College majors that didn’t exist 50 years ago

[simpleSimon]

Moderator note: The following is reprinted without permission from
https://thestacker.com/stories/3497/30-college-majors-didnt-exist-50-years-ago

Artificial intelligence
Like IoT, artificial intelligence (AI) would have likely been written off as the stuff of sci-fi 50 years ago, but today, it's very real. Carnegie Mellon, one of the country's top engineering schools, created a B.S. program just for AI. Those who choose the major will learn how to work with huge data sets embedded into computers and what the school calls "complex inputs," like language and vision.

The Beatles
In 2009, a Canadian woman became the first graduate of a Liverpool Hope University master of arts program called The Beatles, Popular Music and Society. The newly minted M.A. studied not only the iconic band's music, but its impact on culture, history, politics, race, and society in general. In 1969, the Beatles were still an active band—the Fab Four recorded "Abbey Road" that very year.

Biotechnology
The field of industrial biotechnology emerged and rapidly grew in the mid-1970s, so the learners of 50 years ago would have missed it as a college major, but just barely. Usually offered as a bachelor of science degree at the undergraduate level, biotech offers students the opportunity to parlay their degrees into careers in everything from medicine and science to agriculture and brewing.

Black studies
Groundbreaking sociologist, activist, and educator Nathan Hare pioneered the first black studies program in history in 1968 at San Francisco State University. It became a department in 1969, and within a few years, hundreds of such programs existed and it was soon offered as a major. Today, black studies majors study the heritage and history of the black experience and how it pertains to both contemporary issues and the future of American society.

Cannabis
As the country seems to edge closer to full marijuana legalization, colleges and universities are offering majors relating to cannabis, even though it's still banned at the federal level. Popular concentrations include cannabis cultivation, botany, law, chemistry, and marketing. In 1969, however, pot was heavily regulated under the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, and would soon become the linchpin in the War on Drugs.

Cloud computing
If someone said they were a cloud expert in 1969, it would have likely been assumed that they worked in meteorology. Anyone who's lived through the prior decade or so, however, knows that cloud computing has revolutionized the way people store and share data. The major is offered in specialties like cloud architect, cloud consultant, and cloud systems administrator.

Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. The budding cybersleuths who study it learn about subject matter like cryptography, network engineering, and computer forensics. In 1969, however, there was no concept of a computer network being vulnerable to attack—the first computer virus, called "Creeper," was discovered on March 16, 1971.

Dietician/nutritionist
The concept of food as medicine dates back to the ancient Greeks and contemporary dietetics studies emerged as a philosophy in the early 19th century. It didn't become a full-fledged discipline, or a college major, however, until the last few decades. A degree in dietetics or nutrition could lead to a career as a nutritionist or counselor working with individuals, groups, teams, schools, medical facilities, or entire communities.

Digital marketing
The hit show "Mad Men" chronicled the lives of freewheeling advertising executives in the 1960s; marketing and selling products had been big business for generations by the time 1969's graduating class donned their caps and gowns. One of today's biggest majors, however, wasn't available to the Don Drapers of the world back then. Digital marketing deals with branding across social channels via online content, videos, blogs, websites, apps, and digital customer profiles.

Drone technology
Experimentation with drones began long before 1969, but the modern era of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) began in earnest in the early 1980s when Israel used them successfully in military operations during its war with Syria. Today, drone technology majors study UAV not just for military applications, but for photography, research and development, supply chain and logistics, disaster relief, and scientific study.

Forensic behavioral sciences
In 2019, the Fresno State News reported that it was launching what was believed to be the only forensic behavioral sciences degree program in the country. The hit Netflix show "Mindhunter" chronicles the rise of the FBI's then-new Behavioral Sciences Unit, whose agents used behavioral profiling to track serial killers. That took place in the mid-1970s through the early '80s, and while criminal psychology was a field in 1969, there was no such thing as a forensic behavioral science major.

Genetic counseling
Scientists discovered double-helix DNA in the 1950s, but the discipline of genetic counseling is relatively new. Students who choose this major will specialize in running genetic profiles on people and counseling them about any genetically influenced diseases or other health-related predispositions they might have.

Internet of Things
In 1969, the concept of household appliances communicating with each other and performing tasks automatically according to the preset instructions of their human masters would have been relegated to the realm of science fiction. Today, it's a reality called the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects otherwise inanimate objects through Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and other signals. Those who study IoT as a college major will be on the edge of revolutionary new technology that is only now entering the mainstream.

