If you look through the undergraduate catalog, you won’t find Neurobiology of Trauma, Dynamics of Social Movements or Native American Narratives listed among the 70-plus majors offered at JMU. Nor will you see Social Media Entrepreneurship, Political Campaign Management, or Fashion Merchandising and Design. 

Yet each of these is a degree program completed by Dukes, and made possible through the Independent Scholars program, which allows students to design their own major. 

The Independent Scholars program was born out of a goal of furthering JMU’s competitiveness on the local and national stage. “It was thought that having a self-designed major would make us more competitive and help elevate our profile as an academic institution,” said Dr. Matthew Chamberlin, program director.

Independent Scholars was proposed in 2010 by Dr. Fletcher Linder, now the dean of University Studies. Chamberlin helped design the program, and the two would also partner on the creation of the curriculum, which was approved by the university in 2011. Dr. Phil Frana joined them before the launch of the program in 2015. 

Housed under the Department of Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies, the program at its core is dedicated to exploration and designed to help students determine their interests, reflect on their backgrounds and current experiences, and invest in their future plans. Dr. Scott Paulson, academic unit head of IDLS, points to the program’s ability to accommodate the evolving needs of students. “By allowing students to co-create their curriculum with faculty advisors, Independent Scholars fosters ownership of and engagement with their learning,” Paulson said.

Advising is a crucial part of the faculty role. “We begin with advising, and then our students enter our introductory class [IND 200], where they’re grappling with ideas, they’re learning with disciplines … they’re sort of weaving all this together,” Chamberlin said. From there, prospective students propose their research with the expectation that they can properly highlight the interdisciplinary aspects, and, if accepted, are admitted into the major. Each student’s individualized curriculum can pull from any discipline at Madison, and experiential learning is heavily encouraged, allowing students to draw from internship or study-abroad experiences. Critically, faculty across JMU help mentor Independent Scholars students. “Faculty in many programs make it possible for our students to realize dreams that cross disciplinary boundaries,” Chamberlin said.