Media Studies Degree Requirements

Program Offered:

The Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies provides students with theoretically-focused and application-based frameworks to understand media, media technology, and its influence upon domestic and global culture and society. Students will study theoretically grounded approaches to a variety of media, becoming  sensitive to the ways power affects media creation, distribution, representation, access, and change.  Students will explore and contribute to a lively and stimulating socially conscious intellectual environment -- one that allows every student to expand the scope of his or her cultural and educational experience. The program is broad-based, focusing on studies of a wide range of traditional, alternative, historical, contemporary, and emerging media within their cultural, social, historical, economic, global, and political contexts. The goal of the degree program is to help students become theoretically-informed navigators and critical consumers of media texts, skills useful for citizens of a dynamically mediated world.

The program requirements for a degree in Media Studies include core courses, which form the foundation of study, and electives to allow the student to develop their interests according to their intellectual and career goals. As all course work is aligned with the three cornerstones of the degree -- Theory and Application, Social and Cultural Impacts, Media History and Trends -- the core program provides a theoretical and methodological foundation for critically analyzing and engaging with media in a variety of situations.

Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLO)

Graduates of the Media Studies Program will be able to:

1. Analyze a media topic, form, or theme from a variety of perspectives or levels of analysis. 
2. Identify media as a mode of creating, sustaining, and reflecting individuals, cultures, communities, and organizations.
3. Analyze ethical and power-related issues pertaining to a variety of media forms.
4. Interpret shifts in media technology and context.

Preparation

High school students should take four years of English, including Composition. Social Science and Civics courses, including History and Economics, are encouraged. Familiarity with computers and the Internet is also desirable.

Transfer Students

Community college transfer students may transfer a maximum of six (6) lower-division units and must have earned a grade of C (2.0) or higher in the coursework to be counted for credit toward preparation for the major.

Media Studies Degree Requirements

All courses taken for the major, including Preparation for the Major courses, must be completed with a grade of C (2.0) or better. A minimum of eighteen (18) units of upper-division credits must be earned at CSUSM.

General Education Requirements

Media Studies Major Worksheet/Option Checklist

Students must take a sufficient number of elective units to bring total to number of units to a minimum of 120 units.

*Media Studies Electives: MDIA 322, 365, 366, 403, 451, 452, 460, 470, 495, 499A-C

** For other media-related electives, students may select among the mass media electives above and/or from other upper-division media-related electives offered in the Communication department (COMM). The following COMM courses are designated as counting toward the MEDIA STUDIES major: COMM 330, COMM 355, COMM 370, COMM 390, COMM 402 COMM 410, COMM 430, COMM 435, COMM 454, COMM 455, COMM 460, COMM 465, COMM 470, and COMM 485. Additional COMM courses may count toward the major contingent on the media focus incorporated into the course. Students should consult with their assigned tenure-track faculty advisor.

In addition, other programs and departments in CHABSS with a clear media emphasis may have electives for MDIA majors to consider.

Sample electives include: VSAR 304, 306, 309, 317, 432, 433; also, for consideration are ECON 327, LTWR 334-A-C; NATV 350/SOC 350, or SOC 467 with the consent of a faculty advisor.

Special Conditions for the Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies

Media Studies students are strongly advised to take COMM 360 prior to or concurrently with other 300-level Media Studies courses and must take it prior to enrolling in 400 level courses. Students may apply a maximum of 6 units of Independent study (MDIA 499) or Internship (MDIA 495) toward the Media Studies degree. Students may count a maximum of 3 courses (typically, 9 units) of additional pertinent upper-division CSUSM elective coursework taken inside or outside the Communication department toward the Media Studies degree. These media-related courses may include Communication department courses related to Media, as well as media-related courses offered by other CSUSM departments and programs (see sample course list on next column).

Students are responsible for consulting with their faculty advisor prior to selecting courses to confirm their applicability toward the degree program. Your faculty advisor must approve courses selected from outside the Communication department. In addition to seeking Communication department faculty advisor approval, students should be aware that courses outside the Communication department may have prerequisites or restrictions specified by the department or program offering the course. Students should consult the catalog and check with the instructor to confirm their ability to enroll.

Media Studies students may not use COMM 360 or any other course that counts as a DD as both a DD course and as a course to be counted toward the degree. A course to be counted toward Media Studies Elective coursework may not also be applied toward a minor.