If there were ever a time for Otterbein undergrads to consider tacking on a minor, now might be as good a time as any.
Starting fall semester, a new minor will be available to students: film studies. The minor consists of four new classes focused on the history, fundamentals and criticism of films.
"It's exciting. It'll be just another ascending medium to look at critically," junior Justin McAtee said. A triple major in literary studies, creative writing and psychology, McAtee is one of many students on campus that have taken a liking to the idea of enrollment despite pre-existing academic commitments.
"I think it just reflects all of the doors that are opening," he said. "Even though I'll be a senior in this transition, I'm really excited to see what else I can fit in."
While the idea of implementing a film-focused curriculum at Otterbein has been around for quite some time, it was the approaching semester change that lifted the notion up off the ground and into the 2011-2012 course catalog.
"It seemed like a good time, as we were restructuring the English major, and as all programs were restructuring their requirements, to think about things that were afoot on campus," said English professor Karen Steigman, who will be teaching the two film courses offered next year. "It's clear that film is important and interesting to people on campus. It's also a field unto itself, so we thought it would be meaningful to implement it as a minor. Film has its own disciplinary questions, concerns and importance."
Thanks to budding faculty and student interest, an instrumental role from Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences Paul Eisenstein and a general acknowledgement of film's growing popularity in college campuses across the country, all of the necessary procedures were taken to ensure that the minor could be made an academic reality here at Otterbein.
English Department Chair Suzanne Ashworth, who will also be teaching film-focused courses, said, "The film studies minor proposal worked its way through the usual institutional pipeline. It moved through the English Department, which houses the minor, the School of Arts & Sciences and our senate."
The minor includes four courses totaling 16 hours, with two foundational and two upper-level classes.
The introductory course, Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream: American Cinema of the 1970s, will be open-enrollment to help spark student interest.
The other foundational course, Film History/Criticism/Theory, will be the first in the catalog to be listed under the FMST prefix that will eventually precede the names of all film studies classes. The 3000-level classes are not yet included in next year's curriculum, but will be by the following year.
"I think it's going to be popular, and I think it's going to be rigorous," Steigman said. "A lot of us are already interested in integrating film into our other courses, so it's going to open up opportunities to not only have that kind of integration, but also dedicated courses."
Ashworth said, "The minor represents a chance to immerse ourselves in a rich and powerfully relevant field of inquiry. It's an exciting time to teach and learn here." t&c;
