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Media and Society

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MAKE MEANING WITH MEDIA

Explore the relationship between media and society through a flexible interdisciplinary curriculum examining film, television, advertising, video games and other emerging media. You will learn to respond creatively and pivot quickly when faced with technological, institutional, economic or social disruptions and challenges. You will graduate with a portfolio of work to impress future employers or graduate schools. Develop the skills necessary for living and working in the 21st century with a major or minor in Media and Society.

Media and Society News Frequently Asked Questions

Student Spotlight

hailee catalano '25
major: media and society
Minors: business management and entrepreneurship, pyschological science

"My favorite thing about HWS is the connections you build during your career here. From friends during my orientation group, friends from class, professors, mentors and even alumni, it’s endless.”

joy nguyen '26
Majors: media and society, theatre
minor: economics

For her excellence in the classroom and a goal to work in media, Joy was one of only 65 college students to receive a scholarship from the prestigious Washington Media Scholars Foundation.  

 

Read Joy's Story Media and Society Teaching Assistants Media and Society Student Ambassadors Student Awards and Honors

 

Experiential EducationFrom Geneva to New York to Los Angeles

Attend film screenings at the Smith Center for the Arts in downtown Geneva or the Fish Screening Room in the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts. Go on an excursion to the George Eastman Museum or study the history of video games at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. Explore careers in media on a networking trip to New York City or Los Angeles.

At Hobart and William Smith, learning goes beyond textbooks and classrooms. You’ll gain high-impact practical experience that deepens learning and opens doors.

Explore and Experience at the HWS Centers The Smith Center for the Arts
 

 

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No Borders:Global Education

Intern for an advertising agency in London or make a documentary about artisanal food cultures in Rome.

Wherever you go, our top-ranked global education program will allow you to apply classroom knowledge, develop cultural understanding and build global connections that expand your personal capacity and sense of purpose.

Study Abroad Options
abroad

 

Belonging, Diversity and Equity

The Media and Society Program facilities discussions about race and intersectionality through our curriculum and programming. Study topics such as Black representation, feminist film theory, algorithm bias, and queer visual culture in our classrooms, public lectures, and screening events.  Make films, documentaries, and video games to foster belonging and enact social justice in our community and the world.

In September 2020, the department co-hosted the screening of “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” a documentary about the Civil Rights leader and U.S. Representative, and a panel discussion with staff from the Colleges and community activists.

During fall 2021, students and faculty in Introduction to Media and Society worked to build a website comparing historical and contemporary news photographs. Students’ curation of images revealed continuities between the American media’s representation of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as between the Vietnam War and the war in Afghanistan.

 

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Learn to analyze a wide range of media objects – from television commercials to documentary films to social media campaigns – and use that knowledge to create your own portfolio of work.

MDSC 200 CULTURES OF ADVERTISING

Learn to examine advertisements as economic, aesthetic and ideological forces and discover how they can reveal crucial information about their time and place. Explore the history of advertising by analyzing the strategies, themes and practices of various campaigns and then craft your own.

MDSC 305 Film Editing 

Discover the art of film editing, with an emphasis on the practical aspects of editing. In addition to actual editing exercises using unedited rushes or dailies, you'll study film sequences to learn various editing styles and techniques. 

MDSC 312 ART OF EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA

Study the theories and histories of experimental film making including structuralism, post-structuralism, feminist, queer, and radical Black trends. Approach the art of filmmaking as a socially and critically informed practice and then create your own.

View Past Films

MDSC 333 GLOBAL VIDEO GAMES

Cultures, Aesthetics, Politics: Explore the production, distribution, and consumption of video games as a global culture. Then, design your own.

Play Past Games
Media and Society Courses and Curriculum Media and Society Faculty Directory

 

Facilities

Experience movie theater quality during courses and presentations in the Fish Screening Room. Nestled inside the Gearan Center for the Perfoming Arts, the room features an 825 square-foot screen and seats 60 people.

Located at the heart of campus, the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts is a 65,000-square-foot facility that brings together Music, Dance, Theatre and Media and Society in a unified academic and community space.

 

 

Alum ImpactInvaluable Experiences

Margo Grapshi '22
Game Events Management Coordinator for NBC Olympics

After teaching English as a second language in France, Margo got a chance of a lifetime to work behind the scenes during the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.

 

Read Margo's Story

 

aidan morgan '21, msm '22
social media coordinator, thrill one sprots & entertainment 

Internships with the Washington Capitals, Barstool Sports, ESPN Ithaca and the South Carolina Stingrays helped Aidan build experience for a career in sports social media. 

Read Aidan's Story

 

katelyn oswalt '24 and Brenda plasencia '24
Oswalt: J.D. candidate at the ohio state university
Plascencia: public media graduate student at fordham university  

Katelyn and Brenda spent time honing their interviewing skills and illustrating the complex relationships between people, ideas, place and action in "Listening to the Finger Lakes" with Assistant Professor of Media and Society Jiangtao Harry Gu '13. 

Read their story
 

COMPANIES THAT EMPLOY OUR GRADUATES

  • ABC
  • Artsy’s Art Gallery
  • Ashley McGraw Architecture 
  • Boston Red Sox
  • Bozzuto
  • Brandwatch  
  • CBS
  • Christie’s
  • Condé Nast
  • CTM Marketing 
  • DreamYard Project
  • Dutton Children's Books 
  • Houghton Mifflin
  • IHS Markit
  • John Hancock Financial
  • John Wiley & Sons
  • MasterCard
  • Merkley+Partners 
  • Morgan Stanley
  • MTV Networks
  • NBC Universal
  • Netflix
  • Peacock
  • Playwrights Horizons
  • Simmons University 
  • TikTok
  • Topnotch Management 
  • Women’s Way
  • Yahoo! Europe

UNIVERSITIES WHERE OUR GRADUATES ARE STUDYING

  • American University
  • Columbia University
  • Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School of Management
  • Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business
  • Duke University
  • Hood College 
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • New York University
  • Stony Brook University 
  • Syracuse University 
  • University of Chicago
  • University of East Anglia 
  • University of Maryland, Merrill College of Journalism
  • University of Rochester
  • University of Southern California