Through generous funding from the Mellon Foundation and the Association of Allied Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC), Reed College is hosting a workshop entitled "Film and Media Studies in the Liberal Arts: Curriculum Development and Research Challenges." Initially open to film and media studies faculty from the Mellon 23 institutions, due to interest and demand we have invited teacher-scholars in film and media studies from additional liberal arts colleges and universities. Our participants come from Amherst, DePauw, Grinnell, Lake Forest, Macalester, Oberlin, Reed, Rhodes, Smith, St. Olaf, Swarthmore and Vassar Colleges, and Wesleyan University, as well as from Lewis and Clark University, Willamette University, and Portland State University.
Final Participant List (PDF)
Date/Location
The conference begins at 6:00pm Thursday October 13 and extends through 6:00 pm Saturday October 15. On Friday, the conference will take place in the Parker House on the Reed College campus. On Saturday, the conference will move to the Psychology Building and lecture hall on the Reed College campus to accommodate students and additional faculty interested in the workshop’s research sessions.
On Thursday night, October 13, we will gather for our Welcome Reception and dinner at Clyde Common in downtown Portland, a restaurant/bar next door to the ACE Hotel.
Background/Impetus for the Workshop
The purpose of our meeting is to focus on the practical and intellectual challenges of developing a film/media studies curriculum on a small campus. Inevitably, organizational difficulties ensue when a curriculum is initiated by one or two people with occasional course offerings from faculty in other disciplines; even after the logistics of a program are worked out, we need to adapt to the reality that the field of film/media studies is constantly expanding—archivally, technologically, critically, and in its increasing interdisciplinarity. The goals of the workshop are to develop a network of film and media studies faculty, to share insights from our respective campuses, to share our current research, and to share models for integrating the relatively new academic area of film and media studies into established liberal arts curricula.
Focus Questions
- What strategies for curriculum development have proven most effective at institutions that have successfully put film/media studies programs in place?
- How do film/media studies programs negotiate their relationships with other curricular and administrative interests?
- What is the relationship between media production and critical studies in the small liberal arts context?
- How has the rise of digital media shifted the curricular and service demands placed on film/media studies programs, and the demands on administrative entities that support those programs?
- How are film/media studies programs preparing students for graduate study? How can new film/media studies programs best do so?
Intended Outcome
Participating faculty come primarily from small colleges where film/media studies has only recently become a program or is still in the process of developing a specific curriculum. An important goal of this symposium—its chief desired outcome—is to provide younger colleagues who have been charged with developing a curriculum or program the opportunity to learn how it’s done from colleagues who have successfully done so. In compliance with the Mellon Foundation and AALAC, participants will develop a statement of "next steps" after the event. This statement will be disseminated among the Mellon 23 colleges and posted to the website of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
Contact Personnel
Rebecca M. Gordon, Assistant Professor of English and Humanities, Reed College (gordonr@reed.edu)
Terri Geller, Assistant Professor of Film Theory and History, Grinnell College (gellertl@grinnell.edu)
Drew Hereford, Student Assistant (aherefor@reed.edu)
The Planning Group for the Mellon 23/AALAC Workshop also includes:
Patty White, Chair of Film and Media Studies, Swarthmore College
Amelie Hastie, Chair of Film and Media Studies, Amherst College
Jeff Pence, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, Oberlin College
Meals
We will provide breakfast and lunch on Friday and Saturday, dinner on Thursday and Friday evenings, and coffee, tea, water, and light refreshments during each day. Cocktails Thursday and Friday nights as well as dinner Saturday evening are the responsibility of the participants, so please bring cash to experience Portland food cart dining, beer, and mixology.
Getting Here
Funding is available up to approximately $1050 to cover travel and accommodation expenses if your institution is a member of the Mellon 23 Consortium. Faculty coming from the same member institution should decide how best to share resources. See the travel reimbursement form (PDF) for allowable expenses.