By: Kelsey Aylor, Staff Writer
On April 12, Wofford faculty voted to approve a new film and digital media minor. The proposed curriculum, spearheaded by Dr. Julie Sexeny, associate professor of English, has gained unanimous support from both the English department and many students.
“Students taking my film classes repeatedly asked me why there wasn’t a film major or minor at the college,” says Sexeny. “There was even a group of dedicated students who wanted to start a petition last year in order to voice their support and speed up the process. Students understand too well the significance of studying visual images and digital texts since they are so central to their lives and many of the professions they plan to enter.”
Of the top 60 nationally ranked liberal arts colleges in U.S. News and World Report (2015), all but five offer a major or minor in film and media studies. Of the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS), all 16 provide a major or minor in film and digital media.
“The college needed a designated curriculum for this crucial, expanding field. The Film and Digital Media minor is central to Wofford’s vision of a liberal arts education in the 21st century,” says Sexeny. “Students spend much of their personal and professional lives interacting with digital media for their academic research, news, politics, entertainment and work, to find communities and form relationships. Yet there is a danger of enabling students to leave college as passive consumers of the screens that surround us. This minor aims to prepare students to be active, insightful participants in this media-centric culture.”
Over the past year, Drs. Kimberly Hall and Cate Blouke, specializing in digital media and digital pedagogy respectively, have been hired in order to increase the faculty responsible for the minor. They, along with Sexeny, have been working to develop classes and coursework appropriate for the minor.
“The curriculum complements work in literature when we offer critical readings of visual images, analyze them in their historical and cultural contexts, examine the relationship between formal elements and subject matter and employ theoretical frameworks to deepen our understanding of texts,” says Sexeny.
The curriculum is now available to all students and, at its most basic level, classifies as having either production courses, where students make films and media, or theory and history courses to study them. Advanced courses in screenwriting and digital filmmaking have been added to the course catalog.
“This minor aims to create students who are both technologically proficient and civic-minded and thus poised to be confident, compassionate and insightful participants in their personal and professional communities,” says Sexeny. “It will allow students greater agency in managing their careers, giving them the wherewithal to pursue their interests, whether it involve screenwriting, interacting with the community or creating their own websites, media projects and online portfolios.”
