Dance

The BFA and MFA major programs in dance are rigorous programs with the goal of appropriate preparation for a professional career in dance.

“We introduce our students to elements required for a successful career in dance,” said Mary Margaret Holt, the school of dance director. “These include advanced levels in technique and artistry or expression, personal time management, communication skills, research skills necessary to the creative aspect of dance, good nutrition as well as injury prevention, a strong appreciation for the other arts and sciences, a collaborative spirit and the desire to participate in an art larger than oneself.”

The professors expect students to work hard and take care of themselves.

“You need to get enough sleep, water, and to eat right,” said Amelia Appen, ballet pedagogy junior. “The professors expect us to act professional and be prepared, meaning bringing two to three pairs of shoes.”

Technique classes are taken every day.

“You take modern, character, repertoire, pas de deux, pantomime, plus every Gen Ed class,” Appen said.

Appen has already finished all of her academic classes.

“I’m completely done with my academics, so I can focus on dance,” Appen said. “A lot of people come in saying they will double major, including myself, but it’s practically impossible to do that and graduate within four years.”

Holt said she hopes the students will be lifelong learners.

“We hope they will become immersed in the art of dance in all their classes: dance technique, dance history, body science, choreography, teaching methods, technical theatre, performance classes and related classes in the appreciation of other art forms,” Holt said. “By doing this, we believe they will begin to understand the place of dance in world culture and their place and potential contributions as dancers. We expect the very best of our students in every class they take because this is how they will achieve success in dance and in life.”

The schedule of a dance major includes long hours.

“I practice easily 30 hours a week, give or take with rehearsals,” Appen said. “I’m usually too physically exhausted to study so I just go to the library and stay all night if I have a test the next day.”

There are two auditions every year for The Oklahoma Festival Ballet.

“They usually take 20 people, but sometimes it’s less,” Appen said.

Ballet majors have one performance each semester.

“We perform the Nutcracker every four years,” Appen said. “It involves the kids of the Norman community. There are 17 shows. It’s a really big deal.

Appen said that she wanted to come to college.

“I chose this major because it was the only way I could come to college and still train to be a professional dancer,” Appen said. “You can’t take four years off not dancing for school. It’s a big deal if you take a weekend off.”

The retirement age for ballet majors is early.

“Retirement for ballet is 30 if you are lucky,” Appen said. “I’m already in my prime. But the benefit of the pedagogy major is that you can always teach.

“I would like to dance in a ballet company that does both classical and contemporary ballet. But I would dance anywhere that would take me, paid or unpaid. I expect to get another job to support myself.”

Upon graduation, the professors expect the students to have the ability to establish a successful career in one of many aspects in dance.

“They may become performers with professional ballet or modern dance companies or Broadway tours, teachers, dance company managers or dance administrators, Pilates body conditioning instructors or choreographers,” Holt said. “Some who have double majored also become physical therapists. In any case, the high degree of self motivation, discipline and dedication they must have as dance majors will be an important part of their future professional success.”

Education

The Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education houses three departments: instructional leadership and academic curriculum, educational leadership and policy studies, and educational psychology.

“We educate teachers to teach advanced mathematics in high school and universities and we educate teachers to work with toddlers,” Professor Lawrence Baines said. “However, all majors in education share some features. One, students are experts in their chosen fields. Two, students work in several schools before undertaking a semester-long internship. And three, students are intelligent with a mad, altruistic streak.”

Education is a structured major according to Kathleen Pirog, elementary education senior.

“Education is not like most majors,” Pirog said. “It’s fun.”

The professors expect the students to meet their deadlines.

“Students need to be experts in their field,” Baines said. “But they also have to be able to work well with people who are different from them in every way.”

The students are held to a high standard.

“The professors expect a lot because we will be future teachers and will be held accountable for teaching other people’s kids,” Pirog said.

Thirty hours of observations are required in the education major.

“Observations are interesting,” Pirog said. “They made me think what kind of school I wanted to work in.”

Pirog said that the professors have caring personalities and are always there for you.

“The professors are awesome,” Pirog said. “They have all been teachers, so they have experience.”

Pirog said she wants to teach overseas in Spain.

“I want to work for the department of defense,” Pirog said.

Baines said graduates can teach wherever they want.

“Graduates from the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education are in high demand,” Baines said. “In an era of quick and easy certification and low teacher expectations, OU is an island of excellence. That is one reason that 100 percent of our graduates find jobs, not just in Oklahoma, but wherever they want to teach.”

Pirog said she wants to teach fifth or sixth grade.

“I’m taking double hours so I can teach middle school as well as elementary,” Pirog said. “If I pass the tests, I can teach second through eighth grade.”

Pirog is taking nineteen hours.

“My entire life is studying,” Pirog said.

Pirog said she had always wanted to teach her entire life.

