Summer 2001

Volume 3 Number 3
A publication of Macon State College

Ahead of the Curve

MSC's Charter Class of Communications Graduates Shows the Humanities Can Thrive At a New Century College

By Sheron Smith

By the time she graduated from Northside High School in 1997, Warner Robins native Renee Martinez had her college plan all mapped out: two years at Macon State, then on to the University of Georgia to pick up her bachelor's degree in journalism.

Part A unfolded just that way. Martinez enrolled at Macon State and joined the staff of The Matrix, the student newspaper.

The charter graduates of the bachelor of science in communications & IT pose for a picture at Macon State's May 22 commencement. In the front row, left to right, are Lee Greenway and Renee Martinez. In the back, left to right, are Ninon Crane and Stephen Simpson. A fifth CIT major, Kelly Jones, graduates this summer.

But she began rethinking Part B after Dr. Larry Fennelly, one of the newspaper's faculty advisors, told the staff about a new degree program Macon State was launching, the bachelor of science in communications & information technology, or CIT.

The degree, unique among undergraduate programs offered by University System of Georgia institutions, was designed to combine study of the humanities with a strong core of IT courses, such as multimedia and computer interface design, to develop specific job-marketable skills.

"I thought about it for a long time," said Martinez, 22. "What made me finally decide to stay at Macon State was the opportunity to get that IT background. I thought it would help me stand out and give me skills that a lot of J-school graduates wouldn't have."

In May, Martinez became one of the program's charter graduates, collecting her diploma along with three other CIT majors, Ninon Crane, Lee Greenway and Stephen Simpson. (A fifth CIT major, Kelly Jones, is scheduled to complete the program this summer.) Now a page designer and special assignment reporter for The Daily Sun in Warner Robins, Martinez plans early next year to begin applying for jobs at larger newspapers in the Knight Ridder chain.

"I have no regrets at all about staying at Macon State," she said. "What I enjoyed most about the CIT program was being around people who are full of passion about literature, writing and film. I think the CIT degree is about taking those passions and channeling them into a career."

The budding success of the CIT program as it enters its third year is in some ways a pleasant surprise for Macon State, perhaps most of all to the faculty of the Division of Humanities, where the degree is housed. Dr. Kevin Cantwell, an associate professor of English who coordinates CIT curriculum development and student advising, said that while the program remains a work in progress, he thinks it is evolving into one of the most cutting-edge undergraduate degrees in the state.

"I couldn't be any happier with the first two years of our program," he said. "We're offering some of the most intellectually challenging courses on campus, and we are offering courses that nobody else is at the four-year level. It's been rewarding to watch the intellectual growth of our students over the past couple of years."

Supporting MSC's Mission

Dr. Bob Kelly, the humanities division's chair, is also pleased with the program's progress. He expected about 50 students to be CIT majors at this point; instead, some 70 currently are pursuing the degree, and he predicts that number will climb to 100 in the coming academic year.

While that's far fewer than the number of students in Macon State's most popular four-year programs - IT and business & information technology - the CIT degree nonetheless stands out for its innovative pairing of two disciplines that not so long ago seemed irrelevant to each other. If business and information technology were a match made in heaven, humanities and IT were - to paraphrase the University of Texas at Arlington's Philip Cohen - a dance with the devil.

"Like many in the humanities, English department faculty members are often suspicious of forging links with business and industry," Cohen, associate dean of the university's graduate school and former chair of the English department, wrote in an essay published in the spring issue of the ADE Bulletin. "... This suspicion is a luxury that only humanities professors and English professors at elite institutions and liberal arts colleges can afford."

The humanities faculty knew what the first test would be for any new baccalaureate degree proposal at Macon State: it must support the college's mission, prescribed in 1997 by the Board of Regents, to focus on market-driven four-year programs. But an early draft of a communications degree designed to be in keeping with that mission was a disappointment to Kelly and many of his colleagues"

I didn't think there was much to cheer about from a humanities standpoint," Kelly said. "The degree proposed at that time seemed like an IT degree with a few service courses in humanities, such as professional writing and speech, thrown in for good measure."

