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Communications and Media Studies Program

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1982 -- 2015

Originally founded within the Experimental College in 1982 as the Communications Cluster, the Communications and Media Studies was established in 1985. In 1996, it won approval as an interdisciplinary minor. In 2015, the CMS program was expanded and renamed to become the Film and Media Studies program.

In 1982, the Communications Cluster was founded within the Experimental College. The cluster was developed in response to student demand and the perceived need to develop an "academic emphasis on communications and media." (Bulletin of Tufts University, 1983-1984). It became the Communications and Media Studies in 1985.

In 1996, the Communications and Media Studies program, while continuing to be housed in the Ex College, won approval as an interdisciplinary minor. In 2015, the CMS program was expanded and renamed to become the Film and Media Studies program.



The Film and Media Studies (FMS) program at Tufts University is an interdisciplinary program designed to educate Tufts students about the art and social impact of film, television, and other modern media within a liberal arts curriculum. FMS emphasizes the importance of media literacy in an era in which knowledge about people and events comes primarily from mass and social media sources. The program can be undertaken as a major or a minor, with all students required to complete Art of the Moving Image as part of their studies. The program also offers options to engage in a Senior Honors Thesis and a Film and Media Production Sequence.
Program Coordinators
  • Robyn Gittleman, 1982-1985
  • Nancy Dietz, 1985-1988
  • Ron Kertzner, 1988-1990
  • Susan Eisenhauer, 1991-1994
Directors
  • Paul D. Lopes, 1994-

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Communications and Media Studies Newsletter

 Collection
Call Number: UP222
Scope and Contents: This collection contains issues of the newsletter of the Communications and Media studies program at Tufts University. It updates student and faculty with news of the program and its participants.
Dates: 1996 -- 2002

Film and Media Studies Program Records

 Collection
Call Number: UA082
Scope and Contents: This collection contains annual reports, invitations, audiovisual materials, and student films from the Film and Media Studies Program.
Dates: 1989 -- 2020