From programs like aerospace engineering to game design, Iowa State offers more than 100 majors from six undergraduate colleges.
The creation of a new major starts with the department or college administration before reaching the Faculty Senate, the president, the provost and the final approval from the Board of Regents.
“A department or program will come up with an idea for a program,” Kelsey Gillen, director of academic quality and undergraduate education, said. “They’ll work locally to create it. It will pass through several steps at the college for approval. Then it will pass through the Faculty Senate in multiple steps for approval.”
Final approval comes from President David Cook and Provost Jason Keith, Gillen said. For new majors, name changes or merged majors, the Board of Regents has the final approval.
During the creation process, the major has to be developed using the Board of Regents’ Form A. Form A is a guideline used to explain why the program should exist and prevents similar programs at other regent universities.
“Form A walks them through what they need to have,” Gillen said. “What needs is this program going to fill? Are there any other programs on campus that are very similar? How is it differentiated? How many students are you expecting to have?”
Workforce demand and student interest are factors that Iowa State considers when creating a new major.
“Sometimes you could have something where there are a lot of jobs, but not a lot of interest,” Rob Schweers, director of communications, said. “Other times you can have something where there’s a lot of interest and not a lot of jobs associated with it, and so it’s important to try and balance that together.”
ISU launched the digital storytelling major in fall 2026. Digital storytelling combines communication, technology and media to help adapt to the changing workforce across digital platforms. The major is offered by the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and the Department of Music and Theatre.
Sherry Berghefer, teaching professor at Greenlee, led the group responsible for developing the digital storytelling major.
“Digital storytelling was deliberately designed to go along with every other major on campus,” Berghefer said. “Every single field, every single person has a story to tell, and we want students to come out with a really good understanding of the media landscape and how you can find that area that you’re passionate about and share that with everybody else.”
