Yale College faculty members voted unanimously Thursday for the creation of two new undergraduate majors — Modern Middle East Studies and Computing and the Arts.
Both majors received the faculty stamp of approval yesterday after lengthy campaigns by professors and administrators to design the interdisciplinary majors and drum up faculty and student support. The formalization of the two majors will not expand course selection beyond what is already available.
“Both of the new majors that were approved tonight really represent opportunities for Yale,” Yale College Dean Peter Salovey said. “In the Modern Middle East, there’s just incredible student interest and the faculty resources to address that interest. In Computing and the Arts, we have a proposal that reflects an especially creative idea which Yale seems uniquely positioned to carry out.”
Both Computing and the Arts and Modern Middle East Studies will be re-evaluated in five years, Salovey said, to examine enrollments and student understanding of the two majors.