UO has a Cinema Studies Major

Oregon is almost equidistant from the two largest film industry centers on the West Coast — Los Angeles and Vancouver, British Columbia — and the industry is now contributing more than $700 million a year to the state's economy.

But, until now, Oregon has lacked a comprehensive film studies major to prepare students for careers working with moving images. The University of Oregon will rectify the situation with a new cinema studies major to be offered starting in winter term 2010.

The new interdisciplinary major replaces a film studies certificate program offered by the university since 2000. "There's been a real desire from students for a formalized program—students are always asking about it," says Michael Aronson, associate professor of English who is spearheading the new program along with Kathleen Rowe Karlyn, associate professor of English. Both teach film courses.

The new major will draw faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, and the School of Journalism and Communication. "There's no other research institution between the Bay Area and Vancouver, B.C., with a film studies program that includes both production and theory," says Karlyn.

The university already has faculty members with significant expertise in film production and film studies. Besides Aronson and Karlyn, the program faculty ranges from Daisuke Miyao, an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures who specializes in Japanese cinema, to Jon Palfreman, a broadcast journalism professor and award-winning investigative journalist for TV programs such as Nova and Frontline.

"We have the potential to grow into a nationally recognized film program quickly," says Aronson.

The program is headquartered in a second-floor teaching lab in Knight Library. After initial bridge funding from the university, Aronson and Karlyn hope private donors will help fund filmmaking equipment and technology, student internships, a speaker series, a filmmakers-in-residence component, and enhanced library collections. For more information about making a gift to support the program, contact Katrina McGee, (541) 346-3903.

Aronson and Karlyn say they hope to eventually attract at least 100 students to the major. That shouldn't be a problem, judging from the enthusiasm of current UO students for the program.