Minors Help Otis College Students Prepare for Careers in a Changing Economy

Art and Design Education, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship are three of 15 minors currently available to students. 

In an evolving creative economy, the ability to adapt, combine skills, and chart one’s own path becomes a vital advantage—one that Otis College helps students develop through its Interdisciplinary Studies program. The program provides undergraduate students the chance to enhance and diversify their major by adding a minor, a focused sequence of classes and electives that allows students to explore a secondary area of interest. 

While minors are optional, many students pursue one to strengthen their skills and prepare for a wider range of career opportunities. They are typically declared during the sophomore year, when students receive an academic plan that shows how the minor can fit into their overall schedule. Three minors—Art and Design Education, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship— of the 15 minors currently available to students are highlighted below.

Art and Design Education

The Art and Design Education minor supports students interested in understanding how teaching, learning, and community engagement intersect with creative practice. It prepares them to become socially engaged artists, designers, and educators. 

Through coursework, students learn art and design education theory and the relationships between studio practice, education, and community work. They design and teach experiences for a variety of settings, such as K–12 schools, museums, community art centers, public programs, correctional facilities, therapeutic arts programs, and design firms focused on educational materials. The minor responds directly to expanding opportunities in arts education and reflects the College’s commitment to socially engaged creative practice.

With the Art and Design Education minor, Otis offers a program approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) as a Subject Matter in Art Program. Students who complete a BFA major plus this minor qualify to waive the Art California Subject Exam for Teachers, an important step toward earning the California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Art for K-12 public schools. A fifth year of study, or a two-year internship at a CTC-approved educator preparation program, is required to complete the remaining requirements.

The Art and Design Education minor gives students a foundation for future roles in teaching, arts education, youth programs, and other community-oriented fields. 

Sustainability

The Sustainability minor invites students to engage with urgent global and local challenges through the lens of art and design. Coursework focuses on strategies, systems thinking, and the development of studio or design work that is environmentally conscious, socially responsive, and culturally relevant. The program encourages students to bring new ideas to their creative fields by examining the impacts of materials, processes, and global conditions.

This minor guides students toward understanding current issues that impact the future of our planet and supports the creation of work that is innovative and problem-solving. For example, a Fashion Design student can learn how to address the environmental footprint of apparel, or a Product Design student may develop sustainable consumer products or work in eco-conscious manufacturing. The Sustainability minor provides students with a broad awareness of how their creative decisions affect communities and the environment.

Entrepreneurship

Many Otis students consider launching their own products or brands. The Entrepreneurship minor gives them the structure and tools to do exactly that. 

In this minor, students learn business fundamentals—how to pitch ideas and build a business plan while understanding finance, marketing, accounting, and operations—all within the context of an art and design practice.

For students who want to be makers and entrepreneurs, this minor provides a clear pathway to build, test, launch, and transition an idea into the marketplace with confidence.

The Entrepreneurship minor focuses on areas such as leadership, business models, marketing, and planning. It encourages students to combine their creative ideas with practical skills so they can create studios, companies, organizations, and services that support their work. Through this minor, students learn how to develop ideas, communicate them effectively, and understand the steps needed to bring a project or business into the world.

For example, a Game and Entertainment Design student might learn how to form an independent game studio, develop and market their brand, and manage business operations. A Fine Arts student might adopt tools to turn their studio practice into a business through gallery representation, limited editions, licensing, or business ventures that incorporate their art.

Why Minors Matter

The minors available at Otis College through the Interdisciplinary Studies program allow students to shape their creative identity beyond just their major. “What’s more, it gives them the flexibility and agency to define their academic goals in ways that bridge their creative interests with professional goals,” says Claudia J. Hernández Romero, interim director of the Interdisciplinary Studies program and head of the Sustainability minor. “Since pursuing a minor is optional, it shows self-motivation, intellectual curiosity, and an ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines to solve problems and design solutions.”

A minor anchors a student’s area of technical strength and creative voice. The result is a student who is more versatile, more prepared for the shifting landscape of the creative economy, and better positioned to consider multiple career pathways.

Learn about the minors offered by Otis College’s Interdisciplinary Studies program. 

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