San Diego State Offers LGBT Major — 2nd in Nation

San Diego State University, which has been called one of the 20 best colleges in the country for LGBT students by Campus Pride, just got a little more popular with LGBT students. The university has become the second 4-year college in the nation to offer an undergraduate degree in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. It will begin accepting students into the program in spring 2012.

"It's definitely a growing area of scholarship and is taken very seriously, especially at the graduate level," said Jennifer Ruark, a deputy managing editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education, who has tracked the evolution of LGBT studies. "At many places, these classes are part of the gender studies or women's studies majors at the undergraduate level."

SDSU has offered a minor in LGBT studies since 2009. "We had about 30 students minoring in LGBT studies every year," said Esther Rothblum, professor of women's studies and the LGBT studies academic adviser. "We had so many courses on LGBT issues in so many departments, a group of us got together to put together a major."

The only other university to offer an LGBT studies major is Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., which has had a major option for over a decade.