A version of this story first appeared in the 2025 issue of Method Magazine, a publication of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Arts and Sciences.
Michele Pruitt walked across the McKenzie Arena stage during the December 2024 undergraduate commencement ceremony, the recipient of a Bachelor of Integrated Studies degree (photo courtesy of Michele Pruitt).
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Bachelor of Integrated Studies major offers a path for students to finish their studies in a way that fits their needs.
Dr. Amanda Clark, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Erica Holmes-Trujillo, director of the college’s Student Success Center, are the interim co-directors of the program and aim to fill the needs of these undergraduates.
“There were a number of students that had chosen UTC and—for whatever reason—had not been able to complete their original program,” Holmes-Trujillo said. “That might be a bottleneck of courses. It might be GPA requirements for majors. It might just be realizing three years in that I am not interested in this content any more.”
Integrated studies offers a flexible program for traditional, transfer and adult students. Tailored course plans integrate disciplines, prior college credits and workplace training to create unique majors.
The program combines already completed courses with new courses students wish to finish to graduate with a Bachelor of Integrated Studies.
“We saw that potential with integrated studies as a way to utilize the work they’d already done and create a clear path to graduation,” Holmes-Trujillo said.
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Another way the program caters to students is through a capstone course experience.
“This capstone really helps the student articulate their skill set and abilities so that they are marketable when they leave with the degree,” Clark explained.
“Integrated study students almost always have earned a lot of credit hours in several different areas, but they don’t nicely meet the degree requirements in any one particular area. The program offers so much hope to students who feel like they’ve been succeeding at completing the classes but don’t feel like they’re getting any traction toward the completion of a degree.”
An example of how the integrated studies major can help students tailor a specific plan can be viewed through December 2024 UTC graduate Michele Pruitt.
Pruitt started her University journey in 1984, pursuing a double major in public relations and psychology. She accrued over 100 credit hours and was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Before obtaining enough credits to graduate, Pruitt left school and entered the workforce, landing jobs in Alabama for Marriott Hotels and the Huntsville/Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“I believe a reason for my success was that I had a real foundation built on what I learned at UTC and they helped me find out what my gifts were,” Pruitt said.
Her academic journey brought her back to UTC when her daughter, Ajalon, received UTC recruitment information while in high school in Huntsville.
Pruitt was initially surprised that UTC reached out to her daughter but fondly remembered her time on campus and was excited about Ajalon possibly attending.
“I was really happy,” she said. “I enjoyed my time at UTC. While we were going through the process of looking at different universities—she did a tour—and I just felt all those feelings again when I had my time there.
“UTC started to come back … I thought, you know what, let me look into what it would take for me to finish.”
During the UTC campus tour introducing Ajalon to the University, Pruitt discovered the integrated studies major.
She came back to finish her degree online. In just one year, she was able to graduate and walk on Dec. 14, 2024, with her parents in attendance.
Meanwhile, Ajalon—now a freshman at UTC—is a Brock Scholar in the Honors College and a member of the UTC Marching Band.
“In my experience, (the integrated studies major was) exceptional and it’s an established program,” Pruitt said. “In my opinion, for those adult learners who want to go back to finish their degree online, it is a wonderful program.”
Dr. Amanda Clark, left, and Erica Holmes-Trujillo are interim co-directors of the integrated studies program.
Current UTC senior Ethan Farster followed a more traditional path to integrated studies.
“I actually tried a couple of different majors,” Farster explained. “When I first enrolled at UTC in 2018, I declared as a civil engineering major and then didn’t really like that. I went to engineering management and didn’t like that either.
“I changed gears and moved to history, which was during COVID. I didn’t like that either. I ended up in communication, minoring in psychology, and wanted to take a different career path.”
He was introduced to integrated studies through his advisor, Nicki Norris, because he wants to work with nonprofit organizations.
Farster is scheduled to graduate this May.
“I think integrated studies definitely help people who maybe have more than one interest or more than one area where they could see themselves working,” Farster said. “It’s not as set in stone.”
Farster and Pruitt had the ability to take all their integrated studies courses online. Both mentioned it as a positive factor in completing their bachelor’s degree programs.
“This concept of integrated studies meets you where you are … if we don’t have a specific major that you had always had your heart set on or if there is a career pathway that you want to pursue that requires having a little bit of knowledge here and a little bit of knowledge there,” Holmes-Trujillo said. “Having more of a niche focus, that is where integrated studies can serve a role.”
Clark and Holmes-Trujillo expressed that students are the main priority of this program and—due to a more centralized approach to advising students—the major can provide that support.
“Our goal is not at all to singularly increase the size of integrated studies,” Clark said, “but to increase the size of our graduates.”
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