Modern Culture and Media to offer Ph.D. program

Applications will be accepted next year for the 2003-2004 academic year.

by Mary Jo Curtis

Building upon its reputation as a leader in its field, the Department of Modern Culture and Media will begin offering a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), a move that department faculty believe will lead to breakthrough work and innovation in their field.

The University’s Board of Fellows approved the doctoral program last month. Applications will be accepted next year for the 2003-2004 academic year.

“The proposed program will establish Brown as a leading institution among our competitors in the graduate study of media and culture and as a nationally prominent force in this area,” said department Chairman Michael Silverman. Brown will offer a “distinctive program”– and one that will be highly selective, he added.

“The program will be small, but will have a fairly focused impact,” he said. “We expect to see path-breaking work in the field and in the social, cultural and textual theory for which this department is famous…. Now we can build on the history of what’s been established.”

Graduate students will be trained in the scholarship of one or more media, such as film, video and digital media, among others. Their coursework will also include a component in cultural, textual and social theory.

“This combination will afford students an intellectually expansive perspective enhancing both disciplinary depth and interdisciplinary flexibility,” said Professor Philip Rosen, who chaired the graduate program development committee. “There will be a capacity to set up unique combinations and interactions between these fields…. We expect to see some innovative work.”

The University will admit two students per year, with a maximum of 10 enrolled in the doctoral program at any one time, said Silverman.

The advantage of a small program is that faculty “can carefully monitor the students’ progress” and assist them in eventual job placement, he said. “We expect to have an excellent pool of applicants.”

The department and the field have grown rapidly in recent years; founded first as a center in 1987, Modern Culture and Media gained department status just seven years ago. Rosen noted the department already receives 30 to 40 unsolicited inquiries each year from would-be graduate students. While the primary focus of the program will be on training scholars, he expects some applicants will be looking “to marry production and theory.”

“The study of media and culture is up for grabs,” he said. “It’s a new generation.”