Media Studies Minor

College of Arts and Sciences

Program Website

Program Description

Media are the technological means through which societies are reflected, tested, challenged, and transformed. The Media Studies minor presents undergraduates with the opportunity for interdisciplinary engagement with diverse modes of communication, from the hieroglyph to the algorithm, encompassing the myriad digital, textual, visual, aural, tactile technologies, forms, and practices by which information circulates amongst a now digitally-networked global population.

The Media Studies minor comprises the foundational class GERST 2703 Thinking Media, which introduces students to a wide range of critical, historical, and theoretical approaches to media; one class that satisfies the Making Media requirement; three other classes chosen from the offerings listed each semester on the Media Studies website; and the one-credit PMA 2000 Media Studies Minor Colloquium. Classes that satisfy requirements for the undergraduate minor are offered in departments across the College of Arts and Sciences, and in CALS, AAP, and Computing and Information Science.

The Media Studies minor is open to students enrolled in any college at Cornell. One of the five required classes may be taken S/U, but GERST 2703 Thinking Media and courses counting towards the Making Media requirement must be taken for letter grades, with a minimum grade of C. Courses taken for the student's major may count towards the minor.

Department of Performing and Media Arts Minors

The Department of Performing and Media Arts offers four minors. In addition, the Department administers the interdisciplinary Media Studies minor. The minors are open to all undergraduate students in the university, including those outside the College of Arts and Sciences, and require at least 15 credits per minor.