Schools at OC

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In the Fall of 2014, in response to student needs for support and direction in choosing degree plans and career pathways, Odessa College identified and organized groups of academic and career technical programs into 5 distinct “MetaMajors.” Those groupings were designed to organize similar areas of industry-specific academic or career technical course work into more easily accessible and flexible planning and scheduling models. The end goal was to facilitate the process of degree or certification selection for all students, regardless of prior exposure to the college environment. The MetaMajor concept proved very successful, enabling Odessa College students to more easily explore the possible options and decide upon a degree plan and career pathway within one of the 5 distinct areas. As a result of that student success, the entire Odessa College instructional division was redesigned to align more closely with the students’ experience. In the process of that redesign and realignment, however, it became increasingly obvious that the term MetaMajor was unfamiliar to many students and their families. Based on that feedback, the decision was made to adopt a more familiar term. Beginning in Fall 2018, Odessa College will “retire” the MetaMajor title, and transition to a structure of 5 “Schools”. The concept and effect of the Schools structure is the same: increased student success through more easily accessible and flexible planning and scheduling. The five new designated Schools will be: The Odessa College School of STEM, The Odessa College School of Business and Industry, The Odessa College School of Health Sciences, The Odessa College School of Arts and Humanities, and The Odessa College School of Public Service and Education.

As with the MetaMajors, each School will include majors, programs, degrees and certificates that relate to common or related industry-specific career pathways. Grouping these common pathways into 5 distinct Schools enables students to explore multiple career options beyond those they may have initially considered when first committing to attend college. An added benefit of the Schools structure is the increased opportunity for students to join a smaller community of their peers – a support structure of individuals with similar interests within the larger OC family. The transition from MetaMajors to Schools is just the latest example of the Odessa College commitment to designing every aspect of the learning experience around student success.

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