UNM
Interdisciplinary Film and Media Program
February
7, 2008
The Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program (IFDM) is a model of interdisciplinary education that will give our students the necessary critical, creative, and technical skills to apply digital technologies in innovative and productive ways in the twenty-first century. This program builds on ARTS Lab (Arts, Research, Technology, and Science Laboratory), established in 2005 under Governor RichardsonÕs Media Industries Strategy Plan (MISP). The curriculum being developed for IFDM is premised on collaboration between the participating Colleges and Schools of UNM, with planned or potential degree tracks for students entry from any of those Schools and Colleges. The curriculum is organized around a common core of classes which would be taken by all students in the program and whose objective is to create a multidisciplinary cohort of students who are able to communicate and work across disciplines both critically and creatively. The common core would culminate in a capstone course where the cohort would receive concrete and practical experience in learning to work collaboratively by applying different types of expertise in a shared project
The proposed Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program (IFDM) is a response to Governor RichardsonÕs and the New Mexico State LegislatureÕs Media Industries Strategy Project, a statewide economic initiative to develop a sustainable film and digital media industry in New Mexico which includes an educational component. This integrated interdisciplinary academic and research program is designed to give our faculty and students the necessary critical, creative, and technical skills to apply digital technologies in innovative and productive ways. It was created by linking the existing strengths at UNM in Fine Arts, Engineering, Arts & Sciences, Anderson School of Management, and other schools and colleges.
Include the programÕs
major goals.
á Integrate filmmaking and digital media
á Build a native New Mexican Hollywood
á Train the citizens of New Mexico
á Foster research
Though the College of Fine Arts is facilitating the effort to gain approval of this new program, it is a collaborative endeavor that integrates four of UNMÕs schools/colleges: the College of Fine Arts, the School of Engineering (Computer Science and Computer Engineering), Anderson School of Management (Management), and the College of Arts and Sciences (Communication & Journalism). The program fits into the future plans of each of these schools/colleges by addressing the sweeping impact of Digital Technologies across disciplines and in society, the arts, sciences, and business to prepare students for the critical, creative, and technical demands in the classrooms and workplaces of the present and future.
UNMÕs Mission and Strategic Plan place heavy emphasis on providing students with the tools theyÕll need toward contributing to the new media workplace and cultural activity, economic development, and promoting New MexicoÕs quality of life. The interdisciplinary nature of the IFDM Program is designed to accomplish this from a variety of vantage points (science, business, law, art, design, etc). IFDM is also poised to become a unique and sought-after resource and center of excellence in digital media for New Mexico and the Southwest.
President SchmidlyÕs Vision statement, UNM in the 21st Century, states under the Excellence heading: In assessing our future investments, we should consider hiring clusters of faculty in key areas which the state sees as major economic development opportunities. A good example of such a program is the Film and Digital Media Program at the University of New Mexico.
The RegentsÕ Goals and Evaluation Criteria for the President of the University of New Mexico states under Proposed Regent Goal 8. Economic and Resource Development: Tactics for Year One – Plan major initiatives and cluster hires in priority areas (e.g. digital media graphics and visualization, energy and green technologies, cancer biology and treatment, space technology, and southwestern ethnic issues) that relate to federal lab and military lab capabilities as well as areas of economic opportunity in NM.
This program is being developed to complement existing UNM offerings. The curriculum has been designed to use mostly existing courses offered among the four participating schools/colleges. Some of the existing courses will be retooled to meet the needs of their home department and IFDM objectives. The distinguishing feature of this program is that it focuses on digital technology related to the media industries. Careful study of existing courses and programs has been done in order to ensure that we have not duplicated course topics and content, and have optimized existing resources to build the IFDM program. The interdisciplinary Faculty Council charged with developing the curriculum has created an IFDM Core of ten new interdisciplinary courses (32hrs) that will be required for all students enrolled in the program. Students in this Core will comprise a mixed cohort from the participating colleges. The Core will provide a common set of knowledge and practices that the students will deepen in their chosen major and then put to use in the concluding team-based Capstone Classes in the Core.
