Spring Break
Breaking the Mold
Many Brandeis students have designed their own innovative courses of study
by Nashrah Rahman
Editorial assistant
Features | 10/21/08
Posted online at 12:56 AM EST on 10/21/08
/ Last updated at 3:06 AM EST on 10/21/08
Thomas Ahn '09 was always intrigued by film, television, fashion, art and advertising.
Two especially thought-provoking courses that he took during his sophomore and junior years motivated him to combine those interests in a unique course of study.
"Visuality and Culture," taught by Prof. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH), focused on socio-cultural theories related to the study of visual images; a costume design course with Prof. Charles Schoonmaker (THA) allowed Ahn to appreciate the aesthetics of theater productions.
Once set on majoring in English and American Literature, Ahn realized that that curriculum didn't reflect his wide range of unique interests. Instead, Ahn created a new major, Visual Culture, that encompassed courses in anthropology, art history, theater arts and English and American literature.
This year, 20 Brandeis students like Ahn plan to complete an Independent Interdisciplinary Major, through which they can design a course of study outside the traditionally offered Brandeis curricula. Over the last two years, students have designed a diverse range of IIMs, including Education and Society, Comparative Media Studies and Forensic Psychology.
IIM coordinator Jennifer Kim describes the option to create an IIM at Brandeis as a "fantastic opportunity." She believes that the IIM is an ideal path for those who are "entirely passionate" about their interests.
Visual Culture, Ahn explains, explores how the mass media affect "our perception of society."
Four advisers from the American Studies, Anthropology and Theater Arts departments instruct Ahn on different aspects of Visual Culture.
Ahn's specific goal in learning about Visual Culture is to understand visual images in the context of "different cultures and societies, popular culture, history and even mathematics," he wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.
Visual images are an "effective and powerful" medium that is beginning to "replace" forms of written and verbal communications, he explained.
Two especially thought-provoking courses that he took during his sophomore and junior years motivated him to combine those interests in a unique course of study.
"Visuality and Culture," taught by Prof. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH), focused on socio-cultural theories related to the study of visual images; a costume design course with Prof. Charles Schoonmaker (THA) allowed Ahn to appreciate the aesthetics of theater productions.
Once set on majoring in English and American Literature, Ahn realized that that curriculum didn't reflect his wide range of unique interests. Instead, Ahn created a new major, Visual Culture, that encompassed courses in anthropology, art history, theater arts and English and American literature.
This year, 20 Brandeis students like Ahn plan to complete an Independent Interdisciplinary Major, through which they can design a course of study outside the traditionally offered Brandeis curricula. Over the last two years, students have designed a diverse range of IIMs, including Education and Society, Comparative Media Studies and Forensic Psychology.
IIM coordinator Jennifer Kim describes the option to create an IIM at Brandeis as a "fantastic opportunity." She believes that the IIM is an ideal path for those who are "entirely passionate" about their interests.
Visual Culture, Ahn explains, explores how the mass media affect "our perception of society."
Four advisers from the American Studies, Anthropology and Theater Arts departments instruct Ahn on different aspects of Visual Culture.
Ahn's specific goal in learning about Visual Culture is to understand visual images in the context of "different cultures and societies, popular culture, history and even mathematics," he wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.
Visual images are an "effective and powerful" medium that is beginning to "replace" forms of written and verbal communications, he explained.
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