Reflections Magazine Issue #78 - Spring 2013 | Page 11

Campus Feature

The curriculum allows students to develop
practical skills for creating and packaging
content in digital formats. Courses such as web
design and advanced animation and video will
provide stepping stones into time-based and
interactive electronic media while providing
practical skills in digital tools.
Students will develop design and digital
media skills through Studio Angelico, home
to a community of highly skilled visual arts
professors.
“Ideally, students will use their time in the
studio to develop something that communicates
content from their area of concentration in a
new and engaging way,” Heckman said. “These
students will look for jobs in professional fields
that require creativity, teamwork and problemsolving, specifically using digital tools.”
He said he expects many students to add
Digital Communications as a minor or second
major to enhance the many existing academic
programs SHU currently offers.
“I also see select students being competitive
for specific communication jobs where specialized knowledge in a topic is an advantage,” Heckman said of potential career outcomes. “I predict
a number of these students, particularly those
with humanities minors, will go to graduate
programs in digital humanities.”
Heckman said social media will also play a
role in the program.
“Communications courses deal with social
media and its implications,” Heckman said.

Below: Assistant Professor of Art Erin Zerbe (right) was recently hired to help teach for the new Digital Communications program
at Siena Heights University. The program’s ultimate outcome is to equip students to discover new approaches to communication,
including animation, videography and user-generated content such as social media, in a digital age.

“Increasingly, fine artists, both in literary and
visual fields, are also responding to, creating and
critiquing social media practices. However, I
think it is the students, many of whom are growing up in this milieu, who will drive the formal
experimentation in the program.”
In fact, students may come to class with a
greater understanding of social media channels

such as Twitter and Instagram.
“We want to encourage them to think
about new ways of thinking and doing,” he said.
“The Digital Communications program cannot do all things for all people, but for the right
student – the creative, intrepid and dedicated
student – we can at least propel them forward
into a future of their own making.” u

Reflections Spring ’13

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