where do you go from this intro class with me toward an art-centered study in media?

• if you are interested in experimental media study/production, you MUST follow up with department heads to show a demand and request courses in this area. Why? There is no current structure to bridge intro courses in experimental media to the advanced, 400-level courses):

  • Network, Network, Network:
    You don’t need to wait until grad school to start being a professional in your field.

    • start an experimental media club in the school to take advantage of funding and opportunities that would fall under this.

      • Ever heard of the DMS Animation Club or the DMS Gaming Club? My former students established both of these after advising them on the process and rationale for bringing others together to form a community in the areas you are most interested in.

    • speak to faculty in the DMS department that is in charge of this area:

      • Jason Geistweidt

      • Cody Mejeur

      • Andrew Lison

      • Cort Lippe

      • Elia Vargas.

    • reach out to faculty in other departments that you have an interest in.

      • In-person is the best, but following best bet is to include a few different people in the email when you first reach out to someone new. Why a few people?? To hold those professionals accountable to your request by showcasing your confidence, organization, communication skills, and overall professionalism.

      • State what your interests are, how you workshopped the idea with a full-time faculty member in your home department, and ask them if they would be willing to meet with you to discuss this further—leave it open-ended so they are not so easy to shoot you down.

      • You may elect to incentivize how this might lead to a line on their CV (without saying so). One of the top ways would be to mention other peers of yours that have interest and how they might be able to “sponsor” a new type of collaboration for students and do a yearly show or something.)

      • Request to have a meeting with them
        
        For example, if you are interested in using a pen plotter in the Art department to create ongoing projects (based on coding or experimental process that you want to explore from video stills), you might send this to the art faculty and art instructional staff as follows:

        • “To”— the primary person you want to speak to. In this case, I might suggest both Matt Kenyon and Joan Linder—Matt does emerging practices, and Joan’s focus is drawing. (How would you know this? It says this on the website.)

        • “Cc”—

          • the technician that most-closely works in your area of interest. This acts as a heads-up in that they will ultimately also be working with you. This allows them to speak up and state how they would not be able to support you—this never happens, which then leaves it to the faculty to perform their role. (In this example, you would list Jeff Shervan and or Domenic Licata.)

          • the art dept. chair (Stephanie Rothenberg). Depending on the “interest areas” of the faculty or chair, you would do well to include a note on how your interest relates to their interest. For example, Stephanie’s profile says she does social justice.

          • one faculty from your home department that can attest to your project and ambitions (further leverage the other department to work with you to show their interdepartmental support). In this case, the Art Department has a non-verbal program designation called “Emerging Practices,” which incentivizes students to work between the arts and other areas. It is mainly set up for grad students, but this is only as far as the faculty in question are willing to support you.

  • Be the change that you hope to see:

    • speak to the DMS office secretary, Elaine Schwartz, to schedule a meeting with the department chair, Alex Reid.

      • deliver proposals/requests signed by students. (From a business perspective, bringing many people to a cause will convey the need for these courses and the funding to ensure they are taught.)

  • speak to student advisors to ask for their mentorship. Don’t let them talk you out of it. Ask what steps are needed to get this to happen and collaborate with peers to make it happen.

    • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dave Pape

    • Undergraduate student advisor, Bradley Hendricks