The policies below apply to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees. They do not apply to the university's professional degree in nursing, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.).

Two main categories of major are recognized: Standing Majors, which are programs that have been approved specifically by the relevant Curriculum Committee and appropriate faculty body, and Individual Majors, which are approved for individual students under policies described below. Each student must complete a Standing Major or an Individual Major to graduate.

VI.10.1 Standing Majors

Two kinds of standing majors may be distinguished. Single-field, or departmental, majors focus on a single named discipline (e.g., anthropology, physics) but sometimes include cognate or supporting courses in other fields. Multiple-field majors, sometimes referred to as interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary majors, are coherent programs of study that include significant numbers of credits in more than one discipline and are typically named in relation to the mix of disciplines represented (e.g., international business, business information systems). Multiple-field majors are supervised by a small faculty program committee from appropriate departments.

A single-field major typically consists of a minimum of 40 credits and a maximum of 60 required credits, where all required credits are counted, including prerequisites and courses both within and without the field. Further, the required credits must include at least 30 but not more than 40 in the field. Unless a contrary action is taken by the faculty of the relevant school or college, a field is co-extensive with a department with respect to these minima and maxima. The statement of this policy in the catalog will be accompanied by the current list of any approved exceptions. Further, certain courses from which many students are exempted by placement on entering the university (e.g., elementary language and mathematics) may be excluded from the maxima by action of the faculty of the relevant school or college. A single-field major will normally include at least 20 credits in upper-division courses (those numbered 300 or above). Finally, a single-field major will normally include some kind of capstone experience such as a senior project or thesis, a senior seminar, or an integrative course.

A multiple-field major typically consists of a minimum of 40 credits and a maximum of 60 credits, where all required credits are counted, including prerequisites. For each of the main core fields represented, the required courses normally will include no fewer than 15 credits and no more than 30 credits. Normally, a multiple-field major will include some kind of capstone experience that bridges the constituent fields.

VI.10.2 Individual Majors

The individual major (IM) is designed for students who are serious about pursuing an area of scholarly inquiry that has a definable character but falls outside the scope of a standing major of the university. Further, it is an interdisciplinary, intellectually coherent program of study designed by an individual student and faculty members of their choice. Programs that would simply accord the status of an IM to a set of courses in one department, or to a set that already satisfies the requirements of an existing major, are not acceptable.

Students and advisors will be guided in designing an appropriate IM by application forms and an IM handbook, both available from the registrar.

As the first step in initiating a proposal for an IM, the student will secure an IM advisor (who serves also as the student's academic advisor) and, with the assistance of the advisor, form an ad hoc IM program committee constituted of the IM advisor and at least one faculty member from each main discipline (referred to hereafter as a “core field”) in the proposed major. Because these faculty members must be prepared to act as the student’s advisory group until the student graduates, they must hold full-time tenure-track positions. With respect to overseeing the student's individual major, the program committee functions in lieu of an academic department of the university. The committee’s initial role is to assist the student in designing a major worthy of faculty approval.

A proposal must come to the relevant Curriculum Committee(s) with the support of the IM program committee. The relevant Curriculum Committee(s) will recommend to the Faculty Senate those proposals which in its opinion have scholarly merit, are clearly interdisciplinary, can be carried out with resources available at Linfield, and otherwise are consistent with IM policies. Before taking final action, it may recommend changes in the proposal. For an IM program that has already been approved by the Faculty Senate, proposed changes may be approved by the relevant Curriculum Committee(s) without subsequent action by the Faculty Senate.

The core of an IM proposal is a statement that describes the major, explains its rationale, argues for its coherence, and demonstrates how the proposed course work relates to the rationale. The proposal lists the courses in the major and suggests a sequence in which they will be taken. It includes a statement from the IM advisor attesting to the academic viability of the program and is signed by the members of the student’s IM program committee (indicating approval of the idea and content of the major) and by the head of each department that offers a core field involved in the major (indicating probable availability of the courses included in the program). A department chair who believes the title or content detracts from or otherwise infringes upon the major(s) offered by the department may attach a statement to this effect, with an appropriate recommendation.

The following additional policies have been adopted to supplement the provisions above:

• The student should have completed at least one year of college work and earned a cumulative 3.0 GPA at the time of applying for an Individual Major.
• Applications must be submitted by the end of the second semester of the student's sophomore year, with approval of the relevant Curriculum Committee(s) coming by the middle of the first semester of the junior year. This policy is designed to assure careful planning and eliminate proposals that are simply post-hoc rationalizations for a set of courses taken to meet other goals. Exceptions should be rare and based on clear evidence of planning, including, when appropriate, staying past the usual eight semesters to complete the major.
• In cases in which transfer credit is to be applied toward the major, a transcript, syllabi, and other appropriate materials documenting transfer work already completed, and/or a feasible plan for completing future transfer work, must be submitted with the application.
• The proposal must make clear whether the IM will be part of a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree program.
• The individual major must comprise at least 50 credits but no more than 60 credits, including cognates and prerequisites.
• The major must include work from at least two core fields, but not normally more than three, with a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 30 credits in any one core field included within the 60-credit maximum.
• At least 25 credits in the major must be earned at Linfield, including at least eight upper division credits in each core field represented.
• At least one-third of all course work must be in the upper division, with no less than half at the upper division level in all core fields represented in the major.
• Each major must include some form of individual study (an independent study course, an internship, a senior project, or a seminar) to serve as a culminating integrative experience. The nature of this study, and a case for its feasibility, should be included in the IM proposal.
• Any individual major that bears the title of a generally recognized course of study should include course work comparable to this program at institutions at which it is regularly available. Students should use materials from such institutions in planning their individual majors and submit them with their proposals to substantiate that this criterion is met.
• Because each request is considered individually, the student may, with the support of the program committee, request an exception to particular requirements. Such a request should be included in the statement justifying the major.
• On the student’s transcript, the major will appear as Individual Major: [Name of Program].

VI.10.3 Minors

Besides the majors described above, the only other kind of program recognized on a student’s transcript is a minor (except that certificate programs are recognized for OCE students). Students are not required to complete a minor. A single-field minor consists of 20 to 30 credits, no more than 25 of which are in the field itself; a multiple-field minor will include no more than 30 required credits of interrelated course work. All credits are counted, including prerequisites. “Individual minors” will not be permitted.

VI.10.4 Declaration of Major

Determining a major field of study is an important choice in a student’s academic career. Some students need time to explore a variety of interests prior to deciding on a major, whereas others come to college with a strong inclination toward a particular field of study. Linfield’s policy on declaring a major is flexible enough to honor the student’s desire to explore various options. At the same time, it recognizes that timely determination of an academic major facilitates planning and expedites progress toward a degree.

By spring semester of the sophomore year (or upon completion of 45 semester hours), students must declare a major with the approval of an advisor in the major program. This declaration must be completed before a student is permitted to register for the following semester.

Pre-Nursing students are strongly encouraged to declare their major as soon as possible after the end of the first semester seminar (IDST 007). Transfer students (to McMinnville) are strongly encouraged to declare Pre-Nursing upon matriculation. All qualified Linfield students who have established residency

will be admitted to the School of Nursing, with the following caveat. If necessary due to limited capacity in each start term, qualified students will be assigned a start term using a competitive selection process that considers factors that may include but are not limited to prerequisite course grades and overall grades. (See also Nursing and Admission section of the Linfield University Course Catalog.)

Students desiring to enter one of Linfield’s teacher licensure programs signal their interest at this time to receive appropriate advising from the Education Department.