Learn the technical skills to produce original media and think critically about the impact the media has had on society throughout history.

The Media Studies minor is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide you with solid grounding in the history, theory, and practice of media. It is designed to prepare you for professional work in media industries or utilizing media in your major field of interest or in your future career. The curriculum emphasizes a commitment to create media that is responsibly sourced and reflects the range of experiences of our diverse society.

You'll be able to take courses in the following areas:

• digital storytelling
• documentary film
• film history
• oral history
• ethnography
• community studies
• media theory

Explore Birmingham Communities and People

This minor will give you experience working in communities in the Greater Birmingham area, often in collaboration with nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups, and cultural institutions. Birmingham, a city rich in Civil Rights and Labor history, offers a great number of community-based research opportunities close to campus. Students have made films about subjects ranging from healthcare to street art, from immigration to historic preservation to surgery.

Our classes emphasize experiential learning and offer you opportunities for hands-on participation in local communities through service learning and internships with non-profit organizations, businesses, and educational and governmental institutions. They are taught by members of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences faculty.

Students have had the opportunity to partner with many community organizations, including the following:

• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
• Birmingham Museum of Art
• Lakeshore Foundation
• McWane Science Center
• Red Mountain Park
• Rev Birmingham
• Sidewalk Film Festival
• StoryCorps: National Listening Project
• Vulcan Park and Museum
• UAB Hospital
• UAB School of Public Health
• WBHM

Requirements

A complete list of minor requirements and courses are available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Media Studies minor, please contact program director  Michele Forman.

Student Films

Check out some of our students' work on the UAB Media Studies Vimeo Channel.