Sams, Kristen. (2009). Evolving Majors

The nation and the world are continuously changing. Among those changes are the types of college education that people pursue. College majors, too, are constantly changing and evolving to suit new needs. Some of these new majors are forensic accounting, new media, and computer game design. Ten years ago these majors did not even exist. However, today they can be studied in colleges across the nation.

Forensic accountants “detect and interpret the evidences of both normal and abnormal phenomena introduced into the books and records of an accounting and the resultant effect upon the accounts, inventories, and the presentation thereof” (Crumbley, 2009). What caused people to need forensic accountants? Corruption, thievery, and embezzlement could be the likely causes for a major such as accounting to evolve a new branch, forensic accounting. Accounting students now have the opportunity to choose a major proven to evolve as necessary. Their choices are no longer limited to traditional accounting. In forensic accounting, not only can students work as accountants, but they can work as “money detectives” (Kulla, 2009). I plan on becoming an accountant myself and the thought of possibly becoming a forensic accountant sounds extremely enticing.

Similarly, the computer media industry is developing and changing every day. Luckily, for students interested in pursuing media jobs there is now a newly evolved major, new media. According to Indiana University South Bend’s Office of Communication and Marketing, this degree may be ideal for students who “wish to prepare for careers in new media arts such as gallery and installation art; commercial, marketing, training and sales applications; interactive and distance education applications, medical imaging, game design, Web site design, digital filmmaking and applications in digital audio and music.” The new media major opens up countless possibilities for students in the computer media industry. The Internet, just one part of new media, provides many opportunities for advertising and promoting businesses and ideas. That rapidly-growing segment of the industry alone will provide many employment opportunities. College graduates with a degree in new media would less likely encounter hardships in the workforce because there are other outlets beyond the Internet. Media has become an important factor in everyday life and continues to grow and change along with the times, so it is just as important for computer technology majors to evolve alongside these changes.

The gaming industry, too, has grown considerably within the last few years. As technology continues to expand and reconstruct, a new major has come into play: computer game design. Some college programs “like the computer games development program in DePaul University, focus on the programming of games while others, like the game art and design program at the Art Institute of Phoenix, concentrate on the visual design” (Kulla, 2009, np). Gaming students require a great deal of education and must expend much effort to succeed in creating gaming design programs. For instance, designers must attend to minute details in order to create the best games; or those consumers will not buy them. It takes hard work and dedication to become a game designer. The computer game design specialty has evolved greatly from the technological and computer majors that preceded them. The reason they have evolved is simply because of the demand for new games. With such a high demand for new games, the only option left was to create a major that game designers would enjoy and actually work hard to achieve.

All academic majors need the opportunity to evolve and sometimes even reconstruct themselves over time. Sometimes, however, people believe that college majors should remain unchanged. I disagree. Over time, majors must be allowed to evolve in order to adapt to new and changing needs and wants. Thus, all majors should have more room to grow and adapt. Education should not be stuck when everything else is evolving constantly.

Although the nation and the world are constantly changing, college education majors like forensic accounting, new media, and computer game design are in a constant race to evolve alongside. College majors that can evolve and adapt to an ever changing world will never disappear.

References

Crumbley, D. Larry. Journal of Forensic Accounting. 10 September 2009 .

Indiana University South Bend. 9 May 2008. 7 September 2009 .

Kulla, Bridget. Ten Majors that Didn't Exist Ten Years Ago. 8 September 2009 .

Dr. James Willis Discusses SAU Traditions

Dr. James Willis, SAU Archivist and retired professor of history and political science spoke to the two Honors Seminar courses today. His topic was the history of SAU traditions. He started with SAU's colors, blue and gold, the same colors as those of the National Farmer's Educational and Cooperative Union. In the early part of the 20th century it was the largest farmer's union and the most liberal. The union was instrumental in lobbying for high schools that taught scientific farming. Willis went on to cover the origin of the mulerider mascot, how the yearbook changed from the Monitor to the Mulerider, and when the Bray first appeared.

Willis also talked about how the student body composition changed over the years including when the first African-American matriculated and the rise in international student numbers. Willis reminisced about his student days too. When at SSC he lived in Graham (demolished to make space for Honors North) and in Graham Annex (now Honors South).

Dr. Willis' history of SAU, The Mulerider School's Centennial History 1909-2009, will be published soon, with a book signing scheduled for November 30, 2009.

Honors College Students Meet to Plan Grant Application

State Farm Youth Advisory Council Grant Committee members (from left: Chris Harris, Cecelia Vergo, Chardai Tubbs, Dr. Chrisanne Christensen, Mr. Dan May, Simin Liu, and Andrew Jaques) brainstorm ideas for a grant application.

