major also aimed to increase the presence of students currently pursuing a given major in the events, according to John Fischer. She said this was in order to provide additional student perspective on the major to those still seeking one, as well as to encourage a greater sense of student community within a major.

To this end, John Fischer encouraged all students — including those who have already declared a major — to attend Meet Your Major events. A full list of the events is available on the Academic Advising page of the Lawrence University website.