Odd by degrees
It’s graduation season again and helpfully Huff Post has provided a list of rather strange degrees from the US. Some of these are really rather splendid and include:
Viticulture & Enology: Grape Growing and Winemaking – offered by UC Davis and Cornell University who “take advantage of their ripe location” in providing this degree.
Packaging – Michigan State University offers this one which apparently includes the modules “Packaging with Glass and Metal” and “Packaging with Paper and Paperboard.”
Puppeteering – the University of Connecticut has become “a proud leader in the art of puppeteering” since this course started in 1964.
Comic Art – It seems that Minneapolis College of Art and Design offers a B.F.A in Comic Art. Career options arguably slightly narrow.
Bowling Industry Management and Technology – Delivered by Vincennes University in Indiana, the degree is intended to prepare students for “management of a bowling center, sales and marketing, pro shop operations, and pinsetter mechanics.”
But best of all:
Bagpipes – Since the early 1990s, Carnegie Mellon University has offered a degree in bagpipes.
In an interview with the New York Times in 1990, Marilyn Taft Thomas, head of Carnegie Mellon’s music department stated, “The entire tradition of campus has been to have celebratory bagpiping. It just makes sense for us to acknowledge bagpipes as a legitimate musical instrument.”
This is not the first time this topic has appeared here. A previous post summarised the latest position in the provision of bonkers degrees and earlier items covered similar ground including a zombie course at the University of Baltimore and a course covering Lady Gaga together with a study of Beyonce. Also we previously looked here at the launch of an MA in Beatles Studies and the offer of a degree in Northern Studies as well as offering a podcast on “bonkers or niche” degrees and an MA in horror and transgression at Derby.
It just goes to show. There is a course in just about every subject you care to mention.
