XA sophomore Erin Campbell had difficulty finding a way to sum up exactly what the major is, but she settled on a definition.

“It’s technology and design, but with a focus on people and just usability of things and if it’s accessible for everybody, and so just trying to be empathetic with a tech degree,” Campbell said.

The program remains small with about 70 people in the major. However, it is above the previous projection for enrollment this year, XA senior Tommy Truong said.

When Truong joined the major, it was still in its humble beginnings. 

“When I first joined, I was student number 10,” Truong said.

Truong began his time at MSU as a computer science major, but he said he felt there was something missing from the program for him.

“I really like technology, working with computers, programing, but what I really felt was missing from the computer science program, for me, was more of that human aspect,” Truong said.

Truong found the combination of technology and the humanities was better suited for what he wanted out of his education.

That combination is something that can only be found at MSU, Ben Lauren, an Experience Architecture assistant professor, said.

“We’re the first user experience program in the humanities, period, so we’re unique," Lauren said. "They exist in other places, like information schools, psychology, educational technology will do stuff like this, communications programs does user experience work, but we are the first user experience program in the humanities."

Lauren said he became interested in XA partially by accident. He was studying app development and environment design when he was introduced to the concept of user design.

Following this, Lauren took an interest in teaching XA. 

“XA is a really fun major to teach in, and not because it’s like brand new or emerging, I mean all that is fun too, but XA is fun because the students that are in the program have such a variety of interests," Lauren said.

XA is a unique major to teach in because it is still in development.

“We’re trying to educate people who will go out and be leaders and expand and develop this field beyond where it’s currently at," Lauren said. "What that means for us, since we’re coming at it from the standpoint of the humanity (humanities), is they’re going to go out and start thinking about how they can become culturally and socially engaged, and that means work to make the world a better place.”

Lauren’s goals of getting his students more culturally and socially engaged have showed up in what Campbell wants to do with her degree in XA.

“I just went on a mission this past summer and (I want) to do something with mission work either designing technology that helps people when they’re in the mission field,” Campbell said. “Or like virtual reality experiences that put people in the shoes of people in third world countries, so that they can empathize with them and like give more money to those non-profits to try and help them, so like something, I guess, with a social impact in that realm.”

With students like Campbell and Truong working in the major and continuing to spread the word about the major, the expectation is XA will continue to grow."

So far we’ve had a lot of success with the program, and we’re excited to continue seeing it succeed," Lauren said.