If you’re an IMP at IUB, one size definitely doesn’t fits all

By Rose McIlven

Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times, participated in IU's Individualized Major Program. Shortz received a B.A. in Enigmatology in Aug.1974.

IUB’s Individualized Major Program allows flexibility and self-determination. And it certainly isn’t for the faint hearted. Prospective students must run the faculty gauntlet.

Well, not exactly.

Despite the stunning variety of degrees available on the IU Bloomington campus, there are those students who have some very specific career goals in mind and are looking for courses to point them in those directions.

Often they connect with the Individualized Major Program. Known as IMP, the program is tucked away in a corner office on the first floor of Ballantine Hall.

Among the 100-some students working in the program this year are those preparing for careers in fields such as hip-hop music, illustration of mythology, mediation/conflict resolution, art therapy, musical theater and diplomatic relations. Those particular majors aren’t listed in the College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) catalog.

Copies of the IMP brochure can be found in the Office of Admissions, but Rima Merriman, coordinator of the program, and Ray Hedin, an IUB professor of English who directs the program, said that advertisement of their services is largely by word of mouth. Word does get around, through advisers and also at summer orientation presentations or Honors College sessions for students exploring majors.

Here’s how IMP works. Students interested in taking advantage of it drop into the office and consult with Merriman.

To begin with, students must have a 2.5 cumulative grade-point average. There are exceptions to that requirement, but those students have to make a strong case for the exception.

“If they don’t meet the 2.5, they can appeal to me. They can say, ‘Here’s why I think you should let me in. I had a bad freshman year. I couldn’t handle my math courses. That’s were I got my Ds.’ If there’s some reason to bend that requirement, I can recommend that the committee consider their case,” said Hedin.

But GPA is only one factor that is considered. Successful applicants present a special set of qualities such as motivation, initiative, self-discipline and the ability to work independently.

Applicants are urged to find a faculty sponsor who is willing to work with them. Each student must write a proposal for future study and be prepared to appear with the sponsor before an IMP faculty committee of three persons. The student makes a presentation, leaves the room while it is discussed and then is informed if the proposal is feasible.

There are no exceptions to running the gauntlet of the approval committee.

“We have a volunteer committee composed of faculty members—about 40 right now—mainly from the College of Arts and Sciences but not exclusively. This is a COAS degree, but students can take in courses from all over the university—music, business, HPER, journalism,” said Hedin. And at the heart of the program is the student/sponsor relationship.

Is if traumatic for students to go before the committee?

“We prepare them. It’s not like they go in cold turkey,” said Merriman. “And they go in with their faculty sponsor sometimes, too, a person with whom they have already prepared their proposal and worked closely, and I’m always there.” She described the setting, a cluster of comfortable chairs. “This is an area we’re just starting to use. It’s friendly and exciting, sometimes traumatic, but mostly really exciting because the students feel like they’re being paid attention to by the faculty.”

Hedin pointed out that faculty members do not receive extra pay for their work with IMP students. It’s strictly a volunteer job.

About a third of applicants are second-semester freshmen, but the vast majority are sophomores and juniors. Their courses of study may include 10 to 15 credit hours in tutorials. They may range from a private course on campus, independent reading or supervised research, and off-campus projects such as fieldwork or internships.

Do Merriman and Hedin hear from former students?

“Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times, spoke on the campus last year,” Merriman said.

She also mentioned Matt Witten, a video game devotee, who was included in a U.S. News & World Report article last year about individualized major programs at American universities. A senior at the time he was interviewed, he was taking a computer science class on building Web programs, in which he designed an outer-space mystery video game. He was also working his way through nine volumes of Maya, a computer animation program.

Read about the experiences and interests of former IMP students at this Web site:

http://www.indiana.edu/~imp/alumni.html