New Marine Science Major Makes a Splash
The new marine science major launched in the fall 2025 semester. Jules Nelson ’28 chats with professors at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to learn more about what the major entails.
As many students at the College of William and Mary have heard — especially those who frequent the winding hallways of the Integrated Science Center — Virginia’s first-ever marine science major has been approved. The College’s push to get this major approved gained traction in May 2024, and the process officially came to a close at the end of January, with announcements of its approval sweeping across campus. The demand for a marine science major has been growing in recent years, and the College is now the first school to offer this major in the Commonwealth, making it a leading force, especially in coastal environmental studies. There are a lot of unique things coming into the College with this new major. With the approval of the major, as well as the generous donation of $50 million from Dr. R. Todd Stravitz and the Brunckhorst Foundation, making the program tuition-free, announcements have started to make waves in the student body.
From the beginning of the approval process, there was talk of an “immersion semester,” where marine science majors would spend all of their class time at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Batten School of Coastal and Marine Sciences. For students pursuing a minor in marine science, offered at the College since 2010, a three-credit field course is required to complete the program. While previous field courses will still be offered, the new immersion semester allows students to gain crucial, hands-on field experience without the additional time and cost.
Associate professor and coastal geologist Dr. Chris Hein, who serves as the co-director of the marine science major, is thrilled about the addition of the immersion semester and its ability to introduce students to the field without equity issues. It is also very unique to this major, where a full semester of students’ time is spent off the College’s main campus to learn in the environment they hear about in their lectures. Students will learn about research methods and tools, and then have the opportunity to apply them in the field while gaining real-time research experience. Dr. Hein commented on the semester’s special setup.
“Maybe it’s scheduled, where you have a bunch of classes in one day, or maybe we’re saying, ‘Yeah, we’re taking a field trip today, it’s gonna be all day.’ You don’t have to worry about being back for your next class, we’ve got you,” said Dr. Hein.“Maybe we can just reschedule that class, and now, you have two hours in chemistry tomorrow rather than one.”
The immersion semester will include a field research methods course that teaches students how to collect data, which will be paired with a quantitative skills class. This allows students to collect and analyze samples and data in the field. VIMS officials have made sure the major is fully accessible to students by providing transportation to and from the VIMS campus, so they do not have to miss or work around any classes on the College’s main campus.
“It’s real data we’re going to collect — real science — not a lab that we made up, and we know exactly how it’s gonna work.”
- Dr. Chris Hein, co-director of W&M’s marine science major
Another change happened with the announcement that there would be an application process for the major. This isn’t unheard of — several of the College’s majors require an application process before declaration — but students weren’t notified about the application until quite late in the game. With the major’s specific requirements and perks, including 18 prerequisite credits spanning various academic fields, the immersion semester, and free tuition, making the major application-only is a reasonable choice.
Dr. Hein discussed the application process, which he said is unlike anything students at the College have tackled before. The process is very similar to college applications for high schoolers, but for sophomores in college. Students will be required to submit an unofficial transcript, respond to essay questions explaining their interest in marine science, provide their cover letter, letters of recommendation, and a roadmap of past and future coursework.
As much as it makes sense for the major to require an application, there have been some concerns among students when it comes to the limited number of applications that will be accepted into the program. Currently, only 10 students will be admitted for the 2025-2026 school year, and over the years they are expecting to cap the program at around 30 rising juniors accepted per year. Claire Powers ’28 shared her reaction to the application.
“I’m not going to lie, the limited number of applicants was a little scary,” said Powers. “I kinda expected there to be some sort of cap on students since this is William and Mary after all, but still, it was so much lower than what I thought.”
A similar sentiment has been expressed by many students who had hopes of graduating with the only marine science degree in the state of Virginia, as the process is much more limited than most had anticipated.
However, students can rest assured that the marine science minor at the College is not going anywhere, and there is a chance that this program will be expanded. Dr. Hein predicted that with some time and committee discussions, there is a good chance that classes from the marine science major will be added as options for the minor. Additionally, all of the marine science majors’ required classes, with the exception of the immersion semester’s classes, will be taught on the College’s main campus and will be accessible to students who may not be able to join the major.
There are so many amazing new additions that this major is bringing to our school. Dr. Hein provided insights into the workings of the major and the new additions that the College will see with the approval of this major. The addition of a new class called “People, Society, and the Coast” excites him the most. Because the ocean spans so much of our planet, humans can’t avoid interacting with it, and this class will approach anthropogenic interactions with our coastal and marine ecosystems from a social science perspective. VIMS operates as a separate entity from the College, in part due to its place in advising government bodies about how to safely interact with our marine ecosystems. This position allows for classes like this to be taught in a way that applies to the need for environmental consciousness in the world today.
Professor of Marine Science Dr. Mark Brush, who runs the Introduction to Marine Science class, looks forward to what the approval and addition of this major would bring our institution into a new era of what the college can offer its undergraduate students. He’s optimistic about the new connection between VIMS and the College, two rich and diverse institutions. Secondly, Brush is enthusiastic about getting to meet more students who are passionate about the field of marine science. He hopes that he will get to help an amazing, huge group of students get involved, learn more about the major, and possibly even come to work in his lab with him.
“It’s all about the students for me,” Brush said. “It’s about working with you guys. So that’s just super exciting on a personal level.”
The marine science major will bring amazing opportunities to the College and VIMS’ campuses and most importantly, to the education of the next generation of marine scientists that will dedicate themselves to preserving a critical piece of our planet.