Merger may add new minor
Jaclyn Youngblood
Issue date: 1/30/09 Section: News
Rice University's acquisition of Baylor College of Medicine could not only bring Rice a medical school, but also a new minor.
Sid Richardson College freshman Nazima Zakhidova and Wiess College junior Tommy Sprague have spearheaded a team to discuss adding a neuroscience minor to the short list of minors offered at Rice.
Zakhidova, a biochemistry and cell biology major, came to Rice wanting to major in neuroscience but instead found a cognitive psychology major with a limited neuroscience track. The neuroscience courses currently available are graduate-level courses offered by Baylor faculty, rather than Rice faculty. However, since these courses are available to graduate students, Rice argues that it offers studies in neuroscience, Sprague said.
Sprague said he was frustrated with how difficult it was for an undergraduate to sign up for and excel in neuroscience courses at Baylor.
"I was told specifically that because I was an undergraduate, I would not get an A," Sprague said.
Sprague and Zakhidova agree that student interest in a neuroscience minor is present and growing. Speaking with the Student Admissions Council, Sprague found that the second most often asked question during 2008 Owl Days was whether or not Rice had a neuroscience option. Zakhidova created a Facebook group to further discern the level of student interest. The group's Web page features a neuroscience interest survey that has been taken by over 200 students, and its membership currently totals 85 students.
Computational and Applied Mathematics Professor Steven Cox also found the student interest promising.
"There really was sufficient inertia to start meeting," he said.
Zakhidova found Sprague when she sent an e-mail to all the residential colleges trying to determine the level of student interest in a neuroscience minor. Since then, Sprague and Zakhidova have met biweekly with the team to discuss the development of the minor.
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system. Neuroscience, like cognitive psychology, endeavors to explain psychology at the physical level and memory, thought and emotion at the biochemical level.
Sid Richardson College freshman Nazima Zakhidova and Wiess College junior Tommy Sprague have spearheaded a team to discuss adding a neuroscience minor to the short list of minors offered at Rice.
Zakhidova, a biochemistry and cell biology major, came to Rice wanting to major in neuroscience but instead found a cognitive psychology major with a limited neuroscience track. The neuroscience courses currently available are graduate-level courses offered by Baylor faculty, rather than Rice faculty. However, since these courses are available to graduate students, Rice argues that it offers studies in neuroscience, Sprague said.
Sprague said he was frustrated with how difficult it was for an undergraduate to sign up for and excel in neuroscience courses at Baylor.
"I was told specifically that because I was an undergraduate, I would not get an A," Sprague said.
Sprague and Zakhidova agree that student interest in a neuroscience minor is present and growing. Speaking with the Student Admissions Council, Sprague found that the second most often asked question during 2008 Owl Days was whether or not Rice had a neuroscience option. Zakhidova created a Facebook group to further discern the level of student interest. The group's Web page features a neuroscience interest survey that has been taken by over 200 students, and its membership currently totals 85 students.
Computational and Applied Mathematics Professor Steven Cox also found the student interest promising.
"There really was sufficient inertia to start meeting," he said.
Zakhidova found Sprague when she sent an e-mail to all the residential colleges trying to determine the level of student interest in a neuroscience minor. Since then, Sprague and Zakhidova have met biweekly with the team to discuss the development of the minor.
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system. Neuroscience, like cognitive psychology, endeavors to explain psychology at the physical level and memory, thought and emotion at the biochemical level.
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