• Advertising, as a form of persuasive communications, will teach you how to sell a product, an idea or a way to change society for the better.
• You will learn to think strategically and write creatively in order to get your audience to do or think what you want them to.
• You will learn to organize and run a successful creative business with team building and accountability. And, you’ll have a lot of fun!

• Hands-on training to report stories on a range of topics across TV, web, and social media platforms. 
• The ability to produce video and written stories, from your initial pitch in an editorial meeting to publication. 
• The ability to find and report on local stories while also connecting those stories to broader topics.
• Understanding of the critical issues facing journalism today, including those related to diversity and ethics. 

• MND journalists learn to tell stories that help people understand their world and each other.
• MND journalists know how to ask questions with empathy or find information people don’t always want the public to know.
• MND journalists use different platforms to connect with audiences: social, text, audio, video, data visualizations, etc.

•  The knowledge, skills and abilities to strategically manage the stakeholder relationships that every organization relies on for their existence and success. This involves audience research, strategic planning, message and media development and implementation, and program evaluation.

• Effective writing is essential to a public relations career, and is the basis for constructing powerful organizational narratives.
• The ability to link strategic communications outputs and outcomes with an organization’s outputs and outcomes, and to execute communications programs effectively and efficiently.

• In this track, students should work closely with their faculty advisors to identify most effective coursework for their specific educational objectives and prepare them for an independent capstone that celebrates and exemplifies achievement of these objectives.

• Screenwriting track focuses on the foundations of storytelling and creative storytelling practices.
• Students gain an intrinsic understanding of entertainment and creative storytelling through introductory courses and lifelong learning opportunities.
• The track combines in-depth coursework and experiential learning to challenge and expand students’ knowledge of new media and the changing landscape of the media industry.

• Focuses on enabling students to meet their full potential in entertainment and creative storytelling (scripted and non-scripted) business across all platforms.
• The business track is designed to help students look beyond the “art” of any particular piece of creative work, intellectual property or business enterprise and perceive its financial and economic underpinning in the marketplace.
• Our focus is on making the entertainment business track graduates multi-hyphenate contributors to the bottom-line or boardroom in any major sector of entertainment business.

• To help students LAUNCH their own ventures in media and entertainment, PREPARE them to work at high-growth, digital media startups – as well as innovators and “intrapreneurs” at established media companies, and ESTABLISH the mindset and personal thesis they need to become leaders in shaping the future of media and entertainment.

• Students choose from a wide variety of electives to focus on specialties within the production umbrella, including sound design, visual effects, producing, directing, editing, cinematography, and more! Students in the production track will be involved with all aspects of production and by the end of their studies, will have a large body of work to highlight in their portfolio, establishing who they are as artists, technicians, collaborators, and storytellers.

• Students will look to become versatile image makers and storytellers who can execute and thrive in a multitude of production modes.
• In addition to mastery of storytelling form and aesthetics, today’s director of photography must have a firm grasp of a wide variety of image capture devices and tools as well as knowledge of post production workflows and protocols for a variety of ever-changing distribution/exhibition platforms.
• As we look out into the virtual storytelling needs of tomorrow, it is inevitable that emerging modes of virtual production will lean heavily on practitioners who possess these critically diverse experiences and skill sets.

• Students in the sports media and communications track will experience all aspects of sports production to develop a better understanding of cinematography, script development, set design, latest trends in editing and sound design as well as live game graphics and story development.

Visual Communications

Photography • Graphic Design

• Human-centered design to overcome daily problems.
• Interactive design using various programs.
• Multidisciplinary portfolio including branding, motion, UI/UX, 3D, and immersive design.

• Visual storytelling using stills, audio, and video.
• Photojournalism skills working in the field.
• Documentary and editorial photography.

• Commercial and advertising photography.
• Portraiture and fashion photography.
• Studio and environmental lighting.

• Creating and editing motion pictures focused on storytelling.
• Learning cinematic movement, color, composition, lighting, and lens on set.
• Multidisciplinary projects including documentary, branded content, industry films, commercial, and virtual production.