As a Media and Cultual Studies major, you will choose your own advisor, who will help you decide which of many available courses best serve your interests. Majors must take a progression of ten courses, beginning with introductory exposure to a range of critical views and culminating in a senior capstone seminar.

The MCS Major

Four courses are required of all majors, including the introductory course, Texts and Power: Foundations of Cultural Studies (MCST 110), which covers the history of cultural analysis, broadly defined, from traditional to contemporary approaches, providing students with a foundation in major writings and acquainting students with issues of continuing debate in media studies. Completion of or enrollment in 110 is required for admission into the major program. Students must also take MCST 128, Film Analysis and Visual Culture; MCST 126, Local News Media Institutions, or INST/MCS 202, Global Media Industries; and MCST 488, capstone Advanced Topic Seminar, in which students work on an independent project in line with the theme of the seminar and share their scholarship with a scholarly community, integrating what they have learned in the major. The capstone experience involves close analysis of cultural artifacts that examine at a higher level issues first raised in the introductory course. In exceptional cases, students with sufficient preparation may take the seminar prior to their senior year.

The major also requires one advanced course in media/cultural theory, two courses on race or gender/sexuality and the media, one course in analyzing or making media, and two approved electives in media studies.

Major Program Planning Forms can be downloaded here.

Media Studies Minor

A minor in media studies requires Local News Media Institutions (MCST 126) or Global Media Industries (INST/MCST 202), plus four other courses in media studies approved by the department chair.

Minor Program Planning Forms can be downloaded here.

Honors Program

The Media and Cultural studies department participates in the honors program. Eligibility requirements, application procedures, and specific project expectations are available here. Under normal circumstances, students must begin the application process no later than spring registration of their junior year, to enable a full year of work on the project.