WKU will offer a new major in Popular Culture Studies beginning with the Fall 2009 semester.
Only the second major of its kind in the country and the first in Kentucky, the program will offer WKU undergraduates an opportunity to examine the multiple uses and meanings of the arts and culture of everyday life including such areas as television, film, music, sports, advertising, customs and rituals.
The new major program will launch with a kick off event March 31 from 3-5 p.m. at the WKU Faculty House. The event is open to all interested students and members of the community. Students can learn more about the program and the new introductory Popular Culture Studies course as well as enjoy food and drinks and enter a raffle for a variety of prizes.
Through innovative interdisciplinary coursework, students in the major will analyze critically a wide range of popular cultural forms, their uses by audiences, and their impact on the broader social, political and economic landscape. Such an understanding of the cultures encountered at home and around the world is increasingly essential for students’ success in a global society.
The new major will focus on past and contemporary American and international popular culture forms. It will draw on a rich mix of approaches and subjects from disciplines across the campus to help students make connections between everyday popular and material cultures, products, and processes. Most of the program is built around courses currently offered at WKU, but it will also include a new team-taught class “Introduction to Popular Culture Studies” and a capstone course that will allow students to pursue their own academic interests within this area of study. The program also plans to organize special events that will promote student engagement and community involvement.
Students majoring in Popular Culture Studies will receive a thorough and rigorous grounding in the liberal arts that will prepare them well for a wide variety of careers in media and culture industries, or in the analysis, promotion or preservation of these productions in such fields as media journalism, teaching, publishing or public relations. It also will provide a strong foundation for students interested in pursuing graduate studies in a range of liberal arts disciplines, business or law.
For more information, visit the major’s website or contact Dr. Tony Harkins, director, major in Popular Culture Studies, at anthony.harkins@wku.edu or (270) 745-3149.
