The College of Communication Arts and Sciences has recently planned a curriculum with the aim of giving students more options for a field of study.
Namely, animation and comics storytelling in media will be a new minor within the School of Journalism in fall 2016.
Ann Hoffman, assistant dean for undergraduate education in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, said the journalism school has been offering classes centered around comics and visualizing information for about two years, but a minor in animation and comics was only recently made official.
Hoffman said the content of the classes was tested out in special topics courses.
“If we package these classes together, it allows ... a student’s record for having a background in animation and comic storytelling in media,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said there is a high interest in animation and comic storytelling at MSU.
Transdisciplinary artist-in-residence Stacey Fox, who established the new major, said the department has plans to grow in the future.
She said the College of Communication Arts and Sciences began to offer courses in animation, comics, political cartoons and graphic novels about a year ago.
“We realized the students were really interested in it,” Fox said. “We’ve served actually over 400 students already.”
Fox said the minor is open to any undergraduate at the university.
“It is actually possible to do the minor in one year,” Fox said. “Since these courses are open in the summer, they will count toward the minor in the fall.”
On top of the new minor, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences also made changes to its media and information Bachelor of Arts program within the Department of Media and Information.
“The current structure of the B.A. has three focus areas and they’re not (able to be listed on transcripts),” Hoffman said. “It has more of a modular design so that students will take a series of classes that are considered the MI (Media and Information) core and then will take courses across focus areas.”
Hoffman said she believes the new system will be more efficient.
“It helps students pick, ideally, the right kinds of skill sets to be marketable in that area,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said she hopes the change will produce students who are “T-shaped professionals,” a term for professionals who possess deep discipline in one skill but are able to communicate their skill across many professional areas, according to tsummit.org.
“A current (Media and Information) student who is a junior won’t (be) disadvantaged,” Hoffman said regarding the changes. “Newer students can group their classes into very specific buckets of knowledge.”
Both changes will go into effect in fall 2016.
For more information on the animation and comics in media minor, contact Fox at sfox@msu.edu.
