Partnering a major with the right minor can enhance a student’s overall career, broadening skill sets, increasing employment opportunities, and most importantly, fulfilling a personal interest.

Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences offers 11 Interdisciplinary minors allowing students to learn from multiple disciplines that will enhance educational goals.

On Thursday, October 10 students are invited to learn more about those Interdisciplinary minors offered in Wilkinson at the Interdisciplinary Minors Fall Fair in the Fish Interfaith Center (All Faiths Wallace Chapel), 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. 

To help you prepare for the Fall Fair, here is a quick look at what Wilkinson has to offer.

Africana Studies

The Africana Studies minor is designed to examine the histories, cultures, societies, literatures, and arts of people of African descent, and their contributions to world civilization. The curriculum takes a transnational approach to the study of the Black experience and places it in a comparative context of Africa and the African Diaspora. With faculty advisement, students can  select a tailored course of study that introduces them to the key themes, concepts, intellectual traditions, and political movements of Africana Studies, laying a strong foundation for practical application and social engagement through the critical interrogation of race, geography, and power.

“My experience with minoring in Africana Studies has helped me understand and appreciate my history. As a Black woman, learning more about my history and of black people across the African Diaspora has caused me to have great pride in my identity. I appreciate how some courses within my minor can consist of heavy history combined with fun and unique topics. For example, I am currently taking a Black Music & African Diaspora course this semester. It’s such a creative course and it shows how influential black music is throughout the world.” 

– Taya Good-Smith (‘26 Communication, Africana Studies minor)

Asian American Studies

The Asian American Studies minor provides an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the historical and contemporary experiences of people of Asian descent in the United States. This minor draws from history, film, literature, anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines, and complements other majors at the university through its emphasis on critical thinking, global approaches, and social justice. Students gain a critical perspective on the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class, as well as insights into the meanings and practices of citizenship, diaspora, and community in an increasingly globalized society.

“Getting to learn about Asian American history, politics, and culture was an unexpected interest. The minor has allowed me to connect the dots with my identity as an Asian American student.”

– Mandy Fang (‘26 Dance, Public Relations and Advertising major, Asian American Studies minor)

Creative and Cultural Industries

Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) examines a vast array of cultural and creative activities, covering topics as diverse as media, fashion, tourism, museums, art galleries, publishing, video games, social media, emerging technologies, and visual cultures. This minor explores how such activities influence our understanding and experience of culture, and the wider social, political and economic implications of their development as industries. CCI is also about the nature of creativity: how we use creative practices to solve problems, develop new ideas and innovations, and to challenge and disrupt established ways of thinking.

“Minoring in CCI seemed like the perfect pairing with my major, so that after I graduate I can feel fully knowledgeable about the creative industries I am considering, including publishing and journalism. Not only that, but the opportunities and access to such classes, faculty connections and internship opportunities is incredible. In my journalism class, which I’m taking for minor credit, I have the opportunity to be published in a non-profit newspaper. I’m so lucky to have had it as an option and I have a feeling this will take me far.” 

– Selah Sanchez (‘27 Creative Writing, CCI minor)

Disability Studies

The Disability Studies Minor provides an overview of the interdisciplinary study of disability across the domains of human experience. It allows students to explore the variety of approaches to understanding disability in personal, social, economic, artistic, and political contexts. The minor focuses on issues in the representation, history, and interpretation of disability as a social category of human difference rather than issues related to the clinical diagnosis and treatment of impairments.

“I chose the minor because of my personal connection to disability. My involvement with this minor has helped me realize my passion for advocacy. I have learned a lot about disability as well as myself through these classes and it will serve me well as I pursue a career in medicine.

– Margaux Hadley (’25 Health Sciences, Disability Studies minor)

Environmental Studies

The Minor in Environmental Studies is designed to offer students a sound foundation in the scientific, political and cultural approaches to studying the environment. Students electing the Minor in Environmental Studies may study in a broad range of subject areas, including sociology, economics, philosophy and political science.

“I wouldn’t be on this career path without my minor. It has allowed me to combine my passions for writing and science.” (Amy is currently working full-time in an environmental communications and nonprofit development career – KIDS for the BAY)

– Amy Asmussen (’23 Creative Writing, Health Humanities minor)

Ethnic Studies

The Ethnic Studies Minor is the interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity, with a focus on the histories, cultures, perspectives, and community work of marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The curriculum takes a theoretical, historical, and experiential approach to examine: modern (in)justice; social movements; legal and public policy activism; antiracist and anti-patriarchal ontologies; liberationist epistemologies; and community and identity formation in American history. Students  learn about multiple cultures’ social and historical context within the United States; academic and experiential learning are interwoven such that key themes, concepts, and ideas in the field of Ethnic Studies are applied intentionally with communities.

