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UA offers new B.A. degree in physics

A new undergraduate degree offered this semester gives students the freedom to combine an interest in science with that of other disciplines.

The University of Arizona Physics department's new bachelor of arts degree is geared toward students who are interested in the physical sciences, but are ambivalent about their career plans.

UA physics professor Doug Toussaint said the new bachelor program will give undergraduates a basic background in physical science that can be applied in many different career fields. Toussaint is the director of the UA's College of Science Undergraduate Physics Program. He also serves as an undergraduate adviser in the Physics department.

One of the advantages of the new program is it allows students the freedom to pursue unique double majors in physics and one of the humanities or social sciences, Toussaint said.

"If a student wants to do a double major in physics and philosophy - until this year, they just couldn't do that," Toussaint said. "This degree will give them that opportunity."

Toussaint said he and others in the Physics Department have been trying to get the new program off the ground since 1995.

He said the effort to launch the program had to overcome a significant amount of resistance from within the UA.

"We had a fairly rocky time getting it approved," Toussaint said, adding that most new degree programs generally encounter difficulties getting started.

UA Physics department head Daniel Stein said the department has traditionally been oriented toward students headed for graduate school in physics or a related discipline, or those planning careers in industry or academia.

"Over the years we received requests from students (or parents of students) who wanted to major in physics but did not want to follow one of those career paths," Stein said.

Toussaint said another factor influencing the UA's decision to create the new degree was the rise of similar programs at many of the UA's peer institutions.

"Eight of 11 peer institutions already do this," Toussaint said.

Now that the program is in place, Toussaint said a few students have already expressed an interest in enrolling. He added that students change majors so frequently that it was difficult to estimate the number of students that may already be enrolled.

"I've talked, as an advisor, to at least two students who expected to go into the program," Toussaint said, adding that he expects the number of students enrolled in the program to gradually increase as the program matures.

Stein and Toussaint said a background in science helps students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills that are highly valued by potential employers.

Physics majors are especially sought after by medical and law schools, Stein said.

"The combination of critical thinking skills - the ability to model problems and then do quantitative analysis of them - and a familiarity with technological issues provides a strong background in these, and many other areas," Stein said.

Toussaint said the potential marketability of a physics degree is illustrated by the fact that UA physics alumni are currently employed in a variety of fields including journalism, the military, software design and library science.

"Every big physics department sees that their students are going on to a variety of jobs and educational paths after they finish," Toussaint said. "Basically we're just trying to give the students more opportunities to find the degree that suits them."