Have you ever wondered what would happen if you threw social media, journalism and public relations into a blender? The new Bachelor of Science in Media coming out of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) might just be the answer.
The major, newly available at the start of this term, has been in the works since 2020.
Back then, Communication and Media Professor Vail Fletcher and her colleagues recognized the increase in media use that UP didn’t yet reflect.
“[The goal] was to reflect a larger, broader kind of global orientation towards media, media use, media production, media theory, critical media theory, critical media use,” Fletcher said. “And we felt like it was [an] urgent gap in the offerings we had.”
The major’s curriculum is interdisciplinary, with required coursework in the School of Business, Department of Performing and Fine Arts, Department of Public Health and Wellness and the Ethnic Studies Program.
Students can also select a focus in technology, health communication or journalism and storytelling.
Culminating in a required media internship, the program aims to emphasize the technical skills needed to become a media professional, with courses in areas such as graphic design and video production.
The major also boasts a slightly unorthodox public health and wellness focus, which Fletcher and Madebo see as crucial after witnessing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the media. During the crisis, the media was used to convey necessary information to the public. The course curriculum for this portion of the major will discuss public health technologies and public health in media.
Communication and Media Professor Azeb Madebo finds that the interdisciplinary formation of the program fits perfectly into the field's ethos.
“I think we're living up to that in some ways, to figure out how to allow students to be interdisciplinary while also working towards their major,” Madebo said. “It's figuring out how to integrate communication thinking into these other spaces, to think about problems through a communication lens.”
Members of the CAS department, including Fletcher, began recognizing a need for the major almost a decade ago, in 2018. During this time, members of the department noticed recent alumni with bachelor’s degrees in communication were ending up in media positions.
Students were also taking an interest in media.
“We were noticing our students,” Fletcher said. “A lot of the capstone projects, senior projects, internship, interests were intersecting with media topics, social media, mass media and now growing into AI and AI media literacy. Everywhere we looked, we just felt like this is an area that needs urgently to be captured.”
During its short tenure, the new major has already gained a follower. Aria Cain, a sophomore media major who is interested in pursuing sports media production, finds it fits perfectly into her career dreams.
“These are the classes I feel like were meant for me,” Cain said. “These are the ones I want to be engaging in.”
The new media degree fills a gap in CAS, intending to provide current and future students with access to a flourishing professional field.
“We were quite eager to grow this area because it was basically like the ocean," Fletcher said. “We really wanted to bring together a very dynamic, very alive and of-the-moment degree.”
Nandita Kumar is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at kumarn27@up.edu.
