Interdisciplinary Programs

AACE 6000. Arts and Culture Organizational Leadership. (3 Hours)

Offers an overview and introduction to leadership knowledge areas, tools, and skills sets for the arts and culture sector. Key topics include issues and challenges in the management of arts-oriented organizations, leadership characteristics and techniques for arts and culture teams, balancing organizational priorities with artistic vision and values, board formation and management, audience outreach, and operational practices. Focuses on the administration of people and processes to communicate mission; realize goals; and effectively manage the creative resources, human resources, and financial challenges of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.

AACE 6010. Planning for Arts and Cultural Organizations. (3 Hours)

Offers an overview and introduction to knowledge areas and primary skills sets for planning, launching, and sustaining arts and cultural organizations. Key topics include evaluating opportunities in the arts and culture sector; building effective vision, mission, and values for arts and culture initiatives in balance with civic and community contexts; smart approaches to arts and culture funding; developing sustainable and flexible strategic plans; and planning challenges for the contemporary strategic arts organization.

AACE 6020. Experiential Study in Arts Administration. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn best practices in arts project management, including how to assess and scope a project, develop a timeline with clear action items and goals, relay needs and expectations to clients, research materials to assist in the process, and measure and deliver project results. Faculty coach students to cultivate professional skill sets, build competency around key areas of student interest, and bridge theory with practice. Students receive feedback from their project sponsor, review lessons learned, and incorporate suggestions to improve and further develop their career plans. Seeks to support the development of business communication skills, project and client management skills, and frameworks for analysis.

AACE 6110. Information Technology for Arts and Cultural Organizations. (3 Hours)

Offers nontechnical students an opportunity to obtain a clear and current understanding of key information technology (IT) concepts set in the context of arts and cultural organizations and to empower them to make decisions that map technology to strategy. Covers how to identify technical terms, stakeholders, and issues; evaluate IT challenges; apply best-practice frameworks; and identify business needs and compare technical solutions in order to minimize cost and maximize strategic alignment. Combines readings, casework, video lectures, screen casts, guest videos, and a hands-on approach to researching solutions and leading change. Includes both group and individual deliverables that students synthesize to create and present a final project.

AACE 6120. Advocacy and the Arts. (3 Hours)

Seeks to equip future arts leaders with the competence, power, and commitment to act in the interest of creative resilience—and creativity—for the collective good. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to both advocate for the arts and advocate through the arts. Each module presents a specific challenge faced by artists and arts institutions and compels students to identify and articulate creative solutions to overcome this challenge. Exposes students to diverse knowledge sources—including theoretical and practical literature, organizational and project case studies, and guest presentations by arts leaders in the Boston area—to help prepare students for this important work.

AACE 6200. Programming and Community Engagement for Cultural Entrepreneurs. (3 Hours)

Examines the role and tools of the cultural entrepreneur and investigates practical and tactical approaches centered around real-world examples. Topics include how cultural entrepreneurs turn new ideas into concrete initiatives and how they communicate with and learn from their audiences and communities to assess and evaluate the implementation of cultural endeavors. Offers students an opportunity to create their own cultural initiative from the ground up. Through modules covering mission and vision, program evaluation, community engagement, and basic resource management, the successful student should finish the course with a real project “in a box,” ready to launch.

AACE 6210. Building Value Through Cultural Enterprise. (3 Hours)

Examines the question of value through the lens of cultural institutions big and small. Explores examples from real-world case studies. Focuses on areas of value, ways to measure impact on both qualitative and quantitative levels, and how to demonstrate that impact to a variety of audiences from our daily visitors to our federal government. Value in the cultural sector is a critical question that institutions and individuals working in this area must answer on a regular basis for themselves, their constituents, and their supporters.

AACE 6220. Innovative Approaches to Audience Engagement. (3 Hours)

Investigates the philosophy, methods, and application of a wide spectrum of audience engagement strategies. Utilizes provided materials, inquiry-based research practices, and experiential study to introduce students to the various interpretations and outcomes of effective audience engagement, particularly as it relates to an arts organization’s mission, vision, and values. Drawing directly from their course work and research, students are paired with an arts organization to design a creative audience engagement strategy that both aligns with the organization’s mission and supports a new visionary initiative.

AACE 6300. Fundraising in the Arts. (3 Hours)

Offers advanced study of fundraising and resource development within the arts and cultural sector. Designed to help students develop the knowledge and skills required to create and increase various revenue streams. Covers fundraising ethics, grant writing, sponsorship proposals, pitching, stakeholder and volunteer engagement, storytelling, and other skills necessary to support fundraising goals. When applicable, students are encouraged to use this course to explore and apply fundraising fundamentals for their organization, startup, or creative practice.

AACE 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 5250. Communication and Technology Research Methods. (4 Hours)

Presents an in-depth introduction to ethical quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches in communication, media, and technology-related research. Offers practice in concept explication and analysis across levels of society—from the individual to the organization. Covers designing and analyzing survey and content data, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, focus groups, ethnography, community-based research, and comparative case studies.

COMM 5510. Technology and Strategic Communication. (4 Hours)

Provides a current, integrated, and strategic approach to digital media practice and scholarship applied to strategic communication. Examines research literature on social media, search engine optimization, extended reality, and artificial intelligence and applies concepts studied to a real-world project or campaign. Students critique how digital technologies have been used strategically and develop their own goal-based strategy, content, format, and evaluation plan. Discusses ethical implications and impacts on diverse audiences.