“My experience as an ethnic studies minor has been super intriguing to me. Some classes that I took included Black Feminisms, Immigration, Border, the Chicano/an experience, and Racial & Ethnic Politics. All of these courses opened my mind a lot to cultural experiences that I would have [otherwise] never learned about. Coming from a very diverse background, I really wanted to continue learning about other ethnicities, and the Ethnic Studies minor has definitely made that a reality for me.”

-Serena Lovell (’25 Integrated Educational Studies and Ethnic Studies and Leadership Studies minor)

Health Humanities

Health Humanities explores the human condition of health from a variety of critical and creative perspectives. Health Humanities students are prepared for careers throughout the healthcare industry as well as in policy, administration, education, arts, and advocacy where health and health policy play a role. Each student has the opportunity to chart a path through the minor coursework that supports their intellectual curiosity, professional goals, and personal well-being.

Core courses are grounded in the humanities, whereas electives draw not only from the humanities but also from the arts, social sciences, and natural sciences so that the Health Humanities minor complements any undergraduate major and ensures that students build a complex understanding of what it means to be well in physical, mental, social, and cultural contexts.

“I chose this minor because its interdisciplinary qualities attracted me. I was particularly curious to learn about the role of liberal arts in healthcare medicine. Something that makes this program unique is that it is still a relatively new minor at Chapman and thus there is so much in store for the minor in the coming years.”

-Anya Nguyenkhoa (’25 Health Humanities minor)

Latinx and Latin American Studies

The Minor in Latinx and Latin American Studies offers students interdisciplinary knowledge and cross-cultural skills that can be applied in a range of fields including but not limited to community advocacy, business, education, public policy, health sciences, and the arts. The minor integrates theories of decolonization and liberation with the exploration of historic geopolitical, economic, and sociocultural conditions of Latin American development and how they have shaped contemporary U.S. Latinx identities. The program explores the emergence of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial and postcolonial relations in the new world, including the encounter of the indigenous/native Americans and the Europeans, which subsequently shaped Latin American societies and cultures, and the emergence of Latinx identities in the United States.

“By being a part of the Latinx and Latin American Studies minor I have gotten to learn more about the diverse cultures within the Latinx community. And I have also met so many amazing Latinx professors who are devoted to creating spaces on campus where our community is empowered and understood. As a Latina and first-generation student, I have found this minor to be an amazing experience.”

– Audrey Garcia (‘26 Psychology, Honors and Latinx and American Studies minor)

 

 

Law and the Liberal Arts

Law and the Liberal Arts is an interdisciplinary minor that studies the role of law in society and politics. The goal of the minor is to prepare one to think critically and analytically about the role of law in our lives, using the tools of a well-rounded education in the liberal arts. It also teaches one core competencies that help prepare for law school admissions.

“[This minor] Gives pre-law students what they need that they can’t get from a law major so I really like that Chapman has offered this Law and Liberal Arts minor so I get a little bit of prior knowledge before law school.” 

– Elijah Clark (24’ Political Science, Law and the Liberal Arts minor)

 

LGBTQ Studies

From queer theory to queer-bashing, sexual and gender diversity issues have become highly visible issues across business, the humanities, and the sciences. The Minor in Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer Studies offers students the opportunity to analyze for themselves facts, theories, research and realities concerning diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, communities and histories, and the ways in which race, class and other dimensions of identity and experience impact LGBTQ people, histories and politics. Representing Chapman University’s commitment to diversity and intellectual inquiry, the minor provides students of almost any major the means to explore the issues surrounding this academic discipline in its scientific, socio-cultural, political and artistic contexts. In addition to supplementing academic specializations ranging from history or biology to English or psychology, the minor can also serve students preparing for careers in law, public policy, health and social services, the arts, entertainment or the ministry.

“I am really enjoying the LGBTQ+ studies minor because it’s so interdisciplinary. As a film major, I never would have guessed I would be taking communication and psychology classes, and I also just love hearing about queer history.”

– Haley Kamola (’25 Film, LGBTQ+ minor)

 

Women’s and Gender Studies

The Women’s and Gender Studies minor provides an overview of the interdisciplinary approaches to the study of women and gender inequality; cultural representations of women and their social roles; and the social axes of gender, race, class and sexuality. The minor provides students with a broad, interdisciplinary framework for analyzing social practices related to gender as well as the impact on their own lives.

“I added Women and Gender Studies as a minor after taking WGST101, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt that it took my interests in sociology and applied them to parts of my life that I was directly interested in. Everything that I have learned in this program has had direct applications to life, and it pairs very well with my interest in sociology” 

– Valentine Chung (‘25 Sociology, Women & Gender Studies minor)