A new mathematics major will be available for students beginning Fall 2013.

Maria Calzada, interim dean of the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, said that the new liberal arts mathematics major will give Loyola students who are interested in math an opportunity to incorporate the subject into their curriculum.

Currently, there is a mathematics major with pure mathematics and a computational mathematics major with applied mathematics. Calzada considers these majors very strong, but they are for those students who want to go to graduate school.

Calzada estimated that currently there are only 25 students majoring in mathematics at Loyola. She hopes this major, which has three less required courses and more electives, will attract more students.

“This new major is much more flexible than the other majors and is directed towards students who have an interest in mathematics or may possibly want to combine math with another major, but who don’t want to go graduate school,” Calzada said.

This change stems from the recommendations of an external

review board.

“The reviewers said based on the size of our university, we do not have as many math majors as we could have. They suggested that it was possibly because we have the focus on graduate school. They recommended we have a major with a more generic focus like the one we have propose,” she said.

Jorge Rodas, music composition junior, said that the additional

major is necessary.

“I feel the school needs to push mathematics a lot more in general. The school promoting more math classes and giving students more opportunities to promote the subject would ultimately benefit the community as a whole.”

Jennie Gutierrez can be reached at [email protected]