Since this whole thread started as a "what major is right for me" question, wanted to try to directly address that.
There are a couple of goals to consider, what major will give you the best training for what you want to do, and what major will help you get the job you want to do. When I look at the job boards, EE's are asked for the most, then Chemical E's, then engineers with no major specified. I have never seen them list coursework that specify areas of knowledge (courses) that they want someone to know, just the degree.
Personally, I think you'd do well to get a degree in whatever you want to control.
EE seems to be the most desirable to HR for hiring purposes, but a different degree would probably allow you to take courses that would give you a more rounded background into process controls/Automation. Here's a list of what I think would be helpful.
*) General engineering courses - Calculus, physics, chemistry etc.
*) Computer Engineering - Class about Boolean logic, flip flops, adders, etc.
*) Programming language classes
Basic language - C, python, Perl, etc.
Lisp - requires a different way of thinking than the 'normal' languages.
*) Unix operating systems and its tools.
Bash, grep, sed, awk, etc.
*) Networks (TCP/IP, etc)
*) Embedded Systems
*) Electricity (if not in EE, take the course for the EE)
*) Practical electronics/instrumentation course (often an ME, GE, or Ag E course)
*) Thermodynamics
*) Fluids
*) Drafting
*) Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. (Statics & Dynamics)
*) Food rheology.
*) Signal analysis.
*) Classical Control Theory (often different but useful versions are offered by EE, ME, GE, and Chem E)
*) Modern Control theory.
*) Distillation
*) Motor theory.