LGBTQ+ studies
Today's LGBTQ+ studies majors focus on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues, and how they've impacted and influenced culture, history, politics, art, and society. In 1969, however, you would have likely had to study psychological deviancy if you were curious about the LGBTQ+ community—the American Psychological Association classified homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1973 and a "disturbance" until 1987.

Martial arts
Bruce Lee's career spanned the late 1960s and early 1970s, fanning the martial arts fever that swept the country during that time. In 1969, you could find a martial arts school to study karate or kung fu, but not a college that offered it as a major. Today, schools like the University of Bridgeport offer martial arts as a B.A.

Nanotechnolgoy
The word "nanotechnology" didn't even exist until 1974, when Japanese scientist Norio Taniguchi coined the term in a paper on production technology. Today, emerging scientists flock to the major to study devices and structures that are so tiny, they're measured in nanometers. For reference, a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide.

Online journalism
Colleges certainly offered journalism majors in the 1960s—as evidenced by the arrival in the '70s of the first rock star celebrity journalists like Hunter S. Thompson, Gloria Steinem, and the Washington Post's famous Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein duo—but there was no such thing as an online journalism major or even online journalism. Eleven years later in 1980, however, the Columbus Dispatch became the first "online" newspaper when it beamed its scoops to the dial-up CompuServe service, and online journalism was born, although it wouldn't go mainstream for another 15 years.

Recycling
Recycling was practiced out of personal necessity for centuries before modern America implemented it as a policy to deal with the massive amount of unsustainable waste the country was producing. The arrival of the Environmental Protection Agency and the environmental movement in the 1970s lead to large-scale recycling, and today, students can major in degree programs like recycling and resource management.

Robotics engineering
The first known use of the word "robot" came in 1920 in a play by Karel Čapek, and by the 1950s, robots were the basis of countless science fiction books and movies. But even through the '60s, robots were still experimental novelties. Today, however, highly sophisticated robotic devices aid in surgeries, perform blazing-fast work on assembly lines and do the heavy lifting, both figuratively and literally, in major distribution centers like those run by Amazon. Today's robotics engineering majors can apply their skills to careers in a huge number of industries that are starting to depend on emerging technology.

Search engine optimization
In today's business landscape, you are what Google says you are. Search engine optimization (SEO) specialists optimize websites to get the best, highest, and most visible results in online search queries—if a business wants to disappear, after all, all it has to do is land on page two of Google's search results. In 1969, SEO wasn't even a concept, much less a major.

Sexuality studies
The early work of Sigmund Freud, Havelock Ellis, and later Alfred Kinsey launched a wave of research and study in the area of human sexuality in the 1940s–60s—but it wasn't offered as a major. Topics like birth control, homosexuality, sex, and sexual dysfunction remained taboo in mainstream academia. In fact, the University of Kansas launched the first human sexuality major in the entire state in 2014.

Social media management
Social media can technically be traced back to 1969 and the development of CompuServe, an early processing and time-sharing service—but you certainly couldn't major in social media 50 years ago. That all changed in 2012 when Newberry College in Newberry, S.C., developed one of the first social media undergraduate majors. Today, social media majors study everything from complex business marketing and advertising to political science and polling.

Special education
Decades of hard-fought advocacy came to fruition in 1975 with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), which guaranteed children with disabilities the right to free public education. It brought special education into the world of mainstream teaching, which generations of special educators have taken on as a calling in the ensuing years. Today special education is a popular major and the vast majority of colleges and universities that offer education programs include it as a concentration.

Sustainable/organic agriculture
The Dust Bowl put irresponsible farming practices in the spotlight as millions of acres of once-fertile farmland literally turned to dust. By the 1960s, small segments of society were becoming aware of the dangers of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals, but sustainable and organic agriculture weren't offered as majors. Today's health-conscious and well-informed populace, however, is deeply concerned with the origins of food, and colleges across the country and the world now offer degree programs to help the next generation of growers address those concerns.

Video game design
Two things happened in 1972 that launched what would become a global video game culture: The Magnavox Odyssey console and the game Pong both made their debuts that year. There was no such thing as a video game design major back then, but that would soon change. Today, talented and educated game designers are hot commodities in the multibillion-dollar gaming industry.

