University Hall houses the College of Arts and Sciences. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Photo Editor

The Ohio State College of Arts and Sciences announced the introduction of five new majors in a press release on Thursday that it said aim to incorporate “emerging trends and issues into carefully designed, interdisciplinary academic programming.”

The five majors include: integrated major in math and English, Italian studies, medical anthropology, philosophy, politics and economics, and statistics.

“The College of Arts and Sciences is a community of excellence that equips our students to follow any path, and we adapt to the ever-evolving global landscape and job market to ensure we’re supporting them along the way,” Janet Box-Steffensmeier, interim executive dean and vice provost, said in the release. “These five new undergraduate majors converge disciplines in innovative, exciting ways, preparing students to be competitive in their careers and pursuit of advanced study.”

Integrated major in math and English will offer a Bachelor of Arts and Science and will combine precision and analytical skills from math with the reading, writing, composition methods and information-processing from English. The new major will offer four areas of specialization: actuarial/finance, applied mathematics, math education and theoretical mathematics.

Italian studies will offer a Bachelor of Arts and is described as not necessarily being for those interested in advanced language studies, but instead offer a “comprehensive understanding of Italian literature, history, society and culture to enhance students’ understanding of global diversity.”

Medical anthropology will offer a Bachelor of Arts and Science and will aim to understand human health and wellbeing by combining the medical and anthropology disciplines. Students will look at “human evolutionary history, as well as the cultural, economic and political contexts of individual and societal health.”

Philosophy, politics and economics — which was initially announced in the fall — will offer a Bachelor of Arts and seek to provide students with the skills to interpret modern institutions from multiple perspectives.

Statistics will offer a Bachelor of Science for a subject that was previously only offered as a minor. The major will combine classes from the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Statistics and give Ohio State students a chance to earn a degree to pursue “one of the fastest growing professions in the nation.”