Graduate Minor
The graduate minor in Screen Cultures aims to enrich and extend the work of students enrolled in MA, MFA, and PhD programs at the University of Notre Dame by adding expertise in research in the study of film, television, and other screen-based media. The graduate minor will give students more experience and depth in working with Screen Cultures, expand teaching opportunities, and broaden students’ profiles for job placement.
Students minoring in Screen Cultures will acquire tools specific to the interdisciplinary study of Screen Cultures. These include theoretical perspectives and methods of research and writing in film/media studies and encompass cinematic, televisual, and new media modes of production and reception, aesthetics, history, and discourses.
I'm incredibly grateful that the Screen Cultures graduate minor was available to me. The program opened a lot of doors to interdisciplinary research that would have otherwise been difficult to explore as a law student, and the connections, classes, and resources were indispensable to my research.
Benjamin Perry
ND Law, 2021
Requirements
1. Three courses
Methods and Issues Course
This course is offered by FTT as a graduate seminar with an upper-level undergraduate section. FTT faculty will agree on core subjects, but individual instructors will have some leeway in designing the course for a particular semester.
Two electives
Electives may be offered through FTT or offered through crosslisting with other departments. Students completing the Screen Cultures minor may count electives for both their primary degree and the minor. Faculty interested in crosslisting courses for the Screen Cultures Minor must submit a course approval form.
2. Proof of Research in Screen Cultures
Students will submit a substantial portion of their dissertation, thesis, or other significant research paper (conference paper, article for publication; not a course paper)
OR
Students will develop an exam list on a Screen Cultures topic that will be approved by the Screen Cultures Subcommittee. A member of the Screen Cultures faculty will serve on the committee.
3. Participation in Research Workshop
Students will be expected to attend at least 4 meetings per year of the Visual Cultures Research Workshop. PhD students must attend for two years; MA and MFA students must attend for one year. Students are required to present at the workshop or another appropriate screen cultures conference (Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago Film Seminar, etc.).
The FTT Minor gave me a great opportunity to workshop, collaborate, and learn from other people across the discipline while building long lasting relationships. It also helped me see new avenues for interdisciplinarity in my own pedagogy.
Chamara Moore
Ph.D. Candidate, English
Teaching Option
Students in the Screen Cultures Minor may apply to be Teaching Assistants in FTT 10001, Basics of Film and Television. Students employed as TAs for this class attend lectures and film screenings, help the instructor with grading, and run weekly discussion sessions. TAs receive instruction and feedback on their teaching from the course instructor.
As a student of Shakespearean drama, I joined the Screen Cultures minor primarily to build competency in teaching film. But my experiences in the minor influenced my research in unexpected ways, deepening my knowledge of media studies and opening up new directions for my work on the early modern theatre.
Emily Donahoe,
English Ph.D., 2021
Contact/Apply
Professor Matthew Payne
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Film, Television, and Theatre
204 DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
Notre Dame, IN 46556
574-631-0817 (office)
matthewpayne@nd.edu