Overview

What are the career paths for media and digital studies graduates?

The Global Media & Digital Studies program is a new field of inquiry that examines the cultural, political and aesthetic impact of media and digital technologies. GMDS provides students with the theoretical and ethical frameworks, as well as the practical tools, to analyze the highly digitalized and mediated national and global cultures that surround us today; students will interconnect theory and practice, balancing critical analysis with experiential learning, including media production. The program prepares students for graduate work and careers in teaching, art, entertainment, digital media, advertising, entrepreneurship, media arts, the non-profit sector, public service, and other fields.

Perspectives from Global Media & Digital Studies Students and Faculty

Isabel Espinosa ’23

Jordan Diggs ’23

Zion Vital ’24

Professor Nii Nikoi

Global Media & Digital Studies at The College of Wooster

Students in Global Media & Digital Studies at Wooster can choose three paths on which to further focus their work:

  • The digital studies concentration provides a framework for studying the digital tools, cultures, and practices that infuse everyday life and shape how we think, work, play, communicate, organize, consume, and learn.  Courses in digital studies enable students to understand the social, political, economic and historical contexts of these technologies, acquire expertise in specific digital research methods and in digital creation, and consider the global networks and transnational flow of information made possible by digital media.
  • The global media concentration offers a solid foundation in media research, methods, and theory embedded in a transnational context, and prepares students to pursue a variety of career paths, including positions in media organizations, opinion research, commentary, teaching, and graduate studies.
  • The film studies pathway approaches film from a critical and creative perspective in relation to the other arts, including media arts, and situates film production and consumption within a global and interdisciplinary frame.  The core curriculum provides students with the critical tools necessary for the theoretical and historical analysis of global cinemas as well as the creative skills required for the production of film, video, and digital media.

Faculty & Staff

Ahmet Atay

Ahmet Atay

Professor of Communication Studies; Program Chair of Global Media & Digital Studies; Liaison to Digital Visual Storytelling Pathway

aatay@wooster.edu

Jennifer Hayward portrait

Jennifer Hayward

Virginia Myers Professor of English; Global Media & Digital Studies; Digital and Visual Storytelling Pathway

jhayward@wooster.edu

Tracy Mathys

Tracy Mathys

Administrative Coordinator - Art and Art History, Global Media and Digital Studies, Museum Studies, and CWAM

tmathys@wooster.edu

Zachary Sharrow

Zachary Sharrow

Interim Director of CoRE, Libraries

zsharrow@wooster.edu


Latest Global Media and Digital Studies News

Lily Bulman '25

Theatre and dance and global media and digital studies major presents interactive shadow puppet Independent Study performance

Lily Bulman ’25, a senior majoring in theatre & dance and global media & digital studies, will present her Independent Study production, Reflected Desires: An […]

Charlotte Elgie '25

Communication studies major and pre-law student immerses herself in legal world

Charlotte Elgie ’25, a communication studies major and global media and digital studies minor at The College of Wooster from Vancouver, Canada, interned at […]

Ahmet Atay, professor of communication studies and chair of global media and digital studies at The College of Wooster

Professor Atay publishes book incorporating transnational voices into conversations on critical intercultural communication

Ahmet Atay, professor of communication studies and chair of global media & digital studies at The College of Wooster, has co-edited a new book. […]

John Trainor '16 presenting as part of the Great Decisions lecture series

I.S. research inspires John Trainor ’16 to advocate for information transparency

In a world filled with information, it becomes more important and harder to determine what is true. For John Trainor ’16, a history alumnus […]

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Major

Students will complete ten courses for the major (a total that includes both junior and senior Independent Study).

The major consists of ten courses and is designed to be flexible so that students can build a program of study that integrates their individual interests with career goals, and so that the core course requirements can be satisfied via a flexible menu of options. At the same time, a core curriculum will ensure that majors share a common conceptual framework. All majors will take the same introductory course, a core sequence, and the same research methods course; between these bookends, each pathway will develop a distinct trajectory that nonetheless builds on interdisciplinary connections both within and beyond the major.

  • A Major in Global Media & Digital Studies consists of 10 courses*
    • GMDS 11000
    • One additional Introduction: GMDS 12000, GMDS 13000, or GMDS 14000
    • One methods course: either GMDS 21200 or GMDS 25000
    • One Media/Film/Digital Production/Writing course
    • One Digital Studies/ Criticism/ History/ Theory course
    • Two interdisciplinary (cross listed) electives
    • Junior IS: choose from GMDS 30000, COMM 35100, or ENGL 300xx (must be approved by department chair)
    • GMDS 45100 & 45200: Senior Independent Study

 

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Minor

When students declare a Global Media & Digital Studies minor, they will be guided through the process of mapping a path through the curriculum; pathway templates will assist students in shaping a cohesive curricular story that speaks to their academic and professional goals. Each pathway provides a core set of requirements for the students, to ensure coherence and structure, while allowing flexibility in choosing among options in both core and elective courses in their concentration areas.

 

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Independent Study

All students at The College of Wooster complete independent study on a topic of their choice under the guidance of a faculty mentor.

 

 

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Related Articles

Lily Bulman '25

Theatre and dance and global media and digital studies major presents interactive shadow puppet Independent Study performance

Lily Bulman ’25, a senior majoring in theatre & dance and global media & digital studies, will present her Independent Study production, Reflected Desires: An […]

Head shot of Isabel Espinosa

Environmental Activism For Sale: A Visual Analysis of the Relationship Between Product Advertising and the Environmental Movement in 2022

Name: Isabel Espinosa Majors: Communication Studies, Global Media & Digital Studies Advisor: Simon Rousset; Denise Bostdorff (second reader) As the corporate use of social movement […]

I.S. button

Predicting Formula 1 Races using Ordered Logistic Regression and Elo Ratings

Name: Luke Pritchard Major: Statistical & Data Sciences Minor: Global Media and Digital Studies Advisor: Dr. Moses Luri, Dr. Jillian Morrison (second reader) This paper investigates the Formula […]

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If There is a God, He’s Probably on Wall Street: A Genre Analysis of Social Criticism in Horror and Melodrama Films

Name: Lily Barnett Major: Communication Studies Minor: Global Media and Digital Studies Advisors: Dr. Ahmet Atay and Dr. Nii Nikoi The purpose of this project is to conduct […]

Alumni

Global Media & Digital Studies prepares students for graduate work and careers in teaching, art, entertainment, digital media, advertising, entrepreneurship, media arts, the non-profit sector, public service, and other fields.


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Political science alumnus highlights hometown through social media and photography

When he first came to the College of Wooster, Gabe Wasylko ’19 declared a major in political science and a minor in mathematics, certain […]

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