By Julia Fuchs
Elm Staff Writer
The Communications and Media Studies (CMS) department chose to expand its program to add in a minor.
Professor Alicia Kozma, assistant professor of communications and media studies, designed the curriculum. Kozma played a huge role in developing the CMS minor. She believes this new innovation will benefit many students at WC.
“The CMS minor allows students to add the critical CMS component to their intellectual development, enhancing their critical thinking capabilities, hands-on medium production skills, and allowing them to develop the language necessary to participate in a global, mediated world,” Kozma said.
Currently, the way the communications major is set up allows for students to have a concentration in a specific area of interest. Junior Katie Bedard, for example, is currently creating a horror film as a final project for one of her courses. Bedard is a communications major with a film studies concentration.
Prior to the creation of a CMS minor, CMS allowed students to choose a specific concentration. Many of the courses taken through the CMS program go with other areas of study and can be paired.
“I’m in the film concentration, but there’s several, such as business and organization, arts and production, identity and culture,” Bedard said.
According to the WC website, the new CMS minor has a six-course requirement, of the six classes at least three must be taken at WC and three can be transfer credits. There is also a rule that stipulates no more than eight credits can be combined from another major or minor.
The minor requires two foundational courses — Intro to Communications and Media Studies and Intermediate Communication and Media Theory. The rest of the courses can be electives, which could come in the form of courses from such departments as anthropology, business, English, or communications.
This minor will allow more students the chance to get involved with the communications department, even if they did not plan on being a major.
“I would imagine that it might give students that would otherwise not consider CMS (given that it sounds broad because of its name) as a potential major [the chance to try it out]. People don’t realize all the things that go into it as a whole,” Bedard said.
The minor will allow students to learn more about the communications program and all it entails.
Kozma described it as, “An entry point into the pre-existing CMS community on campus, creating networks of students across campus, and opening up new possibilities for internships, potential careers, and creative output.”
The CMS minor can be paired with any major. The wide range of skills taught can add to the understanding of modern communications and media. There is also the possibility of opportunities that will come with the CMS minor, including internships and future careers. These may allow students to enter fields such as journalism, politics, marketing, media arts, healthcare, or law.