Distributed May 23, 2002
For Immediate Release

News Service Contact: Mary Jo Curtis

Department of Modern Culture and Media establishes Ph.D. program

The Brown University Board of Fellows has approved the establishment of a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program in Modern Culture and Media. Applications will be accepted next year for the 2003-2004 academic year.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Board of Fellows of Brown University has approved the establishment of a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program in Modern Culture and Media, a move that department faculty leaders believe will lead to breakthrough work and innovation in the field. Applications will be accepted next year for the 2003-2004 academic year.

“The proposed program will establish Brown as a leading institution among our competitors in the graduate study of media and culture and as a nationally prominent force in this area,” said Michael Silverman, chairman of the Department of Modern Culture and Media. “The department is well positioned to initiate a nationally and internationally significant doctoral program in our area of study.”

Silverman said Brown’s program will be distinctive and highly selective.

“The program will be small, but will have a fairly focused impact,” he said. “We expect to see path-breaking work in the field and in the social, cultural and textual theory for which this department is famous.”

The University will admit two students per year, with a maximum of 10 in the program at any one time. Students will be trained in the scholarship of one or more media areas, such as film, video and digital media, among others. Their coursework will also include a component in cultural, textual and social theory.

“This combination will afford students an intellectually expansive perspective enhancing both disciplinary depth and interdisciplinary flexibility,” said Philip Rosen, professor modern culture and media, who chaired the graduate program development committee .

The University established a Center for Modern Culture and Media in 1987, acting on an initiative from the faculty of the program in modern literature and society and the semiotics program. Modern Culture and Media was granted department status in 1995.

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