Tiny Majors

"What's your major?" This question resounds across college campuses, often revealing the paths of students' academic journeys. At Santa Clara, typical responses revolve around computer science or finance, reflecting the prevailing trends in higher education. However, there are many departments and majors that struggle for recognition and resources.

Many of these small departments feel neglected when it comes to university attention and funding. Recent fundraising efforts by Santa Clara have focused on STEM and business schools. As a result, smaller programs struggle to expand and advertise, limiting their reach and impact.

The Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation (SCDI) reflects Santa Clara’s commitment to remaining a world-class leader in STEM education. Boasting a $300 million facility stocked with the latest equipment and resources, there has been an 85% increase in undergraduate STEM enrollment at Santa Clara over the past decade.

“You look at the facilities and the students can see where the university is placing its priorities, what it values, and, therefore, there's this implicit communication. What should you value as a student?” said Classics and Classical Studies department chair Dr. Daniel Turkeltaub. “You look at SCDI and the resources they have poured into that. Meanwhile, the history department is in the basement of O'Connor.”

The largest majors at Santa Clara are Computer Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering, with 396 students enrolled in the major, and Finance in the Leavey School of Business school, with 370.

The majority of smaller majors exist within the College of Arts and Humanities, such as Women and Gender Studies, with six students enrolled as majors, and Classics, with seven.

“The College of Arts and Sciences is, in some ways, resourced differently than the business school or the engineering school, everybody can see that,” said Chair of Anthropology Dr. Lee Panich. “Sometimes it does feel like you're fighting for resources. But I think on the whole, from the arts and humanities perspective, the university supports what we do as small departments.”

Many of the structures in place are designed to promote larger departments. Workday, the software Santa Clara students use to register for classes, displays courses with the most number of sections offered at the top of the search results. This means smaller, less-offered classes appear further down.

“To search for Classics department courses, you have to type in the word ‘classics,’” said Turkeltaub. “You also have to know you're specifically looking for it, and know it exists already. This challenge emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to resource allocation, acknowledging the diverse contributions of both large and small departments.”

To encourage higher enrollment rates, small departments have appealed to Santa Clara’s core curriculum. With the incentive to fill a core requirement such as ethics, diversity and second language, small departments hope that students will stumble into one of their classes.

Many of these small-major classes have small class sizes. With fewer students, professors can engage more deeply with individual learners, tailoring their teaching methods to meet diverse needs. This personalized approach can help foster a sense of community and collaboration, enhancing the overall learning experience.

“You see other universities going through these kinds of convulsions, where they're shutting departments that they don't think bring value to their university,” said Panich. “But I think because of the Jesuit tradition that, I would hope, wouldn't happen here.”