Independent Major

The independent major is designed to accommodate the interests and career goals of students with broad interdisciplinary interests that cannot be satisfied within one of the traditional Spelman College majors. The student approved to follow the independent major works with a minimum of two Spelman College faculty members to design a unique interdisciplinary major. The chosen course of study must begin no later than the beginning of the junior year and will include the minimum required number of hours of coursework for a major at Spelman.

Lights, Camera, Action

Juliana Montgomery, C’2006, arrived Spelman with her sights set on film and digital technology. Within the scope of film studies, Montgomery pursued an independent major that focused specifically on the history of African-American culture in film. In doing so, Spelman enabled Montgomery to study film from historical, cultural, political and theoretical perspectives, as well as to analyze film in relation to other art forms and fields of study.

Passion Unearths Desire

Montgomery's studies in college unearthed a desire to combine human rights and social justice issues with moving images. While at Spelman, she was an active member of the Media Arts Society and Model United Nations. She went on to become a 2006-2007 Fulbright Fellow to the Czech Republic and spent her year developing a documentary exploring visual images of women during Czech communist and post-communist eras.

From 2010-2011, Montgomery was a Henry Luce Scholar in Singapore where she worked with HBO Asia and a nonprofit organization called the Asian Film Archive. Currently based in the greater New York City area, Montgomery works as a freelance producer.

Be Independent

Interested students should consult with the dean of Undergraduate Studies and submit an application by the end of the fall semester of their sophomore year. Applicants must have sophomore standing and a 3.0 grade point average.