Program in Media Studies
To be an informed and engaged citizen, now more than ever, means understanding the ways media — from TV and film to social media and podcasts — shape our world.
Designed and led by faculty from more than 10 departments across the university — including Art, Art History, English, and Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures — the Program in Media Studies invites all Rice students to explore film and media history, critical media analysis and media literacy, and the production of technologically driven visual media, including film, television, video art, and digital media.
The Program in Media Studies administers both the major in Media Studies and the minor in Cinema and Media Studies. In addition to the history and theory of cinema, courses pertaining to the major and minor also concentrate on more recent forms of media such as television, advertising, the internet, video art, medical imaging, and expanded cinema. Students are presented with a wide array of theoretical, historical, political, and formal approaches to the moving image in an effort not only to better understand different cultural, mainstream, and artistic approaches to cinema, but also our media-saturated world at large. Students are also closely mentored by arts faculty to produce original content in a diverse range of media forms, including film, radio, podcasts, print journalism, and social media.
With embedded experiential learning activities and plans to develop internship opportunities for new majors, the Program in Media Studies at Rice prepares students for meaningful careers and a challenging media landscape. The multidisciplinary nature of the Media Studies major — with an emphasis both on critical scholarship and on creative production — positions students for a diversity of careers, including in public relations, publishing, the film industry and communications more broadly. Moreover, the three options for the program’s major capstone — including scholarship, media production and media internships — provide students opportunities to develop relationships with news organizations, community organizations, media firms and educational institutions.