By Lauren Means, Copy Editor

Next semester students will be able to declare a minor in Publishing Studies, courtesy of a new program in the English department.

The minor is comprised of English courses 170 through 174 and 179A, for a total of 18 credits. These courses cover the basics of book publishing, including its history and its procedures.

“It’s a great subject,” said senior Publishing Studies major Rachel Lipkin. “I don’t know why more universities don’t offer it. It’s why I came to Hofstra, because they offered Publishing. It puts us ahead of the game in the industry. We’ve been around the block, we know at least the basics.”

Dr. Alexander Burke, director of Publishing Studies at the University, explained that the English department had many requests from the other schools of discipline to create a minor in addition to the preexisting Publishing Studies major.

“There are lots of students who would like to minor in a different subject,” said Burke. “The minor is attractive for the School of Business; the School of Communications.”

The faculty board of the English department approved the minor recently. Some faculty members suggested adding English literature courses to the requirements, but the ultimate decision was to require only the core publishing courses.

“My sentiment is, they’re taking this to find a job,” said Burke. “That’s why we have 18 credits of just publishing studies courses.” The English department wanted to match the business-oriented minors other departments at Hofstra offer.

“Majoring in publishing really puts us ahead of the game,” said Lipkin. “If someone with a major in Creative Writing and someone with a concentration in Publishing both apply at, say, Simon & Schuster, the one who actually knows about publishing will have a better chance at the job.”

Burke said that many students expressed a wish to complement their studies with an understanding of the publishing industry. Students who plan to publish dissertations or books in their chosen professions may find the minor helpful.

“We’re doing what a lot of other schools at Hofstra are doing,” said Burke, “which is offering a minor in a subject to give more students the opportunity to learn about that subject.”

Burke also suggested that Creative Writing majors would find the minor helpful in gaining real world job potential.