At UC Santa Cruz you may elect to propose your own major in preference to the established major programs. Such individually designed programs are usually interdisciplinary, since programs centered in a particular discipline are already provided by the departments. Individual majors are usually pursued by highly motivated, exceptional students.

The following are some examples of individual majors pursued by UC Santa Cruz students in previous years: Native American studies, pre-med/Chicano-Latino studies, architecture, and computational and visual mathematics. Many other individual majors are possible, depending on the availability of appropriate faculty.

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The term individual major does not mean that you can do anything you want; each individual major requires a formal proposal and several endorsements. A good strategy is to make contact with an interested academic adviser who can suggest faculty members who are knowledgeable about the field you wish to study. Other students and faculty may have additional suggestions.

Informal groups of faculty with common interests are available to assist students who want to declare individual majors in the following fields: East Asian studies (Chinese emphasis), religious studies, Russian studies, and South and Southeast Asian studies. Please note that these programs have not been established as formal majors and that the burden of designing a major in these fields still rests with the individual student. Many established majors include pathways designed to direct student interest in specific areas. A close reading of the UC Santa Cruz General Catalog is recommended.

Remember that an individual major is just that—individual. You must be self-directed to successfully complete an individual major. There will be no department to tell you what to do, and you may miss the companionship of a group of students working in the same field. Be prepared to do a lot of legwork; you’ll be on your own in finding faculty to supervise the major as well as in much of the gathering of resources and materials to complete it.

Students interested in more than one of UC Santa Cruz’s established majors may pursue a double or multiple major by completing all of the requirements of each major.

Combined majors—commonly declared double or individual majors that have been defined by participating programs—may also be declared. Students may pursue combined majors in Earth sciences/anthropology, environmental studies/biology, environmental studies/Earth sciences, environmental studies/economics, Latin American and Latino studies (LALS)/global economics, LALS/literature, LALS/politics, and LALS/sociology.

Requirements
If you want to declare an individual major, you must have the support of an academic adviser and the approval of your college. In addition, you must find three continuing faculty members who are knowledgeable in the area involved and willing to serve on a committee to supervise your major. One of these faculty members must be willing to serve as chair of the committee. If knowledgeable faculty are not available, you will not be able to pursue the major. However, you will still have the option of pursuing an established major in a related field.

After discussing the individual major with potential committee members and your academic adviser, you will write a brief proposal for the major that will be filed with a Petition for Declaration of an Individual Major, along with your Proposed Study Plan and Declar­ation of Major/Minor. The proposal must include the title of the proposed major, a rationale for the program, the courses you have completed or plan to complete for the major, and a description of your proposed senior thesis or comprehensive examination. An individual major must include 10 courses, of which eight must be upper-division. The committee must meet before they sign the petition to declare the individual major; all committee members, your adviser, and a college representative must sign the petition. The committee chair supervises the major and ensures that an appropriate comprehensive examination or senior thesis is completed satisfactorily.

East Asian Studies: High School Preparation and Transfer Preparation
High school students who are interested in East Asian studies at UC Santa Cruz need no specific preparation beyond the high school courses required for UC admission.

Transfer students who are interested in East Asian studies will find it helpful to take courses that fulfill campus general education requirements before coming to Santa Cruz. Furthermore, they should have at least one year of language training in either Chinese or Japanese, or they should intend to pursue intensive summer study. It is also recommended that students complete an introductory course in Asian civilization before transferring to UC Santa Cruz.

East Asian Studies: Education Abroad Program
Study abroad, though not a requirement, is strongly encouraged for East Asian studies majors. At present there are UC EAP programs in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Prior to beginning study abroad, students should present a plan showing how they propose to complete the major requirements.

East Asian Studies: Faculty
More information can be obtained from faculty involved in the program: Noriko Aso (History), Dilip K. Basu (History), Raoul Birnbaum (History of Art and Visual Culture), Nancy Chen (Anthropology), Alan S. Christy (History), Christopher Connery (Literature), Sakae Fujita (Language Program), Hiroshi Fukurai (Sociology), K. C. Fung (Economics), Per Gjerde (Psychology), June Gordon (Education), John Hay (History of Art and Visual Culture), Gail B. Hershatter (History), Emily Honig (Feminist Studies and History), Minghui Hu (History), Junko Ito (Linguistics), David Keenan (Language Program), Lisa Rofel (Anthropology), Dana Y. Takagi (Sociology), Alice Yang (History).