Because all of New MexicoÕs institutes of higher education have been charged with contributing to the economic goals of the StateÕs Media Industries Strategic Project, most of New MexicoÕs major colleges or universities have developed a film industries-based program. NMSUÕs Creative Media Institute focuses on digital film making and animation. NM Highlands has a concentration in their Media Arts Department on Interactivity and Multimedia (focus on interactive exhibits for galleries and museums) and Digital Film Making. ENMU offers a bachelor degree in film the Digital Cinema Arts (DCA) Degree. The Digital Cinema Arts (DCA) degree combines academic studies, such as general education, theory, criticism and history, with the creative production skills necessary to create narrative, animated or experimental film. Regionally: Texas Tech University Electronic Media and Communication offers a program in the new converged media environment, the Electronic Media and Communication (EM&C) program blends professional courses in broadcasting, digital production, and writing into a broad liberal arts education. UT AustinÕs Department of Radio, Television and Film is a nationally competitive program for UG and Grads. The UG program offers a combination of production, screenwriting and media studies with education in skills and theory, technical and historical knowledge, and creative and critical abilities. Arizona State offers a BA in Film and Media Production in their School of Theatre and Film in the Herberger College of the Arts. ASU also has an Arts, Media, and Engineering Program with a research focus that is most closely analogous to UNM ARTS (Arts, Science, Technology, and Science) Lab. UC Boulder has a Film Studies Department that has an emphasis on the study of film and the visual arts. Film Studies explores narrative, documentary, avant-garde cinema and fine arts animation.
The IFDM Program is unique in a mix that focuses on Digital Media in a broad interdisciplinary way. Students, whose goal is to become an artist, writer, gamer, entrepreneur, engineer, critical thinker, scientist, film and video maker, animator, storyteller, designer, computer scientist, or educator using or developing the tools of digital media, will find a path in this program. Sony Imageworks named the University of New Mexico as a partner in their IPAX (Imageworks Professional Academic Excellence) Program because of the interdisciplinary breadth and its focus on critical, creative, technical, and collaborative learning reflected in the curriculum.
The following governance structure has been approved for ARTS Lab and the Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program by the Provost and is reflected in the following organizational chart.
Governance Structure:
1. ARTS Lab and the Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program (IF&DM) are each headed by a Director with responsibility for managing the budget, operations, and personnel of the unit.
2. The Director of ARTS Lab and the Director of the IF&DM Program report to an Executive Committee authorized and charged by the Provost with responsibility for strategic and administrative oversight of ARTS Lab and the Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program.
3. The Executive Committee is composed of the Dean of College of Fine Arts, the Dean of the School of Engineering, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Dean of the Anderson School of Management, the Dean of the College of Education, the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, the Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies, the Dean of Continuing Education, and the Vice President for Research; representation of these colleges, schools, and offices on the committee is limited to the deans ands vice president, who cannot name or send alternates. The Provost will appoint one of the members of the committee as Chair, with a term of three years and eligibility for reappointment. The Executive Committee reserves the right to invite the Director of ARTS Lab, the Director of the IF&DM Program, and others as needed to attend its meetings.
4. Budgets using allocations from special state appropriations to ARTS Lab and/or the IFDM Program will be reviewed and approved by the Executive Committee. Resources allocated to ARTS Lab and the IFDM Program by participating colleges, schools, and other university units will remain under the budgetary control of those colleges, schools, and other university units; the details of these allocations will be made available to the Executive Committee.
PROVOST
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
Dean of Fine Arts, Chair
Dean of the School of Engineering
Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences
Dean of the School of Management
Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning
Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies
Dean of Continuing Education
Vice President for Research & Economic Development
DIRECTOR OF IFDM
IFDM FACULTY COUNCIL
Composition of the Faculty Council
á The membership will be composed as follows: Colleges/Schools with Majors or Concentrations – 3 members each; Colleges/Schools providing courses or have an interest in future involvement – 2 members each.
á Members must either teach in the program or have plans to teach in the program.
á Members are appointed by the Deans of the respective colleges/schools. Term of membership is 2 years with staggered terms.
á The Chair of the Council is elected for a 2 year term.
Duties of Faculty Council:
á Develop and revise IFDM Curriculum
á Participate in admissions of pre-major status
á Advise on IFDM programming and capstone courses
á Respond and comment on College/Schools major and concentraton curricula
á Advise on Internships, equipment, and teaching needs for Common Core
á Assessment
Our goal is to complete program approvals beginning Fall 2008. The IFDM Program, in compliance with assurances given to the New Mexico Legislature for the funding received in the 2007 Legislative session, admitted students to a pending IFDM program with the understanding that the program was in the process of applying for University approval of this program. Twenty-nine students were admitted and enrolled in the first Core course offered under a topics number.
A cap of fifty degree students per academic year has been placed on the program, in order to meet teaching and facilities capacity. After the first four years, at full enrollment, there will be a maximum of 200 students in the IFDM program at any one time.
A recruitment effort has begun for the IFDM program. Students from central and northern New Mexico high schools are being targeted, as well as students from UNM branch campuses and community colleges. Students enrolled in existing UNM programs and local independent art and design schools are showing an avid interest in an IFDM program.
