Core Faculty
Professors: Neil Lerner, Maggie McCarthy, Mark Sample (Chair)
Associate Professors: Joelle Dietrick, Jakub Kabala
Professor of the Practice: Owen Mundy
Visiting Assistant Professor: Jon Heggestad
The Film, Media, and Digital Studies department cultivates in students a deep understanding of the digital, screen, and media landscapes of the past, present, and future. The program is structured around three pillars: (1) creativity, encompassing art, digital storytelling, filmmaking and media production, and game design; (2) history and culture, which considers the social and cultural history of technology and explores the expressive potential of the internet and media of all kinds; and (3) methodology, in which we quantitatively or qualitatively narrate, represent, analyze, map, and critique text, audio, video, and data through a humanistic perspective using digital tools and media.
Emphasizing both theory and practice as the foundation for analytic and creative endeavors, this major fosters the formation of sensitive critics and makers of film, computational media, and other forms of media. Students delve into visual rhetoric, media history, and ethical data and production practices. They explore entrepreneurial thinking and design, participatory culture, and the implications of digital citizenship. Situated at the intersection of the arts and the humanities, Film, Media, and Digital Studies challenges students to express themselves digitally while simultaneously questioning emerging technologies.
The Film, Media, and Digital Studies department offers one major and two minors (Film & Media Studies, and Digital Studies).