“I am the sixth generation in a family of teachers,” Pirog said. “I went against the family tradition my first year. I chose journalism, then PR, but I didn’t want to do that the rest of my life.

“I’m so happy I switched. I can’t wait to be a teacher.”

Jesse Stecker is a secondary science education graduate.

“I teach biology and bio-technology at PC North,” Stecker said.

The latest lesson Stecker is teaching is forensics.

“Forensics is fun,” Stecker said. “Kids watch CSI and NCIS, so it’s applicable to their lives. It’s hands on, engaging, requires critical thinking, and I get to teach something interesting.”

Stecker said her teaching schedule is busy.

“I don’t even have mental time,” Stecker said.

Stecker said she does not regret choosing this major.

“I chose this major because I have two passions, science and people, and this is the one major that puts them together,” Stecker said. “Doctors heal people but they don’t change their lives. Teaching is one way to change the lives of young people that will run our nation.”

Modern Language: Chinese

The department of modern languages, literature and linguistics offers courses and degree programs in Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Russian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

“I would describe the Chinese major as an undergraduate program where students can learn to become competent in the linguistic skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing of the Chinese language,” Professor Ning Yu said. “As well as become familiar with Chinese culture and various aspects of China including history, politics, and society.”

The professors expect the students to be prepared, to look at the material before class, to study outside of class, and to have questions on the material.

“The classes involve a lot of reading, writing, repetition, recitation, and memorization,” said Bronwyn Donnelson, a Chinese and linguistics senior.

Students in the Chinese major are expected to take 36 hours beyond the beginning Chinese classes.

“I expect my students to make an effort and progress toward the mastery of Chinese language proficiency and the knowledge about all aspects of China,” Yu said.

The teachers are passionate about the Chinese language, according to Donnelson.

“The teachers are all native Chinese,” Donnelson said. “They are extremely excited to teach anyone who’s willing to learn the Chinese language.”

The language classes can be demanding.

“I’m supposed to study about 16 hours a week,” Donnelson said. “I probably only study about half that amount.”

The teachers find multiple methods to teach the students.

“My first Chinese teacher would teach us Chinese word games,” Donnelson said. “We were supposed to pick people on the fly, pass the baton kind of thing. Everyone would pick me, until the teacher was ‘okay, don’t pick Bronwyn.’”

The linguistics major requires the student to study a companion language.

“I chose Chinese because it’s in high demand and it’s an interesting challenge.,” Donnelson said.

Donnelson took French and Spanish in high school.

“Chinese is not like any other language I’ve studied,” Donnelson said. “People are really impressed when you tell them you take Chinese. They automatically assume you’re smart.”

Government agencies look for language skills and may pay extra for having that skill when hiring, according to Donnelson.

“If you happen to be proficient enough, private companies might hire you as a translator,” Donnelson said.

“I hope the students can get governmental positions and jobs in the private sector,” Yu said. “I also hope some students can move on to go to graduate schools to become scholars of China studies.”

Donnelson hopes to work for the state department

“I want to use my language skills and possibly train further in the language,” Donnelson said. “I might also go abroad to teach English.”

Bronwyn is married and has a five-year-old son. In her free time, she spends time with her family.

“I have a husband and a kid, I can’t really ignore them,” Donnelson said.

Visual Communication

The visual communication major is a comprehensive design program that provides students with the aesthetic and technical background for entry-level positions in the design field.

“It’s the graphic design major,” said William Cobb, visual communication senior. “It’s called visual communication instead of graphic design because it branches out into many mediums. It’s a broad program.”

Foundation classes are taken the freshman year. After the completion of the foundation year, students accepted into the visual communications program begin a three year intensive study of the various aspects of visual communication.

Students undergo a portfolio interview to determine their acceptance into the program.

“Portfolio interviews are the most stressful,” Cobb said. “At the end of the first year, the faculty reviews your portfolio and they tell you what area they recommend you go in to. Then sophomore year, they throw everything at you to see if you can handle it.”

A limited amount of students are accepted into the program.

“The program is small,” Cobb said. “Only about 30 people a year are let in.”

There are three professors in the visual communication department, Eric Anderson, Karen Hayes-Thumann, and David Hissey.

Professors expect students to meet deadlines, attend class, and be interactive.

“Professors expect you to be responsible and to manage your own time,” Cobb said. “They’re not going to hold your hand. The professors are concerned with learning and getting better over having natural talent.”

Students study basic drawing and color, lettering, layout, packaging, logo design, publication design, webpage and multimedia design.

“You practice basic lines, kind of like Zen or Mr. Miyagi stuff,” Cobb said.

The program can get busy according to Cobb.

“Sophomore and junior year, I spent about one to two days a week sleeping in the studio,” Cobb said.

There is no set schedule on the visual communication syllabus.