A wide variety of students, differing in economic status, cultural background, race, and gender have shown interest in this program to date. All types of students are enthusiastically welcomed. Our goal is to promote native New Mexican, Native American, and Latino students to this program as part of the larger statewide Media Industries Strategic Project wherein digital media industry educational opportunities can be offered to these groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in the upper level positions in the digital media industry, and on campus.
The students who have shown an interest in this program typically are looking for the knowledge and education needed so they might participate in New MexicoÕs growing digital film and media industry in some way. The ÒseriousÓ gaming sector might attract them or they might be preparing to work as artists utilizing digital technologies, as teachers who will engage in the theoretical and critical foundations of digital media, as entrepreneurs who will create new applications and products, as researchers who are using visualization and simulations to understand data and create new pedagogies, as engineers who will create the software tools and hardware for the industry, or as independent media and filmmakers creating the narratives, the documentary views, the interactive experiences that illuminate our lives and connectedness in this time .
We anticipate that each new IFDM course will need a student to serve as teaching assistant, and the IFDM budget reflects this. Currently, we are gathering information to determine the need for financial assistance for students, through scholarships, computer and software loans, or other forms of assistance for the admitted students who would not be economically able to fully participate in this program otherwise. Discussions with corporations have been initiated to address possible hardware and software donations for this purpose, with positive results.
The IFDM program is built on existing curriculum from the four participating Schools/Colleges, with the addition of ten new ÒIFDM CoreÓ courses (32 credit hours) that every student admitted to the program must successfully complete. One new Core course is offered each semester of a studentÕs freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. By the time the IFDM student reaches his/her senior year, an IFDM Capstone Corecourse will be added each semester of the senior year.
The new IFDM Core Courses are IFDM 105 Inter and New Media Studies; IFDM 152 Computer Programming Fundamentals; IFDM 200 Studio I: Activating Digital Space; IFDM 210 Techniques of Computer Graphic Design; IFDM 300 Critical Foundations of New Media; IFDM 310 Studio II: Writing Narrative; IFDM 400 Ethics, Science & Technology; IFDM 450 Capstone I; IFDM 410 The Business and Law of Film and New Media and IFDM 451 Capstone II. Click here for a description of each of these and the syllabi for each Core courses.
Each of the four participating Colleges/Schools has built their involvement with the IFDM program around these Core classes. These include the College of Fine Arts with IFDM concentrations in Production and Critical Studies, the School of Engineering with a Digital Media Concentration offered by Computer Science and an Area of Focus in Computer Engineering, a concentration in Management in the Anderson School of Management, and a Concentration in Journalism and in Communication in the Communication and Journalism Department in the College of Arts and Sciences. Click her for a description of the curriculum for these programs in the different schools/colleges.
Generally, the impacts on existing courses is limited to a potential increase in student enrollment and in some cases, instructorÕs need to tweak course materials to include the IFDM program educational goals. Faculty members who will be involved in teaching these courses have been part of this curriculum development process, our intent is to minimize major changes on current load.
Ten goals and competencies have been identified for student development in the IFDM program. They are to demonstrate and apply:
á knowledge of the history and practice of new/digital media
á technical knowledge of tools for producing new media
á through studio practice, knowledge of audio and visual principles in an artistic content
á knowledge of business practices and legal concerns in digital media
á knowledge of ethical issues in the interaction of technology, digital media, and society
And to develop the following skills:
á ability to think critically about the history and practice of new/digital media
á ability to program or modify existing digital media software
á ability to use the creative tools of digital media to produce and tell stories
á ability to prepare an effective business plan, including legal review, for the production of a digital media project
á ability to formulate policies and practices for digital media production from an ethical and social perspective
The Program will use lecture, studio, practicum, and internship instructional models.
Students in the program will be assessed through their progress through the core classes. This will occur at the following points as students progress: ability to pass the Core classes, when they able to be admitted to a major in a College/School, when they choose their major, and when they are able to complete all requirements for a degree. Learning outcomes in the core classes will be measured by exams, written work, development of a digital media portfolio, and their ability to work and produce in mixed disciplinary teams.
In addition to existing UNM classroom facilities that are already being used to teach existing courses, new infrastructure is planned to address the cohort of students through the four year core program. This includes two 24-seat computer teaching labs; a higher-end lab for upper level coursework that includes sound and video editing bays, render farm, screening equipment, and shooting space; a 40-seat drop-in computer lab to be used by IFDM students for class projects; and a variety of shooting and editing equipment that will be available for student and faculty check-out to include HD video cameras and full peripherals (mics, booms, filters, tripods, headphones, etc), laptop computers and external hard drives, contained in a secure check-out facility.
