Bluffton University will add to its list of more than 85 academic programs this fall semester by offering two new majors: teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and pre-art therapy.

TESOL, which has been available at Bluffton as a minor for roughly two decades, will have an expanded curriculum—including courses in language, education and the social sciences—for students to fulfill the new major.

“There are students who come to us whose central interest is TESOL,” and they want to make it their main focus of study, says Dr. Lamar Nisly, associate dean of academic affairs. “This is an important step in moving in that direction,” he says, noting that the university will also explore state licensure in TESOL. The minor in the program will continue to be offered as well.

The pre-art therapy major will similarly draw on existing expertise by merging the fine arts with the social sciences, with an emphasis on psychology. “We know students are interested in finding these intersections, so developing a major that explicitly draws these pieces together will help them see how they can prepare for this field,” Nisly says.

“Both of these majors are rooted in our faculty’s expertise,” he explains. “They draw on disciplinary strengths and expand them to be able to include new areas of focus.”

Also building on existing academic strengths, Nisly adds, are two new concentrations—health management and pre-biostatistics—in the university’s public health major. The health management concentration, for instance, will combine the core public health curriculum with core classes from Bluffton’s management curriculum.

The new concentrations were created in response to student input and after consideration of opportunities for more effective interdisciplinary collaboration in the public health program.