Commencement attendees celebrate the Class of 2019
Last fall, when 新澳彩开奖结果 announced that film and media studies (FMST) would be offered as a major, six students reshaped their senior year to complete the requirements.
鈥淚鈥檓 the kind of person who gets emotional about a film theory article, and when you find that kind of obsession with a topic, you can鈥檛 give it up,鈥 inaugural FMST major Gabby Durr 鈥19 said.
Durr, like many of the first FMST majors, was already minoring in FMST 鈥 the option has been available at the University for 14 years. Associate Professor and Department Chair Mary Simonson described this year鈥檚 class as incredibly hard working.
鈥淚t鈥檚 remarkable for a major to become available in the fall of your senior year and make the split-second decision to pursue it,鈥 Simonson said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very motivated.鈥
The FMST major provides students with visual and media literacy skills in a highly interdisciplinary way. 鈥淧art of teaching FMST is introducing theories and histories that help students understand the film and media that they are engaging with every day,鈥 Simonson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really rewarding because you鈥檙e giving students tools to understand their own habits.鈥
FMST majors Alden DeBouter 鈥19, Durr, Rachel Hegarty 鈥19, Tracy Milyango 鈥19, Kim Ravold 鈥19, and James Wolfangel 鈥19 all took a senior seminar class with Ani Maitra, assistant professor of film and media studies. The seminar allowed them to explore their diverse interests through student-led discussions and independent projects. In both research papers and projects, students tackled new media, ethnographic media, and Asian cinema, among other topics.
For DeBouter, majoring in FMST has given him the necessary tools to pursue a career as a documentary filmmaker.
鈥淚 believe documentary film is often the most effective way of ensuring that people鈥檚 beliefs and stories are represented accurately,鈥 DeBouter said. 鈥淭he FMST major has prepared me for a career in filmmaking and a career in analysis, both of which I would be happy to pursue.鈥
As the major continues to evolve, Simonson hopes it will focus more prominently on new forms of media such as virtual and augmented reality 鈥 and include a study group.
鈥淔ilm and media are changing and evolving all the time, so how we teach and what we teach are always going to evolve to reflect the changes in the field,鈥 she said.