The IFDM program has been assigned space in the old Architecture Building (UNM Bldg 158). This building is being renovated to ensure that the IFDM infrastructure needs will be accommodated. UNM has included the renovation costs in an institutional bond; these renovations are expected to be completed by Spring 2009.
Over a two-year period, the State has committed $7.7M towards the c ost of constructing a new Film and Digital Media Building at Mesa del Sol, located adjacent to the Albuquerque Studios and the planned Sony Imageworks Campus, where students can complete their Capstone course and take advantage of internships. This advanced research and teaching facility will serve as a statewide center to coordinate and showcase the educational and research efforts statewide in film and digital media. The building will showcase digital media research in such areas as visualization, digital film making, gaming, animation, the intersections of arts and science through digital media, artistsÕ work, and student project work; coordinate curriculum development between universities; promote collaborations between digital media industry and universities.
Operational funding is in place for the program; the College of Fine Arts has committed an additional I&G for a core administrative staff; and the College of Fine Arts and the School of Engineering are co-leading a national search for a Director of the IFDM Program and ARTS Lab.
Library Services has reviewed the impact on the existing Library system, and indicated that the Library can accommodate the program. The IFDM program will house its media library materials with the College of Fine Arts Library.
There is a need to hire a full time technical staff to oversee and be responsible for the technology and equipment that is established in the teaching labs in the old Architecture Building. Each School/College has assigned advisors to support IFDM students that apply through their programs, but we project the need for a dedicated IFDM advisor, given the complexities of an interdisciplinary degree. (Currently the CFA Senior Advisor Deanna Sanchez-Mulcahy is covering the role of the IFDM Advisor.)
Tech Fees: Because the proposed program is technology and media-based, technology fees will be required for the Core to help cover costs associated with hiring student lab monitors, maintenance and replacement of equipment, networking, security, and staying current with software upgrades, etc.
Through assessing the faculty
needed to teach the core and the required courses in the various degree concentrations
we estimate the total number of faculty to be between 4 to 7 FTE per semester.
The qualifications will be discipline-based in Engineering, Fine Arts,
Anderson, and Arts and Sciences. Faculty will be expected to have specific
expertise in the use, creation, application, and critical knowledge of digital
media both in and outside their individual disciplines.
Current faculty who teach in the Core will be affected through the need to address the inclusion of IFDM curriculum in their teaching load. Administrative support staff is included in the Program budget. The impact will be on College/School Advising Staffs and particularly on the CFA Advising staff to incorporate advising for IFDM students.
The Provost has charged the Deans of Fine Arts and Engineering with searching for two directors, one for ARTS Lab and one for the IFDM Program. This search will be conducted in the spring of 2008.
The IFDM Faculty Council believes that the IFDM Curriculum will be strengthened by a minimum of three new faculty. The areas of expertise for these positions might be in Animation, Digital Film Making, or Gaming. The Council prefers to proceed with testing the areas of need through Guest Teaching positions and to learn from the visiting faculty. It is anticipated that some of the funding for faculty teaching in IFDM will come from redefinition of vacated lines in the Colleges/Schools. The amount for three new lines would be $250K to $300K.
As mentioned previously, the University has been made a member of Sony Imageworks; IPAX consortium of schools. This consortium includes MIT, Stanford, USC, Carnege Mellon. One of the functions of SonyÕs IPAX is to offer fellowships for faculty in the consortium who want to improve their knowledge and experience in the areas of their teaching and can be invited to study and work with professionals at Sony.
The proposed IFDM program is interdisciplinary in nature, and involves units that are already accredited by national organizations. There is no national accrediting organization for this program listed on the Department of EducationÕs Office of Postsecondary EducationÕs Accreditation website.
Each participating School or College has its own accrediting organizations that will continue to address their degree programs, including those degrees with IFDM concentrations or minors. Each of the Colleges/Schools have made adjustments to their concentrations if required by accrediting bodies.
Specific Forms B (new courses) & C (new major, concentratons) to create the IFDM Program.
UNM Interdisciplinary Program
IFDM Core (10 form Bs) and form C establishing subj. code (placed in interdisciplinary section of catalogue)
College of Fine Arts
BFA in IFDM with two concentrations: Production & Critical Studies (6 form bs)
School of Engineering
Concentration in IFDM as part of existing BS in Computer Science
An Area of Focus through advisement IFDM as part of existing BS in Computer Engineering
Anderson School of Business
Concentration in IFDM as part of BBA in management
Arts & Sciences
Two concentrations in Communication & Journalism – Journalism and Communication