“Time management is the most important thing,” Cobb said. “The second criterion is organization. There’s no set path to follow in the syllabus. You keep working, keep getting critiques and then move on.”

The faculty reviews the students’ work regularly.

“We don’t have tests; we make art,” Cobb said. “

Art school can be expensive.

“It costs quite a bit out of pocket,” Cobb said. “It’s a bit disappointing because we already spend approximately 180 dollars for technology fees. And then you still need to buy a computer and Adobe Creative Suite.

“I bought this Color-Aid for 90 dollars my freshman year. They said it would pay for itself. I’ve used two sheets of it.”

The visual communication classes are three hours a day, twice a week.

“Outside studio, I have about two to three assignments per week and spend approximately 20 to 30 hours per week on the assignments,” Cobb said.

The students and faculty become like a family according to Cobb.

“The walls come down a lot earlier,” Cobb said.

“One night at the studio, we were drunk while working on our projects, which were due for review the next day,” Cobb said. “All the projects were skewed in one direction because we were drinking. The critique was bad but funny. We realized that this work was too delicate to be working drunk.”

Cobb chose this major because he loves art and he doesn’t want to be poor.

Cobb’s ideal job would be making promotional posters in the music field or working on packaging at Hasbro.

“I really love music, so it wouldn’t be work anymore,” Cobb said. “I would be doing what I would have done anyway.”

History

The history major focuses on teaching students three basic skills: research, analysis, and communication, Roberta Magnusson, associate history professor said.

Elise Wenzel, history senior, said she enjoys being a history major.

“We are all really enthusiastic about history,” Wenzel said. “There’s no ‘ho hum, I think I’ll just be a history major.’ It’s not like we’re in it for the money.”

History majors can’t be averse to reading, writing or not having a definite answer, according to Wenzel.

Professors expect students to have the readings done on time.

“All of our courses have substantial components of reading and writing, and the smaller seminars also emphasize speaking,” Magnusson said.

Wenzel said the classes are demanding.

“Make sure to maintain information from each class because everything builds on everything else,” Wenzel said. “If you know the material, you’ll get a decent grade.”

Changes have been made to the undergraduate history major.

“We have recently made some changes to the undergraduate major, by instituting two new small seminars and by giving students more choices in the areas they wish to study,” Magnusson said.

The two new seminars are the History Sleuth, HIST 2573, which teaches the methodology of research and analysis, and the Colloquium, HIST 3573, which emphasizes the development of professional writing, according to Magnusson.

“Both of these are small seminars restricted to history majors,” Magnusson said. “They give students the chance to get to know their fellow majors, and to participate in a class that can be much more hands-on and interactive than a typical larger lecture course.

“The new ‘field of concentration’ option permits students to choose between distributing their upper-division history courses among different areas of the world, or concentrating on one particular area or thematic approach,” Magnusson said. “Those who want to concentrate have eleven fields from which to choose.”

The five geographic fields are Asian, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and US History, according to Magnusson. The six thematic fields are Pre-modern, Cultural & Intellectual, Race, Ethnicity & Identity, Women & Gender, War, Revolution & Diplomacy, and Legal & Constitutional Heritages.

Wenzel is concentrating in European history. She said she expects to get a job either teaching at a university or working at a museum

“Teaching at a high school is a perfect worthy ambition, but it’s not mine,” Wenzel said. “I plan on getting my masters degree in history with a museum study certificate. There are not many schools that offer this so I really hope they like me.

“I don’t expect a dream job right away, but I’m not worried in the long run,” Wenzel said.

There are more available career options for history majors than teaching.

“There's a common misperception that all you can do with a history degree is teach history, but in fact it's a degree than can be applied to a very wide range of careers,” Magnusson said. “The specific skills that students develop as history majors can open the door to many different jobs, in both the public and private sectors. Some of the most common career paths for history majors are education, law, public service, information services, museums & historic preservation, corporations, and non-profit agencies.”

Wenzel doesn’t have much free time because she is taking 18 hours this semester.

“My friend has time to be addicted to television, so if you’re not taking 18 hours then the schedule can’t be too bad,” Wenzel said. “Although I do spend way too much time looking at cheezburger cats.”

For more information, the American Historical Association has a detailed guide to careers for history majors at http://www.historians.org/jobs/index.htm.

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mental or behavioral characteristics of an individual or group. The primary focus of the psychology department at the University of Oklahoma has changed from clinical psychology to scientific psychology, according the Department of Psychology website.

“Psychology is a good major to start with when you don’t know where you want to go in life.” Reanna Patton, a former behavioral health rehabilitation specialist at Red Rock said. “It’s useful in your daily life because you study how other people function and how you function around them.”

Thomas Cline, a psychology graduate, said a psychology degree starts with theorists and theories, like Sigmund Freud.

“Freud was interesting but he’s also full of crap,” Cline said. “He’s a revolutionary thinker but you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt.”