The committee will meet with Dr. Rankin soon and then complete a grant application to help SAU become more environmentally responsive.

Dr. Rankin Visits Honors Seminar Classes

Dr. David Rankin visited the two Honors Seminar classes today and spoke on what it is like to be president of SAU. He started by saying he originally wanted to be an archeologist ala Indiana Jones. After getting his bachelor's degree he began working at an Eastman Kodak plant in Kingsport, TN.

Rankin next went to Louisiana Tech University and received a master's degree. A chance conversation with a professor got him to thinking about a career as a college professor. After getting his PhD, Rankin taught at Middle Tennessee State for two years. At a conference, he met Dr. Louis Blanchard, beginning a lifelong friendship. Blanchard was a professor at Southern State College (now SAU). Rankin asked Blanchard to let him know the next time State had any faculty positions open.

Soon thereafter there was an opening. Rankin was hired over the telephone on the basis of Blanchard's recommendation to president Imon Bruce. Those were different days. Rankin said he only ever wanted to be a faculty member and live on a farm. He's now a president, but still lives on a farm. Rankin said he never thought about being a dean or a president.

Rankin then commented on the origins of the SAU Honors College. After he became president of SAU in 2002 he oversaw the construction of the first new building of his administration, a residence hall. After attending a meeting of presidents in 2003, Rankin asked the Faculty Senate to consider founding an Honors College and to name that building Honors Hall.

Rankin concluded by reviewing his especially busy week. This week will see a Thursday night televised football game and the mule ride to McNeil that will celebrate the birth of the Mulerider mascot.

Clinton Library Trip

We took our first trip of the year last Saturday to the Clinton Library in Little Rock. We left at 11 sharp. We packed into two vans, a 15-passenger rental and the aging Kardas Dodge minivan; there were 22 of us.

Naturally, we stopped at Love's Truck Stop in Prescott around noon. We made it to the Library just before 2. Most of us made it through security without making a beep and then it was off to explore two floors of presidential memorabilia. Here's something I found interesting:

Above, Bill Clinton's putters. He putts right handed! (He writes left...)

What surprised me the most was the size of the building. It is much larger than it looks in it photographs. Here is the front of the building:
That is some of our group just to the right of the fountain. The building sits on the Arkansas River just downstream from downtown Little Rock. Here are some views from inside the building:Above is the Arkansas River. The old railroad bridge may soon be converted to pedestrian use, but there are no plans right now.

Here is a view upriver towards downtown Little Rock:


After spending a couple of hours at the Library, we walked to the River Market where everyone split up and went to eat. It began to rain just as we left downtown and it rained heavily for much of the trip home. We got back around 10 p.m.

Here are some small groups I took pictures of. I did not get a picture of the entire group. Sorry.

Below are David and one of the Russian exchange students in the Cabinet Room. (LOTS! of backlighting throughout the Library. Makes it hard to get some photos.)

Here are some other small group photos:

Above, Simin, John, Singha, and Nimendra pose for me on the second floor.

Above, Majesta, Sarah, Kristen, and Chris take a break on the river end side of the second floor.

Above, Daniel K., Daniel T., and Amanda pose before walking to the River Market.

It was a successful first trip. We'll return to Little Rock for the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center sometime soon.

NASA trip

Dr. Kardas has told many of us about our wonderful Houston trip that we will be taking in the near future. We may be planning on this trip, but it's most likely not going to happen unless one of two things happen.

1) We each pay our share to go
OR
2) We fund raise like crazy and raise enough money to send ourselves to Houston.

Personally, I would like the latter to come about.
This trip will cost us anywhere in the neighborhood of 1,000-2,000 dollars. To some, this may seem to be a lot. In reality it's not to bad. Were looking into getting a first hand visit of NASA as well as hitting up some of the most fascinating museums.

So, I charge all of you honor students to go out and find some good fundraisers, and once you have some post them on here. During our Honor seminar classes we can vote on fundraisers or see about doing them. The sooner we start, the less we'll have to come up with ourselves in the end.

Money Matters

So, there have been two financial matters which all of us should be thinking about off and on, the first of which regards our $300 budget. It's ours, and even if we decide to save it, or at least keep it on hold for a while, that decision still needs to be made. Perhaps we can get some ideas in writing and have a class vote in the near future?

Secondly, we have the opportunity to apply for several thousand dollars' worth of grants from State Farm. The project possibilities are endless, and have very few requirements. It seems like we can do anything relating to public service (i.e., anything that serves to better our community on a moderate to large scale). It could be campus-wide only, involve the city of Magnolia, or even spread across the state or further. Feel free to blog out your ideas. We need input!