Contractual Liberal Arts Major (CLAM)
Faculty Advisor Information
The Contractual Liberal Arts Major (CLAM) is an option that permits the student to design an individualized academic major drawn from the total academic offerings of the University. This option is intended to accommodate the interests of students whose academic goals would not be met by an existing academic major, a double major, a major-minor combination or electives. The CLAM is a variation from a registered major, called hereafter the primary discipline, and not an opportunity to create an entirely new major.
The CLAM option is open to all students in good academic standing at the University. Students who wish to exercise this option seek appropriate faculty advisement, and the program that is proposed by the student and by the divisional dean becomes a contract between the student and SUNY Brockport. Revision may be accomplished through the same procedure used in seeking initial approval.
The title of CLAM, which must be distinct from that of any established major, is the title that will identify the student’s major on the student’s final transcript.
Procedures
- The student obtains all necessary CLAM forms and information from the Office of Academic Advisement.
- The student identifies two advisors who are appropriate representatives of the disciplinary dimensions of the intended CLAM and obtains their signatures on the Declaration of Intent to Develop a CLAM form.
- The student, who has primary responsibility, and the advisors work together to design the CLAM.
- When the design of the CLAM is complete on the CLAM form, the student and both advisors sign the form.
CLAM proposals should be submitted during the student’s third or fourth semester. Those submitted by October 1 will be processed by the end of the fall semester; those submitted by March 1 will be processed by the end of the spring semester.
A program will not be considered in which more than two-thirds of the courses in the CLAM have been completed before the proposal is submitted. This is to ensure a carefully developed program, with appropriate advisement.