Courtesy of Lewis & Clark
Lewis & Clark students have four new options for minors this fall, spanning cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, education and law and policy. The programs, approved in Spring 2026, draw on courses across the college and, in some cases, the graduate and law schools.
Although the process of introducing the minors, from proposal to implementation, took only a few months, faculty have put in work behind the scenes for years to get the programs started.
Jens Mache is a computer science professor and the newly-appointed director of the cybersecurity program who emphasized the long-standing passion and decades of hard work put into getting his initiative off the ground.
“When I had a chance to teach a new course in 2007, I taught a new course in cybersecurity,” Mache said. “13 years ago, I was department chair, and I thought within three years I can build both data science and cybersecurity. But within three years, I didn’t accomplish much.”
Despite these initial setbacks, Mache remained committed to the development of a cybersecurity program at LC. He was motivated by the success of alum Pim Trouerbach ’18, who graduated with a degree in computer science and a concentration in cybersecurity. Trouerbach now works for Nvidia as a threat intel engineer and finds a liberal-arts education useful for a career in cybersecurity.
“Cybercrime and conflict is so much more than just technical details. It’s a lot more about the people behind them and the motivation of why people do things,” Trouerbach said. “You have to be able to talk to non-technical people.”
At the heart of the cybersecurity minor lies a program dedicated to building these communication skills in LC students through public service. The cybersecurity clinic, a member of the nationwide Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics, has received $1 million in funding from Google. As part of the clinic, students will work with local organizations to improve their digital security while gaining hands-on experience. The clinic’s four-credit course, CS 311, will begin working with its first client organization this fall. Mache also highlighted the unique overlap between cybersecurity and other potential areas of interest in a liberal-arts education. “A cybersecurity minor goes along well with psychology, international affairs, arts, music,” he said.
Overall, Mache said he is incredibly proud of the multifaceted perspective that the program brings to cybersecurity.
Peter Drake, director of the new AI program, takes a similarly broad approach to the field. Rather than focusing solely on how to use AI, the minor emphasizes understanding how AI systems work and examining their social and environmental impacts.
“We’re focusing on how these things work under the hood, so they make them less mysterious,” Drake said.
Like Mache, Drake is also interested in exploring the psychological side of AI development, including questions like, “What are the social impacts?”
“It teaches you enough computer science so that you can understand how these AI systems — including the large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini and Claude — how they work,” he said, in reference to the new AI minor.
In order to give students a foundational understanding of AI systems, the major requires students to take a diverse array of courses, beginning with basic computer science and mathematics and culminating in an advanced AI course.The minor also includes a required social-context course in data.
Drake said he is excited for the future development of the minor, including potential connections with data science. The program already incorporates social-context coursework that examines questions of data, privacy, democracy and the effects of digital media.
“There’s all this stuff about data and science and bias and how this changes the way we interact with each other and the way we make decisions,” Drake said. “There’s a lot to think about there.”
Similarly concerned with the social sciences is the new education minor, directed by Cari Zall, who has worked in the graduate education program for the past six years.
“The education minor is for people interested in careers in education — so that could be teaching, counseling, or other kinds of education leadership — to learn the broad scope of what’s involved in working with, supporting, and advocating for kids,” she said.
The program integrates preexisting courses from the graduate school, such as ED 205 Education in a Complex Society and ED 446 Reimagining Teaching and Learning, encompassing both coursework in educational theory and a hands-on practicum in K-12 education.
“ED 205 … is a broad, systemic look at the system of American public education,” Zall explained. “And then ED 446 is a mini methods class … students go seven or eight weeks, and work as a temporary student teacher in a classroom.”
Zall emphasized that the minor will equip students to enter a wide variety of postgraduate education and career paths. Beyond the two education-specific classes, students are also required to take on 16 elective credits in cognition and child development, communication, and contemporary American society, offering a wider lens for the context in which education occurs.
“The program opens the door for students to get licenses in teaching and graduate degrees … including teaching at the elementary and secondary level, school counseling, school psychology, school leadership or even student affairs,” she said.
The law and policy minor takes a similarly interdisciplinary approach.
“Because law and legal issues are embedded in all aspects of society, the law and policy minor is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on faculty and course offerings from across the college and law school,” the program’s official webpage reads.
The law and policy course catalog is diverse, combining introductory courses in politics, history and economics with specialized upper-level courses and various law clinic internships, from criminal justice to animal law.
Although Department Director and Professor of History Nancy Gallman was unavailable for comments due to scheduling constraints, her email to the LC community at large highlights the unique education the law and policy minor at LC — abbreviated as LP@LC — provides to its students.
“For many generations, Lewis & Clark students have been going to nationally recognized law schools and graduate schools,” Gallman writes. “LP@LC continues and builds on this legacy with the next generation of deep thinkers and skilled practitioners.”
Gallman also underscored the importance of the program in unifying students from diverse backgrounds to create a better future. “Leveraging the power of LP@LC, students are learning how to lead the world forward to a shared future of strong democratic participation, equity, and environmental sustainability,” she writes.
Ultimately, all four minors aim to build relevant skills for future careers through the interdisciplinary liberal arts approach.
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