Women's studies
In 1970, Cornell University became the first major American higher-learning institution to offer a course dealing with specifically with women and femininity. Called "The Evolution of the Female Personality," the course led to the formation of an entire department focused on what was then called "female studies." A half-century later, women's studies majors dedicate their academic careers to examining how the lives and experiences of women impact and are impacted by history, economics, the arts, society, culture, politics, sexuality, and family dynamics.

[mamselle]

Nothing left to add...

Except I was in the first group of undergrads at (THE) Ohio State University to graduate with an Independent Studies B.A. in the liturgical arts. (In the auspicious year of 1984...)

I don't think Independent studies as such existed before then, in general.

M.

[fast_and_bulbous]

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Is the wall o' text copyrighted material or original?

[OneMoreYear]

It's an article from thestacker.com: https://thestacker.com/stories/3497/30-college-majors-didnt-exist-50-years-ago
Sorry for crappy hyperlinking

[fast_and_bulbous]

It's an article from thestacker.com: https://thestacker.com/stories/3497/30-college-majors-didnt-exist-50-years-ago
Sorry for crappy hyperlinking

Thanks, I've made a note at the top of the post, but I don't understand why you are apologizing since you didn't post it!

[OneMoreYear]

It's an article from thestacker.com: https://thestacker.com/stories/3497/30-college-majors-didnt-exist-50-years-ago
Sorry for crappy hyperlinking

Thanks, I've made a note at the top of the post, but I don't understand why you are apologizing since you didn't post it!

Oops, yeah, I meant that I couldn't get the hyperlink button thingy to work smoothly in my post, so had to copy/paste the entire link in.
Mostly a lurker . . . back to lurking, and possibly limericks

[mahagonny]

Internet of Things, Genetic counseling. May seem odd as fields of knowledge and discipline or just because they seem futuristic, yet they're going to be big business if they aren't already, so why not?

Others I'll admit I've never understood as anything other than a path to teaching more and more people who will in turn, be looking for either teaching jobs that mostly stink, or some way to grow activist government. Examples, Black Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Women's Studies.

[downer]

Seems like a very partial list by someone with an axe to grind.

Where is Risk Assessment and Hospitality Management?

[sprezzatura]

Not to mention the dreaded Leadership Major.
I'm longing for somebody to offer a program exploring Really Good Second-in-commandship. Often a much more important discipline--since that person is often the one sweating the details after the visionaries have wandered off into the wide blue yonder.

[Effarre]

Did Environmental Studies exist 50 years ago...? "Ethnic Studies"?

[mouseman]

Computational Biology

Geographical Information Science

Data Analytics/Data Science

Sustainable Agriculture (or Sustainable anything)

Cyber Security

Environmental Engineering

The first Computer Science department was established in 1953, so even CS barely makes the 50 year mark as a major.

[Aster]

I take particular amusement from the newly created weird-niche-specialty PhD majors that so many R2's created for themselves a decade or so back to upgrade themselves for "Carnegie Doctoral Institution" status.

When I was a graduate student I was also privy to the great scorn that the R1 professors dumped onto the newfangled "interdisciplinary" graduate degrees offered by the R2's and R3's. The R1 professors really hated being asked to serve on a thesis or dissertation committee for students within these programs. Such students tended to require a lot of remedial coursework, and had low completion rates.  I eventually learned through firsthand observation that "interdisciplinary" functionally translated as "open enrollment and insufficient institutional resources".

Also when I was in graduate school, my institution created a new "General Studies" bachelor's degree. This was a degree with no major, designed for students who were so terrible at college that they couldn't graduate with a professional major. So the university just said screw it and made a degree out of general electives. This degree became very popular.

[Hibush]

Will Cannabis be the most common new major or concentration established this year and next? I hear about a new one just about every week, it seems.

[Aster]

Will Cannabis be the most common new major or concentration established this year and next? I hear about a new one just about every week, it seems.

Our horticulture department recruits a steady supply of students who look and smell like Bob Marley. What you choose to grow off campus is not our concern, ha ha.

[marshwiggle]

Will Cannabis be the most common new major or concentration established this year and next? I hear about a new one just about every week, it seems.

Our horticulture department recruits a steady supply of students who look and smell like Bob Marley. What you choose to grow off campus is not our concern, ha ha.

It should be a cross-disciplinary program with psych/neuroscience so they learn how cultivation affects psychotropic potency.