Program Description

The new media BA program at Purchase College offers an interdisciplinary major at the intersection of art, technology, and society. Students study the effects of digital media from multiple perspectives and develop their own voice through hands-on production in courses drawn from the visual and performing arts, computer science, the social sciences, and other liberal arts disciplines. Portfolio development is a high priority, with each student beginning his or her portfolio in the second year.

Students majoring in new media are offered a structured, well-rounded foundation covering a range of methodologies and content areas, with analysis and production often present in the same course. Collaboration is particularly encouraged, as are experimental and creative approaches to media production and distribution. This emphasis on practice and theory enables students to become technologically proficient media professionals.

Our students are strongly encouraged to pursue internships, which provide an important bridge to a career in the field. Many students complete multiple internships both on and off campus. In recent years, on-campus internships have included Purchase Television (PTV), Purchase Radio (WPSR), The Brick (an online, student-run newspaper), and Campus Technology Services. Off-campus internships have included Eyebeam, MTV, Focus Features, Comedy Central, Viacom, SONY, and Disney.

The skills of our graduates are well matched to a rapidly changing economy. They work as artists, multimedia designers, mobile game developers, Web developers, human-computer interaction specialists, documentary filmmakers, and video editors, among many other careers.

Because new media is a constantly evolving field, specific course requirements are subject to change.

Program Faculty

Requirements for the Major

A grade of C+ or higher is required in all courses for the major, excluding the senior project.

Freshman and Sophomore Years:

• Introduction to Media Studies
• Photography I or Design Principles
• Digital Media Studio
• Introduction to Sound
• Programming Games or Computer Science I or Programming for Visual Artists
• Video Art I
• Creating Web Documents
• One 2000-level technoculture course (3–4 credits), chosen from the following or approved by the student’s faculty advisor:
  Art and Technology
  Computers and Culture
  Media Institutions and Forms
  Media, Memory, and Desire
  Locative Media: Place and Mobility
• New Media Advanced Standing*

*Advanced standing is a prerequisite for the junior- and senior-year studies. Students apply for advanced standing in their fourth semester. To become eligible for advanced standing, students must maintain a minimum 2.7 (B-) GPA in the courses above, with no grade lower than a C+.

Junior and Senior Years:

• Chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor:
  • One advanced history/theory course
  • One anthropology or sociology course
  • Elective courses (16 credits)
• Junior Seminar in New Media
• Internship in New Media (optional)
• Senior Seminar I & II
• Senior Project in New Media (8 credits)

Representative Elective Courses

Community-Centered Media
Creating User Interfaces
Cross-Cultural Video Production
Digital Audio I & II
Digital Dimensions
Experimental Film Workshop
Experimental Web Practice
Games for Change
Gameplay and Performance
Global Media, Local Cultures
Information Aesthetics
Interactive Media/Sound
Interactive Installation: Hacking the Everyday
Intermediate Video
Internet as Public Art
Introduction to Cinema Studies I & II
Introduction to Physical Computing: Getting Outside the Box
Locative Media: Place and Mobility
MIDI Composition I & II
Media, Memory, and Desire
Mobile Media
New Media and Contemporary Art
Performance Art
Performing Arts in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Robotics
Social Software
Sound/Interactive Media I & II
Studio Composition I & II
Studio Production I & II
Video Graphics
Video Performance

Representative Alumni

• Nicholas Bruckman ’05, award-winning film producer and director; owner, People’s Television (www.peoplestelevision.com)
• Jonathan Cook ’08, senior producer, CrowdStar
• Christina Hu ’06, MBA, SUNY New Paltz; user experience and visual designer, IBM
• Matt Kornheisl ’07, Web programmer, Omega Institute
• Sheryl Morgan ’06, founder and CEO, Artist Merge Design, www.design.artist-merge.com
• Bill Reese ’06, program editor, Playbill
• Kate Senisi ’04, graphic designer, Atelier Ten; www.katesenisi.com
• Melissa Symolon ’04, designer/developer, Tanoshii Interactive
• Steven Tartick ’07, director of online marketing, Davenport Theatrical; emerging media consultant, www.steventartick.com
• Josh Tonsfeldt ’04, MFA, Columbia University; represented by Simon Preston Gallery, New York, N.Y.; www.joshtonsfeldt.com

For more information, please visit the new media program site.

Updated Jan. 9, 2013

 

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