Elon University will launch its fifth graduate program beginning in summer 2009, offering a master of arts degree in interactive media through the School of Communications. The program will be the first of its kind in North Carolina, preparing students to become leading professionals in the rapidly evolving communications industry.
Students in the full-time, one-year program will learn to create and deliver text, graphics, audio, video and other content through a variety of media channels including the Internet and mobile devices. In addition to producing interactive content, students will study theories of communication and audience analysis.
“This program will meet a real need in the communications industry, giving recent graduates and career professionals the additional skills they need in a changing environment,” says Paul Parsons, dean of the School of Communications. “New technologies are constantly changing the way journalists and other communications professionals connect with their audiences. Elon’s interactive media program will help communicators keep up with the accelerating pace of change.”
A sophisticated graduate suite equipped with the latest software for multimedia production will be headquarters for the 36 students projected to enroll in the program annually.
They will receive a comprehensive software package for use throughout the year and will have access to professional-quality equipment housed in the School of Communications, including 72 editing stations, 75 digital cameras, five multimedia labs and an extensive inventory of high definition video cameras, editing software and production equipment.
The program will be open to students with bachelor’s degrees in communications as well as other fields. Students who have not taken undergraduate courses in media law and ethics and media writing will enroll in summer preparatory courses.
Courses in the program will include digital media workshop, interactive writing and design, producing interactive media, interactive media strategies, intellectual property law, citizen and participatory news, virtual environments, public opinion in a new media age, visual aesthetics and interactive media management and economics.
During Elon’s four-week Winter Term, students will participate in a domestic or international fly-in to gather content for a special team project designed to serve the public good. The program culminates in a six-credit-hour capstone project.
The program will be directed by David Copeland, Elon’s A.J. Fletcher Professor of Communications. Copeland worked for eight years in North Carolina as an award-winning reporter, photographer, sports editor and news editor for both daily and weekly newspapers. He is a media historian and author of a number of books on the colonial press and on religion and the media.
Copeland received Elon’s Distinguished University Scholar award in 2006 and was named Virginia Professor of the Year in 1998 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Faculty members in the program will include several current School of Communications faculty along with new faculty members who will join the program.
Applications for the inaugural class will be accepted on a rolling basis until May 1, 2009. Top candidates should have achieved a 3.0 grade point average in their undergraduate studies and should have a combined verbal and quantitative GRE score of 1000 or above.
To learn more about the program, click on the link to the upper right of this page. For admissions information, contact Art Fadde, director of graduate admissions, at afadde@elon.edu or (336) 278-7600.
Elon is one of only 18 private colleges and universities with a communications program accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Elon also offers additional graduate programs in business, education, law and physical therapy.
For more information:
Dan Anderson, Director of University Relations
(336) 278-7410 or andersd@elon.edu