Baker University’s faculty senate met in March and reviewed proposals for new minors offered to students. The faculty senate approved three minors to move on to the next stage; approval from the board of trustees in May. The proposals set to move forward are for minors in Library Information Science, Photography and Wellness.
Director of Library Services, Melanie Massey, co-wrote the Library of Information Science minor along with Reference & Instruction Librarian, Anna Holmes. The minor will require students to complete 18 credit hours worth of courses including the currently offered second-half course, Reading Round Table, taught by Massey. There is some overlap with Museum Studies due to some of the literature courses required for both routes.
“We want to give students an opportunity to encounter, explore and engage with information in our global society with an emphasis on the professional possibilities in the realm of Librarianship,” Massey said of the minor’s mission.
Massey explains the Library Information Science minor offers many opportunities to students, including the potential to work with public, private, academic and medical libraries or even museums and archives.
“Librarianship is so large and there are a lot of choices,” Massey said. “So, this is just an overview where students will take the initial class, Intro to Library Sciences, to learn about the different types of libraries.”
Another minor up for vote is the photography minor, which will be led by Myra Holt, the Assistant Professor of Photography. Our own Emma Berkley interviewed Holt about the potential addition.
“In looking at the minors that were available, we have studio art but it actually didn’t list the photography classes,” Holt said. “Because it can connect with studio art, mass media, english and social sciences, I thought it’d be a good idea to bring photography in as its own minor.”
The final course of study up for vote in May will focus on teaching students about overall wellness. The Wellness minor, led by the Department Chair of Applied Health Sciences, Dr. Erin Holt, will offer students an “interesting take” on their overall well-being. Students will need to complete 14 credit hours starting with a three-credit hour Concepts of Health class and eight one-credit hour classes covering different components of wellness, which will be offered as first or second-half courses.
“Companies are starting to recognize the importance of wellness and they’re looking to hire someone to take on corporate wellness,” Dr. Holt explained. “This new minor is applicable for many future professions.”
Some classes within the Wellness minor such as Concepts of Health, which is taught during Baker’s Summer Away program, will be offered online and in person. A few of these courses are currently being “piloted” this semester as second-half courses.
“The biggest caveat for adding a new program is that it is only going to apply to that year’s catalog going forward,” University Registrar Ramie Nation said. “These have never been in a prior catalog, but they will be applied to the 2024-2025 catalog.”
If current students are interested in adding any of these new minors, Nation suggests having a conversation with their academic advisors before making the catalog change.
“Sometimes the change is no big deal, especially if the requirements for their chosen major haven’t changed since they started at Baker,” Nation said. “But I definitely encourage any student interested to talk to their advisor first to see how the changes could affect them.”
If approved by the board of trustees, courses for the three new minors will begin to appear on the university’s timetables for fall 2024.
