This post was updated Jan. 15 at 7:36 p.m.

UCLA added two new majors to its offerings in the fall: a Bachelor of Arts in music industry and a Bachelor of Arts in disability studies.

Adding these new majors to the catalog required a multifaceted effort from faculty and administrators to create relevant requirements and courses to attract new students. From gauging interest and finding a topic for a new program to proposing requirements and budgetary analysis, adding a new major to UCLA’s offerings involves a multitude of people and actions.

UCLA spokesperson Katherine Alvarado said in an emailed statement that the process requires many stages.

“The process for developing a major at UCLA entails a multiyear effort led by Senate faculty,” Alvarado said. “It begins with faculty approvals at the department/program level and then progresses through various stages of review by the Academic Senate.”

To begin, a department must develop a proposal to be submitted to its respective dean and school at UCLA, according to the UCLA Undergraduate Education Initiatives. Before a proposal can be developed, however, there needs to be a motivation for a new major.

Robert Fink, chair of the music industry program and associate dean for academic affairs in the Herb Alpert School of Music, said departments and schools consider multiple factors when determining sufficient incentive for creating a new major, from student demand to the popularity of existing programs.

Fink added that the idea to begin creating music industry programs at UCLA came largely from what experts believe are essential skills for musicians.

“Maybe if you’re a musician, you should know how to record yourself for an audition, so something about audio technology,” Fink said. “Maybe you should be able to make a website, so maybe some kind of digital marketing skills.”

Identifying possible gaps in existing offerings can also help inspire new majors. In fact, many new majors have developed out of already existing minors at UCLA. Both the music industry and disability studies majors started as minors and eventually developed into interdepartmental degree programs, according to the Undergraduate Education Initiatives Office and the Herb Alpert School of Music.

Those involved in proposing a new major must also develop course requirements to be approved by the Academic Senate.

Victoria Marks, chair of the disability studies interdepartmental degree program and professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, said when considering creating requirements for the disability studies major, the committee built off of existing requirements for the minor and considered different categories for elective requirements.

“Because we already had a minor, we weren’t building from zero,” Marks said. “We had the opportunity to think about what would supplement this to create a full-on major.”

Brooke Wilkinson, director of academic initiatives within the Division of Undergraduate Education, said she also consulted disability studies programs at other universities and drew upon the expertise and research interests of faculty at UCLA.

Marks and Wilkinson, who were both involved in adding the disability studies major in the fall, said they also considered topics that are increasingly discussed in society.

“(There was) a sense that disability, civil rights and disability justice had become not only a campus issue and not only a legal issue, but part of our social discourse in a very profound way,” Marks said.

Fink said when creating the requirements for the music industry major, he consulted with a group of professionals who provided insight on what students need to be successful in a music industry career, such as courses on race and American music, public speaking, and the history of the music industry.

After departments determine the requirements and the general outline of the new major, they write and submit the proposal to the Faculty Executive Committee of the major’s respective school, such as the College of Letters and Science or the School of Music.

According to the College Faculty Executive Committee, proposals include a memo with the goals of the major, its need and a record of the departmental faculty vote approving the new major’s creation. It also includes learning outcomes, academic staff, organizational structure and resources that will be available for the major, as well as letters of support and reports from deans and department chairs.

After a proposal is written and approved by the deans and departmental faculty of the respective school or college, it goes through an approval process by several bodies, such as the Faculty Executive Committee, Undergraduate Council and the Office of Analysis and Information Management.

The proposal is then sent to the executive vice chancellor’s office, which takes into consideration input from the Academic Planning and Budget office.

After this final approval, the executive vice chancellor notifies the dean of the new major’s school, the Undergraduate Council, the Office of the President and the Registrar’s Office, which issues the official major code for the new program.

For the music industry major, Fink said the process from proposal to final approval by the Registrar’s Office took about four years. The disability studies major approval process took about two and a half years, according to Marks and Wilkinson, who said they did not encounter any significant challenges with approval.

Fink, however, said budgeting alone took up a significant amount of time.

“All of that work took an entire academic year,” Fink said. “That budget process took a long time and was actually kind of a delay.”

Before the addition of the disability studies and music industry majors, a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts in public health were added in fall 2022. Labor studies was also added in fall 2019. In the School of Music, a bachelor’s in music composition and a bachelor’s in global jazz studies were added in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The School of Music could face challenges keeping up with the large number of Bruins wanting to partake in new academic programs. Fink mentioned that because core classes such as Music Industry 1: “Music Industry Forum” have capacity limits and are in high demand, there is a technical limit on how many students can take, for example, the music industry major each year.

Wilkinson said the disability studies program tries to control demand for disability studies classes and ensures all Bruins are getting the classes they need.

“We give priority seats to minors and majors in our high-demand classes,” Wilkinson added.

While they were only approved this quarter, both programs are already attracting students. Wilkinson said there are already declared pre-majors in disability studies. Fink said there are currently about 100 music industry students.

While the disability studies major was not available on the fall 2024 University of California undergraduate application that closed Nov. 30, the music industry major was, and Fink said he expects a large number of applicants.

“My anticipation is that … we will probably have something close to 450 or 500 applicants,” Fink said. “This is one of the reasons I think the degree was appropriate.”