With the support of Macon State's president, Dr. David A. Bell, and Dr. J. Thomas Isherwood, then the newly arrived dean of the faculty, the humanities division substantially revised the proposal in 1999. Working with a consultant from Georgia Tech, which offers a master's degree with similar features, Macon State humanities faculty created new courses in gender studies, computer ethics, non-Western literature, popular culture, the history of print and a survey of film, among others.

Two major tracks emerged, New Media and Cross-Cultural, and the division began what most certainly will become a trend to fill faculty vacancies with instructors who have academic backgrounds particularly suited to the CIT program. One of the newcomers is Dr. David Sidore, a tech-savvy assistant professor of English who earned his doctorate in critical and cultural studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Joining the foreign languages department as assistant professor was Dr. David de Posada, who has a background in non-Western literature, a key part of the Cross-Cultural track.

Major Courses - Bachelor of Science Communications & Information Technology New Media Track Humanities Core Courses (18 semester hours) ENGL 3106 Professional Communication JOUR 3131 News Writing HUMN 4340 Introduction to Ethics COMM 2010 Interpersonal Skills for a Global Society ENGL 4481 Survey of Film HUMN 4440 Critical Perspectives New Media Track (24 semester hours) ENGL 4480 History of Print HUMN 3999 Special Topics ENGL 4482 Popular Culture ENGL 3100 Survery of New Media Communication HUMN 4460 Senior Seminar: Media Criticism ENGL 4483 Senior Project Electives (6 hours) Cross-Cultural Track Humanities Core Courses (18 hours) HUMN 4342 Ethics HUMN 4440 Critical Perspectives HUMN 3010 Cross-Cultural Issues HUMN 3999 Special Topics FOREIGN LANGUAGE (6 hours; electives may be substituted with advisor's permission) Cross-Cultural Track (24 hours) HUMN 4472 Comparative Cultures ENGL 3206 Gender Studies ENGL 4620 Non-Western Literature ENGL 4483 Popular Culture COMM 2010 Interpersonal Skills for a Global Society HUMN 4483 Senior Project Electives (6 hours) Information Technology Core Courses* ITEC 3235 Computer Interface Design ITEC 3236 Introduction to Multimedia ITEC 4233 Multimedia Tools & Techniques ITEC 4205 Legal Issues in Information Technology ITEC 4232 Introduction to Desktop Publishing *Identical for both tracks

A Viable Program

In the degree program's retooled version, CIT offers 12 core courses split evenly between humanities and IT. "I think the curriculum changes we made are more soundly grounded and offer the student a coherent program," said Dr. Janice Edens, who was the humanities division's interim chair while the degree was under development. "Frankly, it just feels good."

Dr. Bill Elieson, the IT division's chair, agrees that the humanities faculty has hit upon a successful formula.

"It's clear that technology is increasingly important to the practice of various communications careers, so this curriculum makes sense," he said. "The humanities division should be congratulated for taking the bold step of putting it together."

In what is probably the CIT program's most important component, students in both major tracks are required to complete senior projects that in some way combine their IT knowledge with the writing, verbal and critical thinking skills they develop through the humanities courses.

For her senior project, Martinez created an online version of Macon State's literary magazine, Fall Line Review, and, in a presentation that all of the college's faculty and staff were invited to attend, discussed the development of "e-zines" and the challenges traditional print publications face in the Digital Age.

Greenway, 21, whom Bell named President's Scholar for the senior class this past spring, wrote, produced and directed a short film based on a story that appeared in a previous issue of the Fall Line Review. He illustrated features of digital editing and discussed how filmmakers take written text and effectively bring out its meaning in visual formats.

Simpson, 23, created a web version of the Macon State student newspaper, The Matrix, and discussed the newspaper industry's shift from printed text to hypertext and the ethical questions raised in the process. Jones, who helped found a gender studies program at the college, developed a related website that included an online survey to help evaluate the needs of female students. Crane developed a well-researched, comprehensive website containing resources for future CIT students.

