Media & Popular Culture Concentration Requirements

The Media and Popular Culture concentration provides students with the necessary critical skills, historical grounding, and research methodologies for interpreting the cultural and social impact of popular media (television, film, radio, and social and digital media) in our globalized society. Students will learn how to analyze shifting patterns of production and consumption of popular culture, and to contextualize these changes within broader historical and theoretical frameworks.

Our interdisciplinary graduate seminars investigate current media-related topics through different perspectives, including popular audiences, national and transnational media, media industries, the politics of media culture, media histories, and representational content. Our courses examine the impact and potential of new technologies, the power of audiovisual media in society, the role of media in the formation of identities, and aesthetic dimensions of popular culture.

This concentration will be of interest to those seeking to prepare for a PhD program or to further their careers in the film, television and digital media fields.

Course Requirements

The MA in Communication and Media with a concentration in Media and Popular Culture requires a total of 12 courses, 48 credit hours, for completion. Students must complete the following requirements:

• Three core courses
• One methods course
• Four Media and Popular Culture electives
• One Applied Communication elective
• Three graduate level electives

Media and Popular Culture Concentration Core Courses

Media and Popular Culture Concentration Methods Requirement

Media and Popular Culture Concentration Elective Courses

Students must take a minimum of 4 Media and Popular Culture electives (16 credit hours). Topics courses can be taken multiple times for credit as long as the specific topic differs each time. 

 Applied Communication Elective

Students in the Media and Popular Culture concentration must take a minimum of 1 Applied Communication Elective (4  credits). 

General Electives

Students in the Media and Popular Culture Concentration must take a minimum of 3 general electives (12 credits). These electives can come from any of the Media and Popular Culture concentration electives, any of the Applied Communication concentration electives, and up to 2 electives can be an outside elective from a a graduate program outside of Communication and Media. Outside electives must be approved by advisor or graduate program director. 

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