Departments, registrar come together for majors fair

by Grant Rodgers

Deciding upon a major presents a tough choice for students, but Simpson’s Career Services department hopes to help ease students’ decisions with its upcoming “Putting the Pieces in Place” majors and minors fair.

Set for Feb. 3 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in Hopper gymnasium, the fair will provide students an opportunity to meet with professors from all departments to discuss specific majors and minors and changes resulting from the new engaged citizenship curriculum.

The fair will also feature “power advising” workshops with faculty members and many workshops including resume building and how to deal when undecided on a major. They will be hosted by both Career Services and the Center for Vocational and Integrative Learning.

“It’s an opportunity for students to speak with faculty and to look at the new curriculum that will be put in place in the fall and to get some advice about the careers that are available, look at the actual programs and get questions answered before registration later in February,” said Jennifer del Pino, director of career services. “It also gives the departments the opportunity to share information.”

For students still looking for answers on how the future curriculum affects their specific major, faculty will be available and some departments will host round-table discussions.

“After the (SGA) forum event, that got the big picture out, students are wondering ‘how is this new curriculum going to affect me,'” said Stephanie Krauth, associate dean of students. “For us, the majors fair is realizing that big picture transitions are happening so students are going to need to start thinking about their majors, their minors and putting that together.”

For these students and all looking to take advantage of the “power advising” sessions, Krauth recommends students come prepared to make the most of the experience.

“I think if students want to take really good advantage of those sessions, bringing a copy of their schedule would be ideal, maybe even their degree audit,” Krauth said.

Additionally, for students looking to speed up the process of declaring, the Registrar’s Office will run a table at the event where students can obtain the forms needed to declare a major or switch advisors.

The idea for the event came recommended to Simpson by a consultant who reviewed the academic advising program, and several colleges across the country host similar events annually.

“It’s an event that we’ve seen happening across the U.S.,” del Pino said. “We decided it would probably be very appropriate for Simpson and something that the students need.”

Aside from the majors fair, February is set to be a busy month for the Career Services department, which is also hosting the annual career fair on Feb. 10.

“So far we’ve got about 20 employers lined up and we’ve got a pretty good variety,” Career Counselor Erin Swancutt said.