Ask a Tufts student his or her major, and it is in increasingly likely that the answer will be economics, biology, or English. And although interdisciplinary programs such as American studies, peace and justice studies, or Middle Eastern studies have sprung up in recent years, the University's most significant academic trend is a marked increase in the number of students concentrating in a handful of mainstream majors, including economics and international relations (IR).
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the IR program, however, double-majoring has allowed many of the other non-mainstream majors to find a niche at Tufts. IR majors, for example, often declare a second major in either a language or economics, because the IR requirements overlap with these disciplines. As of March, 48 percent of IR majors were double majors, and 18 percent of these students listed economics as their second major.
There were 501 IR majors in 1999. Today, the department says the number has reached 552, up from only 250 when Professor John Jenke, assistant director of the IR program, first arrived at Tufts.
One reason why double-majoring with IR has become popular is that international students comprise a large amount of the student body. "Thirty five percent of the IR majors are international students. This means that they may be exempt from the foreign language requirements that Tufts has, so they have more time to do more courses," Jenke said
The popularity of the IR and economics majors is starting to concern administrators from both departments, who see their limited resources strained by increasing student interest.
"We felt the strain in the IR office this year. All of this also means that there is a huge burden on the economics department. Both departments are concerned about being adequately funded to support the large enrollment," Jenke said.
Although double-majoring may be popular among students, some administrators are anxious that students might not have the opportunity to explore interesting courses that do not relate to their majors. "I am not sure that double-majoring is a good trend. Majoring in one field offers the depth students need," said Jean Herbert, Tufts' associate dean and registrar. "But it is also better to have a breadth along with the depth by taking courses in which you can enjoy real liberal arts education."
According to Dean of the Colleges Charles Inouye, there has been little movement of students away from the mainstream majors. Nevertheless, there is still a significant number of students flocking to the newer fields of study at Tufts. "What we call mainstream today was not mainstream even 50 years ago," Inouye said. "The mix of disciplines and their popularity is constantly changing."
Offerings in non-mainstream languages have expanded greatly in the last decade. In the Japanese department, for example, there were only language courses and one tenure-track faculty member in 1990. Today, there are 14 students majoring in Japanese studies. Of these, one student is receiving a Fulbright scholarship, five students are graduating cum laude, and four are graduating with magna cum laude honors.
The women's studies major began offering a certificate last year and now has 18 majors. Most of these students are double-majors, according to Director Sofia Hofkosh, and a number of them are in the five-year program with the Museum of Fine Arts.
Women's studies is "not looking to become a huge major," Hofkosh said. "We want to provide interested people a field to pursue. Women's studies is a developing field nationwide."
International Letters and Visual Studies (ILVS), another of Tufts' newest academic additions, focuses on an area in which student interest has ballooned.
"ILVS was designed with the future in mind," Inouye said. "We created a complete program that includes film and visual studies, which is one of the big trends of interest today. I would not interpret the rise of interest in film studies and communications as a growth that will end interest and use of literary studies."
The education certificate program, though not a major, has received increased interest in the past five years, and there has also been a somewhat greater interest in computer science.
But according to Inouye, the number of students majoring in a particular program does not accurately reflect the program's academic value to Tufts. "To think of a curriculum only in terms of majors is not a good idea," he said. "Some programs have few majors but teach a large number of students and so contribute to the Tufts community in that way."
