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Change of Major Policy and Its Effects

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Conference

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual On line

Publication Date

June 22, 2020

Start Date

June 22, 2020

End Date

June 26, 2021

Conference Session

Computing and Information Technology Division Technical Session 8

Tagged Division

Computing and Information Technology

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--34270

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/34270

Download Count

418

Paper Authors

biography

Simeon Ntafos University of Texas at Dallas

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Dr. Ntafos is Professor of Computer Science, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Student Services in the School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Wilkes College in 1974 , the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and the Ph.D. Degree in Computer Science from Northwester University in 1977 and 1979 respectively.

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Abstract

Considerable attention has been paid to factors affecting student's selection of Engineering and related majors [1, 3, 5] and issues affecting retention and graduation in these majors [4, 6]. Lesser attention has been paid to change of major policies and their effects [2].

We study the effect of "change of major" policies on two degree programs (Computer Science and Computer Engineering) at a large Engineering School. The two programs are delivered by different Departments within the same School of Engineering and Computer Science. A university-wide policy that just required "good standing" to change major up to four years ago has evolved into separate policies for multiple Schools that have become more restrictive over the years and especially so in the School of Engineering and Computer Science. In the School of Engineering and Computer Science, motivations for the policy and the updates to it included managing growth and maintaining, improving quality.

We look at a number of issues arising from the policies and the interplay between the School's change of major policy and policies at the University level. We study movement of students in and out of the School and each Department and the effects on GPA and progress towards graduation. We discuss issues with maintaining a common School-wide policy on change of major and the effects on the Departments.

Ntafos, S. (2020, June), Change of Major Policy and Its Effects Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34270

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