Media literacy is an essential and indispensable civic skill in our current era where mass media dominate every aspect of life from entertainment and leisure to politics and business. In recognition of this, the Department of Film and Media Studies (FMS) takes as its central mission to educate students to become both critical consumers and creative producers of cinema, television, and other screen images and narratives, be they fact or fiction. With eight core faculty of wide-ranging expertise and over 20 affiliate faculty spanning multiple departments (African and African American Studies; English; History; Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics; Women’s and Gender Studies) and colleges (Journalism and Mass Communication; Fine Arts), we offer a comprehensive, dual-focused curriculum that combines the study of film and media history, theory, and criticism as well as the practices of film and digital media production. Our goal is not only to provide students with the knowledge and skills required for careers in film production and media-related fields, in the academia, or other jobs in the liberal arts and humanities. No less importantly, we are focused on bringing an international and culturally diverse dimension to our teaching and research, which attests to our commitment to expanding the horizon of students and enriching diversity and inclusion in the department and the university at large.
