A Minor Amount of Communication

The road to finding the right minor can be rough, especially when some students are not even sure of where to go for the listing of minors being offered. When it comes to getting the help of their adviser, some have never had that conversation.

"I don't think I was ever encouraged by my advisor. I don't think we ever had that conversation," said junior psychology and human services major Margaret George who also has a minor in anthropology and sociology. "One day I asked her to sign the minor sheet and that was it."

Andrew Cochran, a junior studying psychology and human services, had a similar experience in that he also never had a discussion with his adviser about minors. He chose to pursue a double major.

"I don't have a minor because I didn't really know the significance of a minor and I wasn't really informed of what minors there are and if they're applicable or what the point of them is," said Cochran. "I've never heard about minors or anything like that from my advisor. I'm sure he knows about minors, but it was never brought to my attention by anybody. In hindsight I probably would have gotten a minor or two."

There are seven minors that have strong student support, according to the enrollment numbers. They are athletic coaching, criminal justice, history, business, marketing, photography, and psychology. There are four minors, however, that are lacking in popularity.

"Those with the fewest (students) would be atmospheric sciences, chemistry, philosophy, and international studies," said Debra Hale, assistant academic dean and registrar. She said that promotion of the minors should come down to the conversation between a student and their adviser, but director of career services, Linda Walcholder says this is not always effective.

"If it's within their department, they are promoting. If it isn't, then they're not because one, they either don't know about it or two, they may not have that interest," said Walcholder.

There is also the conflict as to whether or not certain minors are being equally promoted by admissions and student services.

As an adviser, David Johnston, associate professor of philosophy and film studies, does not necessarily agree that it should be the sole responsibility of the adviser to promote the minors.

"I think that it's the college's job in the sense that there are lots of different places where the discussion of having a minor could take place," said Johnston. "We have an admissions process that's very focused on the majors, so I think the minors get lost in that process. As a whole, I don't think people are thinking of minors as an option."

Social science professor, Janet Bennion cites the recent cuts in liberal arts courses as a leading cause of certain minors also being cut.

"I believe that some minors have not received the attention they deserve, and therefore, get cut," said Bennion through an email interview. "The gender minor, for example, was removed because people didn't know about it. It was not promoted by admissions. I promoted it as an advisor but it takes more than this for it to thrive. We have to help each other out."

Kate Gold, director of the advising resource center, believes that minors are being cut by the college due to a lack of financial stability.

"Some of the programs sort of exist, but they don't want a ton of people rushing into them because we don't actually have the resources to support them well," said Gold.

Hale feels differently.

"We have discontinued one or two under-enrolled minors and added others to replace them, but honestly it was because no students were pursuing the minors," said Hale through an email interview. "It doesn't make sense to me that students would be discouraged from minors because we were trying to do away with them.  Increased enrollments would be an incentive for increased resources and I have never, ever heard of students being discouraged from pursuing any learning."

Johnston said that there was an instance two years ago when under enrolled minors were closely looked at from a financial standpoint. If the classes for that minor were not also fulfilling the requirements of a major, then the minor was not financially viable.

"There isn't any attack on minors. There's no war on minors," said Johnston. "They make an awful lot of sense from a logistical standpoint, from a financial standpoint, if they're made up of courses that are already a part of the major."

Minors Offered

Found on the Lyndon State website, within the student course catalogs (hard copies and online), and the degree program change form outside of student services.

Anthropology/Sociology

Athletic Coaching Education

Atmospheric Sciences

Biology

Business

Chemistry

Criminal Justice

English

Film Studies

Geology

Graphic Design

History

Human Services

Marketing

Mathematics

Music

Philosophy

Photography

Physics

Political Science

Psychology

Theater

Visual Arts

The following minors are not listed on both the website and degree form:

Calculus Based Physics

(Not listed on the website, but offered on the degree program form)

Digital Media

(Not listed on the website, but offered on the degree program form)

Exercise Science

(Not listed on the website, but offered on the degree program form)

Gender Studies

(Editor's Note: This minor is listed on the LSC website as an offered minor, but is not listed on the Degree Program changes form as a minor. Danielle Drown also has a minor in Gender Studies)

International Studies

(Not listed on the degree form, but offered on the website)

New Media

(Not listed on the degree form, but offered on the website)