"Most of these students didn't have those IT skills a year ago," Kelly said. "What those senior projects showed me was that our program is certainly viable and productive. Many traditional English departments at colleges and universities throughout the country are struggling to convince the public of their relevance in the Digital Age, but I think our program screams relevance. With the support of the administration, the humanities division has created a program that reflects our academic strengths and supports Macon State's mission."

Exceeding Expectations

Some of the charter graduates said a number of Macon State students in other majors were curious about the CIT degree, even if it wasn't a program of study they would choose for themselves.

"Instead of being the beatniks or the bookworms, CIT majors were seen as true academics in search of knowledge and understanding," Simpson said. "We were the cyber-scholars at MSC."

Simpson, like Martinez, chose to remain at Macon State rather than transfer to UGA to pursue an undergraduate degree. Although he planned all along to go to graduate school, which he'll begin at Georgia State University this fall, Simpson was attracted to the CIT program's uniqueness and job marketability.

"Anyone can major in English or philosophy," said Simpson, a Stratford Academy graduate. "Only a few select individuals can major in English and have top-notch technology skills. The discussion of philosophy and ethics inherent in humanities helped me understand the development and implementation of technology in the workplace, a perspective that wasn't available to students majoring solely in IT or English."

Dr. David Sidore, left, teaches a summer section of his Popular Culture class, part of the CIT curriculum.

At 36, Crane represented non-traditional students in the first CIT graduating class. The British Columbia native said she was nervous about majoring in what essentially was an experimental program because, as a single mom with a teenaged daughter, Crane needed to make sure she would learn some job-marketable skills.

"Making use of technology in other studies is a fairly new concept, so it was frightening as well as exciting," said Crane, who is leaning toward a career in multimedia development. "I think even the professors and those who designed the degree have been surprised at the evolution of it. "

Greenway, 21, a stellar student who held a number of leadership roles during his four years at Macon State, is enrolling at UGA this fall to pursue a master's degree in media studies. A Warner Robins High School graduate, Greenway said the CIT program far exceeded his expectations.

"It's a truly exceptional academic setting in which to learn how to operate in the digital world without abandoning the fundamental ideas which make us human beings," he said. "The humanities aspect of the curriculum was so advanced above traditional skill-based courses that the result was not necessarily a newly-acquired ability, but instead a change in (the students') fundamental way of thinking."
Jones, a Tattnall Square Academy graduate who is wrapping up the CIT program's requirements this summer, took a break from college for a while and returned to Macon State with plans to "go to class and then go straight home." She credits the CIT classes to opening her eyes to opportunities for campus involvement.

"In my computer ethics class I wrote a paper on the gender gap in technology, and that inspired me to form the Women's Studies Association," said Jones, 23, who also became co-editor of The Matrix. "I started this program hoping for nothing more than a college degree that would help me find a job, but I'm leaving with higher expectations and the ability to trust my own talents."

Next Steps

The CIT program was the catalyst for the humanities division's decision to host an academic conference this past spring that explored topics related to cyberculture and the humanities. The conference drew 70 academics from all over Georgia and featured noted author John Barth, who spoke on the topic, "The End of the Word As we Know It." Barth's appearance was open to the public, as was a live demonstration of Internet2, the high-speed research network being developed by a consortium of U.S. colleges and universities.

Kelly said members of the humanities and IT divisions are now tossing around some ideas for an Internet2 project, such as presenting a real-time interactive theater production. The conference's success, he said, is further evidence that the CIT program is progressing nicely.
The humanities division plans to continue fine-tuning the program over the next few years. Cantwell wants to strengthen partnerships with the Central Georgia private sector to boost the number of internship opportunities for CIT majors. Kelly would like to see humanities and IT faculty members team-teach more courses, and he also hopes to boost the number of classes offered at night to help market the degree toward working adults. The development of MSC-TV, tentatively to be launched this fall, and the creation of a CIT computer lab will further strengthen the program.

As a CIT trailblazer, Martinez said she plans to keep up with the program as it matures.

"I'm anxious to see what paths my fellow grads choose to take, and where the next set of CIT grads will go in their careers," she said. "We all seem to be taking a varied approach to the next phase of our lives. Perhaps the degree will prove as versatile as I hoped."