At a Glance
I’m interested in this field of study. Can you tell me more about it?
Scripps’ media studies major is part of Intercollegiate Media Studies (IMS), a cooperative program with the other Claremont Colleges that teaches the cultural and historical importance of media, focusing on the production, circulation, and reception of texts and representations, which are analyzed in terms of aesthetics, meanings, and uses.
IMS is one of the first undergraduate programs in the United States to combine theory, history, and practice, integrating critical studies and media production. The major prepares students for graduate work and careers in teaching, art, entertainment, digital media, and the nonprofit sector.
What are some courses appropriate for first-year students interested in exploring this field of study?
You should prioritize taking the two required introductory theory courses: MS 49: Introduction to Media Studies and MS 50: Introduction to Film; and/or any of the courses that meet the introductory production requirement. These courses serve as prerequisites for most of the remaining courses in the media studies major. Since media studies is an intercollegiate major, you’re welcome to take the major requirements and major elective courses at any of the 5Cs!
If I decide to major or minor in this field, are there certain courses that need to be taken in a specific sequence?
Yes, Introduction to Media Studies and Introduction to Film should be taken before Introduction to Video Art. The introductory production courses are often prerequisites for the intermediate production courses.
Can students who major or minor in this field complete a second major or minor (as a double major or a major/minor combination)? If so, what are some common pairings?
Students often double or dual major with environmental analysis, politics, psychology, art, economics, art history, feminist gender and sexuality studies, Africana studies, Asian American studies, and many others. The hardest to double major with are STEM FIELDS due to the number of required courses, but some students do it!
Scripps Catalog link to specific requirements for the major/minor:
https://www.scrippscollege.edu/departments/media-studies
Additional links to information relevant for new student registration:
https://colleges.claremont.edu/mediastudies/
Link to profiles of faculty who teach in this field:
https://www.scrippscollege.edu/offices/profile/carlin-wing
https://www.scrippscollege.edu/offices/profile/kim-trang-tran
https://www.scrippscollege.edu/offices/profile/nancy-macko
https://www.scrippscollege.edu/offices/profile/aly-ogasian
Media Studies is an intercollegiate major offered jointly by Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona and Scripps Colleges, together forming Intercollegiate Media Studies (IMS). Media Studies is an inherently interdisciplinary field that emphasizes the cultural and historical importance of media and focuses on the production, circulation, and reception of texts and representations, which are analyzed in terms of aesthetics, meanings, and uses. IMS at the Claremont Colleges is one of the first undergraduate programs in the United States to combine theory, history, and practice, integrating critical studies and media production.
IMS provides rigorous interdisciplinary training, enabling our students to learn how to analyze diverse media forms and the power relations that undergird them, and to ethically express their knowledge through critical scholarship, community-engagement, and creative media practice. The IMS major draws from anthropology, art history, cinema and film studies, communications, cultural studies, English, gender and feminist studies, performance studies, photography, postcolonial and transnational studies, queer studies, sound studies, and the visual arts. The major prepares students for graduate work and careers in teaching, art, entertainment, digital media, and the non-profit sector.
IMS offers abundant opportunities for hands-on learning in the form of independent multi-modal research projects, off-campus internships throughout the Los Angeles region, as well as creative projects in the form of video art, documentary, photography and digital imaging, media installation and performance, web-based and interactive media, and community-based and activist media. IMS combines the rich resources of the Claremont Colleges to support student research and production, namely the Mosbacher/Gartrell Center for Media Experimentation and Activism, which houses a professional standard post-production facility, classrooms, staff and faculty offices, an art gallery, a screening room, a video studio, an animation and special project studio, as well as other student work spaces. Other resources include the Honnold Library media collection, Pomona College’s Brian Stonehill Media Studies Library, Scripps College’s Lang and Steele Media Labs, Harvey Mudd College’s gallery in the Shanahan Center and media art project space in Parsons Engineering Building, the media collection housed at Pitzer College’s Audio/Visual Services, and the intercollegiate alumni group Claremont Entertainment Media (CEM).
Faculty affiliated with the IMS Program include: Ken Gonzales-Day, Nathalie Rachlin (SC); Mark Allen, Maria Donapetry, Leo Flynn, Phyllis Jackson, Frances Pohl, Arden Reed, Larissa Rudova, Monique Saigal, John Seery, Konstantine Klioutchkine, Lynn Thomas, Valorie Thomas (PO); William Alves, Isabel Balseiro, Marianne de Laet, Elizabeth Sweedyk (HM); Dipa Basu, Laura Harris, Ntongela Masilela (PZ); Minju Kim, Salvador Velazco (CM).