This year, two new majors are being launched: gender and body studies in the English department and black studies in the history and political science department.
“Developing innovative new programs at Cabrini to meet the demands of our current and future students has been an exciting focus for our faculty since the arrival of our new president,” Dr. Mary Harris, dean of academic affairs, said in an email.
The new majors have taken the focus of Cabrini’s marketing strategy beginning this past summer. Celia Cameron, vice president of marketing and communications, said the college is already working hard to promote the new majors.
Information on both majors can be found on the college’s website and has been updated in the informational packets in the admissions suite. Marketing is also working on new ways to promote the majors offered here at Cabrini.
“We are trying to move towards what they call content marketing, which is more story-telling,” Cameron said. This is beginning in the fall 2015 issue of “Cabrini Magazine,” which features a story by Dr. Michelle Filling-Brown, who oversees the gender and body studies major.
“We intentionally chose Michelle Filling-Brown because she’s talking about body image in America, and then there’s a really soft note at the end that says she played an instrumental role in approving the new gender and body studies major,” Cameron said.
With the majors only being officially approved this past May, there are not yet any students enrolled in them. However, some current and incoming students have already expressed an interest in pursuing them.
Filling-Brown expects interest in the gender and body studies major because it will ultimately be replacing the popular English concentration in women’s studies. She has already reached out to interested students.
“We have 16 students who are in the new body image living and learning community,” Filling-Brown said in an interview over the phone. “I’m anticipating that some of those students, at the minimum, will pursue the minor.”
Filling-Brown said, “The major is really unique because there are lots of gender studies programs in the country, but to my knowledge and to our knowledge, there is no undergraduate major of the combination of gender and body studies together at any school.”
