Specialized Tracks & Certificates

Emphasis in Culture, Technology & Social Change | Women's Studies Certificate

Emphasis in Culture, Technology & Social Change

The emphasis in "Culture, Technology & Social Change" in the Humanities M.A. reflects a growing area of scholarly work in the humanities, as our increasing incorporation of technology into the structures of human thought and culture raise urgent questions with respect to traditional humanities methodologies and discourses. This emphasis encourages students to think critically about the impact of technology on human culture and society. Drawing on the strengths of faculty throughout the university, the Culture, Technology & Social Change track offers students a graduate experience that is both multidisciplinary and rigorous, focusing on the dynamic relationships between the technological properties of new forms of media and the social and cultural contexts in which they are introduced.

Students in Culture, Technology & Social Change develop a grounded understanding of cultural technologies by selecting from introductory courses that address new technologies, film, and television. Courses in technology history or regulation allow students to understand contemporary technological changes in their broader regulatory and historical contexts. Finally, an additional fifteen credits of course work, selected in consultation with the student's academic adviser, allow for further study in the student's area(s) of interest.

Students in Culture, Technology & Social Change are encouraged to explore diverse areas of interest. Some possible interest areas might include: the theoretical and practical dimensions of new media in educational settings; the social and economic significance of new communications industries; the impact of cyberspace on literary and narrative forms; the history of technologies in the West; and the ways in which technology shapes, and is shaped by, globalization.

Program requirements:

1. Core Humanities courses: HUM 601, 602
2. Three credits of technology-specific introductory courses: COMM 572 (New Media Technologies); ENGL 539 (Electronic Writing); ENGL 666 (Writing in Cyberspace); COMM 570 (Film as Communication); ENGL 605 (Film Theory and Criticism); COMM 573 (Television and Society) or approved courses
3. Three credits in politics or history of technologies, including: COMM 547 (Media Law and Policy); ENGL 586 (Media Law & Ethics); IS 707 (Interdependence, Power, and Transnationalization); IS 741 (Globalization and Social Change in the World System); COMM 571 (International Film History); FR 569 (History of French Cinema) or approved courses.
4. Fifteen additional credits selected in consultation with the student's adviser, including courses in Art, Communication, Computer Science, Educational Curriculum and Instruction, English, Geography, History, Information Technology, Psychology, Sociology, and Women's Studies.
5. HUM 694 (non-thesis only) OR HUM 698, 699 (thesis only)

Women's Studies Certificate

A Women's Studies Certificate is available to graduate students through the Institute of Humanities (in association with the Women's Studies program) upon completion of the following 15-hours program of course work:

1. WMST 560, 570.
2. At least 9 additional credits in 500- or 600-level courses approved for the women's studies curriculum and drawn from various disciplines (such as English, history, political science and geography, foreign languages, art history, women's studies, etc.). No more than six of these credits may be taken in anyone field.
3. At least one of the courses chosen must be on the 600 level.

The director of the Women's Studies Program or a designate will serve as humanities advisor for certificate candidates. Each student's progress will be monitored by both this advisor and the director of the Institute of Humanities.