Cline said that he liked his psychology professors.

“The professors are good at what they do,” Cline said. “I didn’t have a psychology professor that I didn’t like. They also weren’t vicious about giving lots of work. They expect you to work hard but they aren’t unreasonable.”

Cline said that his classes during his senior year required extra work.

“I studied a lot,” Cline said. “Probably more than the average student. But it was worth it to get the 3.8 GPA.

“Seminars and some of the later classes made us read a 250-400 page textbook in two weeks. The books were interesting but since we have a lot of other classes it takes up a lot of our time.”

Professors expect students understand the material.

“Psychology is more about understanding the whole rather than regurgitating the individual specifics,” Patton said.

“More than anything,” Cline said. “Professors expect creative analytical thinking.”

Cline and Patton recommend psychology capstone classes.

“I highly recommend the capstone, Psychology and Law,” Cline said. “Everyone should know just how messed up our system is and how demonized it is. I recommend it if you have the stomach for it. Frankly I found the details really nauseating.”

Patton recalled her capstone class with Professor Robert Terry.

“He asked two students to go out of the class so that he could tell the other students a story and then the two students had to guess what the story was about,” Patton said. “After the students left, he said that he wasn’t going to tell a story and that if our birthday was an even number then we must always answer ‘yes’ to all their questions. The story that they came up with was something about Mexicans, fish and dancing. It was hilarious.

“This experiment was about assumptions. The fact that he was a teacher gave him enough authority to convince others that he was telling the truth. Professor Terry always does stuff like this in his classes.”

Patton entered psychology because her little brother is autistic.

“I was always interested in mental health,” Patton said. “I want to get out there and help people.”

Patton recalled the most memorable experience she had while working at Red Rock.

Patton met a poor troubled boy whose shoes were falling apart while working at Red Rock. The councilors decided to buy him some shoes but they couldn’t afford the brand he wanted.

“I apologized when I gave him the shoes but he just smiled,” Patton said. “The look on his face just to get any shoes was priceless. When he acts out, it’s the disorder talking, but I really got to see the kid underneath. It was touching.”

The availability of jobs for students depends on whether they go to graduate school, Patton said. Jobs available for a bachelor degree includes social work, rehabilitation specialists, mental health technicians, and councilors.

Cline said he plans on going back for his masters this fall.

“I had this idea in my head that I wanted to be a psychologist or counselor,” Cline said. “I’m not so sure anymore. I’m still in the process of figuring out what job to get. It’s really hard to get your foot in the door anywhere with a bachelors.”

When Cline is not working or studying for the GRE, he is playing video games and drawing comics.

Music Performance

The performance major is for students who choose to pursue professional careers in music.

“The music performance major is designed for the serious performer,” said Dr. Steven Curtis, academic director at the University of Oklahoma. “Often these people start studying their instrument or voice at an early age. Many would like to earn a performance position in an orchestra, or for singers, performance opportunities in opera.

“In addition to general education courses and many other courses all other students take, performance majors take higher level theory courses. Performance majors also do two recitals instead of one for other degrees.”

Elizabeth Wenzel, harp performance senior, takes music theory classes, large and small ensemble, orchestra, harp ensemble, and private lessons.

Wenzel chose the major because she likes playing the harp.

“I have a harp,” Wenzel said. “And I always thought that if I did something else, I would always regret not doing the harp.”

Wenzel said the other reason she chose to be a performance major is because she likes to play at parties.

“You get to dress up and look pretty,” Wenzel said.

Professors expect students to come to class prepared.

“We expect our students to be serious scholars and performers,” Curtis said.

Wenzel practices about three to four hours a day.

“Be prepared,” Wenzel said. “You must know your music.”

There is a reason for the long practice sessions. Incidents can occur during a performance. Wenzel’s harp string broke in the middle of the musical, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

“When things go wrong,” Wenzel said. “The directors are looking at you, chewing their nails, and hoping you’ll get everything under control.”

Wenzel managed to fix her harp string to play through the rest of the musical.

Wenzel also hit someone on the head with her harp the other day.

“I’ve run over plenty of people,” Wenzel said. “But I’ve never hit someone on the head before.”

Weather changes are not good for the harp, Wenzel said.

“A bass wire string popped off during a dress rehearsal because of the weather,” Wenzel said. “It sounded like a gunshot. It scared everyone.”

Wenzel wants to get a job in performance.

“I’d like to get a big orchestral job,” Wenzel said. “But I’ll have to work myself through smaller orchestras first.”

Curtis expects that even though the students are preparing for careers in performance, all of them will probably teach at some point in their careers.

There are ways to increase the chances of success at getting the desired job.

“The people you meet are very important,” Wenzel said.

Wenzel said she doesn’t have much free time, but when she does she attempts to teach her boyfriend how to cook or she drags her sister to go shopping.