Undergraduate students can explore academic opportunities at Notre Dame at the sixth annual Majors Night on Thursday in the East Wing of South Dining Hall.
Majors Night is a joint initiative between student government and The First Year of Studies, said AJ McGauley, student government's Academic Affairs Committee chair.
The event is open to all undergraduates and will take place between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
"The purpose is to give the undergraduate students the opportunity to have all the departments and majors and minors present in the same room," McGauley said.
McGauley said although most students who attend are freshmen, the event is geared toward all undergraduate students who want to talk to a departmental program representative.
"I'm trying to make sure upperclassmen know that it's worth their while to come," he said.
Representatives from every major at Notre Dame should be present to speak to students, McGauley said.
"I meet in the fall with all five deans of the colleges and the School of Architecture and give them my current list of all the departments to make sure the list is exhaustive," he said. "The idea is that it should be an exhaustive list of all the possible courses of study at Notre Dame."
The Center for Social Concerns will distribute information about its seminars and the Catholic Social Teaching minor. The Office of International Studies and the Career Center will also be present, McGauley said.
Several institutes that give grants and scholarships will be at Majors Night as well, McGauley said. These include the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, the Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.
When students enter the East Wing of South Dining Hall, they will receive a map of the booth locations, McGauley said.
There has been good attendance in past years, with 20 to 30 students walking around at any given point in time, McGauley said, but increasing attendance is one of student government's goals for this year's Majors Night.
"It's been at the Joyce Center Concourse, but we decided to move it [to South Dining Hall] because we thought this location would be easier for students," McGauley said. "We had to deal with a few logistical challenges, but because we're dealing with freshmen, we don't want them to have to trek all the way to the Joyce Center. We'll have a banner up, and they'll see it and right after dinner can pop in for five or 10 minutes."
McGauley hopes students will discover new opportunities they weren't aware of and get the chance to talk to department members.
"The most exciting thing about Majors Night is it gives freshmen opportunities to walk around and talk to professors," McGauley said. "Some kids just talk to student representatives and figure out what exactly is available at Notre Dame."
