Design Your Own Major
Individualized Studies (INS) allows you to build a unique program that fits your particular learning and professional goals. Decide your curriculum and tailor it to your professional goals. You’ll be able to modify it if your interests change.
Creating Your INS Major
Identify Your Programmatic Theme
You'll propose and develop a programmatic theme, essentially the “name” of your INS degree. This programmatic theme would be noted on your graduating academic transcripts.
The courses you take, including any relevant courses you might already have taken, would support your programmatic theme. At graduation, you will have built and completed a highly specific major that prospective employers respect.
Name Your INS Degree
What will be the name of your personal degree? Your programmatic theme might be "Montessori Education" or "Head Start Programs." You'll be able to identify your learning objectives through INS.
Choose a Track For Your Learning Objectives
Both tracks are a maximum of 45 credits.
Track 1 is great for students who need the certification that certain minors offer, such as coaching or safety. Approximately 10% of our students choose Track 1.
Track 2 is more flexible. Combine courses drawn from various academic departments so as to support your programmatic theme.
INS Tracks
Track 1
Declare two academically-related minors at Buffalo State.
Complete the two minors, perform your Senior Project and you’ve completed INS Track 1.
Track 2
Since there are no pre-determined required courses, you'll combine courses from various departments that will support your programmatic theme.
For example, if your theme is alcohol and chemical dependency, your Track 2 major could include courses from social work, sociology, health and wellness, psychology, safety, etc.
Lazarus Lynch, '16
Although Lazarus Lynch, '16, chose Buffalo State for its health, dietetics, and nutrition program, he soon realized he could combine his interests in social media and entrepreneurship into an individualized studies degree with a concentration in communication.
Lynch demonstrated his cooking prowess as a Buffalo State student and has since made a name for himself as a culinary celebrity and multidisciplinary artist.
Our Mission
Buffalo State’s Individualized Studies major fosters cross-disciplinary learning. Its students devise unique and challenging programs that achieve unity by building upon the resources of diverse elements. INS students therefore demonstrate the ability to think beyond the confines of traditional compartmentalized boundaries in service to an independent academic vision that is informed by effective advisement.
Individualized Studies students:
- Demonstrate direct responsibility for the quality of their learning
- Demonstrate effective critical thinking skills through personal program design and the ability to synthesize diverse resources into a rigorous course of study
- Demonstrate research skill, as well as practical competence, through a required capstone experience