College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter - Georgia College & State ...

Interdisciplinary Studies
By: Melanie Beal, Public Relations student
Over the past few months the
Liberal Studies Program has
been working hard to reinvent
itself in order to provide an interdisciplinary
education reaching its fullest
potential.
Dr. Sunita Manian, coordinator of interdisciplinary
studies, and other faculty members
from across the university came together in
order to improve the Liberal Studies program.
The program has expanded from being
one that provided only the self-designed
major to one that allows students to choose
among five multidisciplinary tracks that include
predetermined focuses in addition to
the self-designed major. These tracks include
culture, religion and society; European
studies; gender and sexuality; race, ethnicity
and gender; and third-world studies. These
tracks were selected based on the patterns
and trends previous student were selecting for
their self-designed major, and the most common
themes were combined creating the five
preset tracks now offered to receive a B.A. in
Liberal Studies.
There have been a few changes to the selfdesigned
major, in that students are now only
required to select two disciplines. The minimum
GPA has been raised to ensure that the
student is capable of completing the selected
course of study, as the Self-Designed major
is more difficult and more time consuming
than the five preset tracks. Additionally, students
are required to have two program advisors,
from each of the disciplines included in
the program of study, who will guide them in
making the right choices regarding the course
required to complete their chosen program.
“Students have to develop their idea in the
early stages of the program so that the skills
they need to acquire by their senior year are
purposely developed through class choices
that provide the students with those skills,”
Dr. Manian said.
The new preset tracks have already attracted
many students interested in finding
out what opportunities are available to them
through this program. Among these students
is sophomore Peter Otim who switched his
major from special education to the thirdworld
studies major in the Liberal Studies
Program.
“I really enjoy the third-world studies major
because of the flexibility and independence I
have to choose what class I want to take and
when I want to take it,” Otim said. “I’ve always
found it really cool to learn about other
cultures and nations and Liberal Studies gives
me that chance. I also really like all the professors
in the Liberal studies major.”
These preset tracks not only focus the different
disciplines giving the student a more
direct guideline, but these tracks ensure the
teachers for the courses required are open to
working with the Liberal Studies Program.
“The best thing that has happened for the
department this year is the fact that we have
all these new students who like these changes,”
Dr. Manian said. “Many students are interested
in these new tracks, and they seem to
be really excited about what they can do in
those tracks.”
These changes to the program will help the
student to see how the disciplines merge together,
and supply the student with the knowledge
and skill set needed to complete the senior
project before graduation. These paths
help maintain a purposeful confluence of the
disciplines the student wishes to pursue, and
avoid random selections that do not complement
each other.
“The Liberal Studies program is a more deliberate
process than many people are aware
of because students must think about how
the disciplines come together as opposed to
blindly selecting concentrations that are not
compatible with each other,” Dr. Manian said.
In the past, many people have had a misconception
of the purpose of the Liberal Studies
Program. Many people have been under
the impression that this major is an option for
students to turn to when they are incapable
of being accepted into another program. This
misconception is a key factor for changing
the major requirements for the program.
These changes will not only correct the
commonly held misconception of the Liberal
Studies Program, but also create more awareness
to the program in order to get more students
involved in the program early, as interdisciplinary
and multidisciplinary academic
engagement is an important part of the mission
of a Liberal Arts university.
Providing hands-on education
continues to be a focus of the
Mass Communication Department
of Georgia College. Professors
place great emphasis on this in their
individual syllabi and in the curriculum as a
whole. The most recent addition to this focus
was the construction of a media lab in the Arts
& Sciences building. Room 1-64 has been
transformed into a multimedia landscape for
students to explore their own potential.
Dr. Mary Jean Land, chair of the Department
of Mass Communication, is thrilled that
students have an innovative space to access
the latest print, audio, video and web resources.
“The converged design of the lab allows
students to seek creative solutions to complex
communication scenarios utilizing the latest
technology,” Dr. Land said.
Included in the lab are 20 seats with 20
Mac Pro computers, a teacher’s station, a
Mac mini and a SMART Board. Each computer
also includes the entire Adobe Creative
Suite. Possibly the most unique attribute of
the lab is the layout. While most computer
labs are not conducive to teaching practices,
this room was specifically designed to accommodate
the student-teacher experience.
The teacher’s station is located in the center
of the room surrounded by the students and
their workspaces. The purpose of the room is
to teach students the theories and foundations
of communication while allowing them to apply
what they learn instantly.
Dr. Kristin English, assistant professor of
Mass Communication, taught Public Relations
Administration in the lab and utilized
the resources to teach her Theory and Research
classes how to use a statistical analysis
software called SPSS. She has found the
layout of the room to be extremely efficient
and looks forward to integrating lab work into
future classes.
“I think it will definitely lend a great resource
to all Mass Communication students,”
Dr. English said. “This field is about utilizing
the tools that we have.”
Classes such as seminar, video and research
were held in the space during the fall 2011
semester. In spring 2012, the classes scheduled
will be the ones that utilize the software
provided. The lab is an on-going project, in
addition to the video lab on the third floor, of
Arts & Sciences, this lab is meant to enhance
the learning experience by providing access
to programs that students will find useful for
internships and jobs.
“To be competitive, our students need to
work with industry standard software,” Dean
of the College of Arts & Sciences Ken Procter
said. “Mass Communication is a big program
with lots of students, so having a dedicated
media lab makes sense.”
The lab also provided the opportunity to
create a server specifically for the Mass Communication
program. Dr. Stephen Price, assistant
professor of Mass Communication, created
a log-in for all of the students so that they
can access their work on other computers on
campus. This also means that Dr. Price can
assist students working on the server through
his office computer.
“The benefit for them is that they don’t
have to coordinate an appointment or wait
until I get a chance to go to the labs from my
office to get help,” Dr. Price said. “It allows
me to see their screens with any error messages
and guide them through the steps they
need to do to troubleshoot when they run into
problems.”
The federal government recently gave
monies to colleges and universities around
the country to assist with the impact of budget
cuts. These stimulus funds were only available
for two years. “(Former) President Leland
set aside some of the funds for ‘move the
needle’ projects—that is projects that would
make a significant positive impact on Georgia
College,” Dean Procter said. The media lab
project was one of many projects proposed
by the colleges on campus. Due to the cost, it
probably wouldn’t have been possible without
the help of the “move the needle” funds.
“I feel that this new facility has made the
students more enthusiastic about learning. It
shows that the department and college takes
the program seriously by providing a top of
the line room tailored for us,” senior mass
communication student Bailey Tuck said.
“The investment in the new lab is ultimately
an investment in us.”
By: Stephanie Reagan, Public Relations student
Communication
Department of Mass
10 College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter 2012 2012 College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter 11