As of Fall 2024, the undergraduate business and data science minors will be housed in the Owen Graduate School of Management and the School of Engineering, respectively, instead of Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Tiffiny Tung’s portfolio. Tung emphasized that these programs will retain their interdisciplinary qualities, which she said is a core aspect of a Vanderbilt education.

This shift comes amid Vanderbilt Law School offering a new introduction to legal studies minor starting in Fall 2024. The business and legal studies minors will be governed by students’ home schools’ academic policies due to Owen and VLS not having undergraduate academic policies.

“We’re hoping that we’ll get more classes added [for these minors] because now those programs will be in an academic school or department that can focus on curricular development, which will be nice for enhancing student options,” Tung said. “I respect the autonomy of academic departments and schools and the professors within them. Because they’re on the ground teaching in the classroom, they know really well what to develop for the students.” 

Director of the Business Minor Program Gary Kimball said the structure of the business minor will largely remain the same despite moving to a professional school. 

“One change that students will see in the future is that Owen faculty will begin offering [undergraduate] elective courses as well, giving students even more choices,” Kimball said in a message to The Hustler.  

Dr. Charreau Bell, director of the data science minor, said its move to the School of Engineering was a collaborative effort among Vanderbilt leaders. She was unsure whether the minor will eventually move to the College of Connected Computing. 

“The move to Engineering is fortuitous,” Bell said. “We have this new capacity to leverage the resources for academic programs within a school. I think we’re going to be able to grow more and offer more electives, which is something I’m very happy about.”