COMM 6102. Health Communication Campaigns. (4 Hours)

Offers an in-depth look at how persuasive health campaigns are designed and executed. Discusses how campaigns are intentionally designed to influence awareness, knowledge gain, and attitude/behavior change. Offers students an opportunity to obtain skills to design and evaluate campaigns through the completion of their own campaign projects and to learn about visual and verbal arguments and the unique ethical and other considerations of health campaigns.

COMM 6304. Communication and Inclusion. (4 Hours)

Explores the relationships between communication, social identity, and social inclusion. Focuses on how communication shapes perceptions and positions of social identity categories and how individuals and groups resist and transform identity and promote inclusion through communication. Examines communication and inclusion in the contexts of gender, race, sexual identity, social class, ability, and age. Course topics cover a range of theoretical and practical issues, including diversity in organizational settings and the social construction of identity.

COMM 6320. Political Communication. (4 Hours)

Covers the major theories about the role of communication in U.S. politics, public opinion, and public policy. Discusses how to formulate and evaluate your own theory-based hypotheses on the influence of media in American democracy. Emphasizes the role and place of the media in a democratic system devoted to the proposition that the government should be responsive to the "will of the people." The course is organized around five subjects that are central to the study of political communication: communication systems and practices; communication effects: media, politics, and society; the politics of entertainment and the changing political information environment; elections, accountability, and the mass media; and media and political institutions.

COMM 6500. Environmental Issues, Communication, and Media. (4 Hours)

Analyzes major debates over the environment, climate change, and related technologies such as nuclear energy, wind power, natural gas “fracking,” and food biotechnology. Studies the relevant scientific, political, and ethical dimensions of each case; the generalizable theories, frameworks, and methods that scholars use to analyze them; and the implications for effective public communication, policymaker engagement, and personal decision making. Offers students an opportunity to gain an integrated understanding of their different roles as professionals, advocates, and consumers and to improve their ability to find and use expert sources of information; assess competing media claims and narratives; write persuasive essays, analyses, and commentaries; and author evidence-based research papers.

COMM 6605. Youth and Communication Technology. (4 Hours)

Examines how meanings of “youth” and “communication technology” shift in relation to one another and to broader changes in society, culture, politics, and the economy over time. Analyzes how communication technologies (and the content they deliver) positively and negatively affect the social, emotional, and cognitive development of young people and how these changes are influenced by the particular family, school, community, and institutional contexts in which children grow up. Examines how young people differ individually across the life span as well as collectively by class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and disability. Requires a final paper at the end of the term in which students articulate and defend positions about youth and communication technology.

COMM 6608. Strategic Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete a semester-long, intensive research and writing capstone project related to the field of strategic communication. Research topics can span business, politics, advocacy, entertainment, public health, the environment, and other societal sectors. Building on previous course work, students have an opportunity to gain a deeper scholarly and professional understanding of strategic communication; cultivate professional and academic contacts; and demonstrate mastery of relevant theoretical concepts, professional principles, research methods, and writing approaches. Encourages students to share and translate their findings for relevant academic and professional communities.

COMM 6631. Crisis Communication and Image Management. (4 Hours)

Examines literature related to crisis communication—including theories, models, and strategies—and establishes ethical principles in terms of what, how, and when essential elements must be employed for effective and ethical crisis communication. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to distinguish between an incident and a crisis; to analyze communication practices and methods applied during a crisis; to apply social scientific theory to explain how and why a crisis occurred; and to draw upon theory to develop effective crisis communication plans. Assesses responses to crises using ethical principles such as transparency (the what element), two-way symmetrical communication (the how element), and timing (the when element). Designed to prepare communication professionals who appreciate the need for responsible advocacy when responding to crises.

COMM 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 6995. Research Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete and present a high-level research project. Requires the framing of a significant question or set of questions, the research to find answers, and written communication skills to convey the results to a wide range of audiences. Projects bridge theory and practice and are intended to have an impact on the professional life of students.

Prerequisite(s): COMM 5250 with a minimum grade of C-

COMM 7962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

EXRE 5010. Immersive Media: Extended Realities (XR) History, Theory, and Impact. (4 Hours)

Introduces the historical foundation and conceptual frameworks with which to analyze and interrogate extended reality experiences, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. Covers the theoretical, cultural, and technological developments that have informed contemporary XR. Explores the promises, dreams, and expectations, as well as the ethical concerns and philosophical dilemmas, associated with the field. Offers students an opportunity to create XR experiences and prototype their own ideas.

EXRE 5011. Seminar for EXRE 5010. (1 Hour)

Offers students an opportunity to analyze and critique extended reality experiences. Examines historical, seminal, and new experiences. Discusses the XR experiences using industry nomenclature and basic research methodology.

Corequisite(s): EXRE 5010

EXRE 5020. Developing Extended Realities (XR). (4 Hours)

Examines how to create extended reality (XR) experiences including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Studies coding and developing projects in XR using current hardware and software, including scripting, sensing, interactions, and preproduction methods that are specific to XR. Examines simulation sickness, sensing, eye tracking, empathy, and narrative in XR.

EXRE 5030. Designing Extended Realities (XR). (4 Hours)

Studies the craft and theory of designing, executing, and directing compelling extended reality experiences. Covers techniques to analyze, advise, and critique designs in the XR industry, or the many industries this experience augments, via a hands-on, experiential learning approach. Offers practical, professional, and theoretical instruction in writing and design, spatial narrative, and world building. Presents methodologies for formatting and directing interactive scripts and voice-overs. Shares professional methods as well as strategies and approaches to world building in the metaverse. Explores all forms in the broad field of extended reality, including games, animation, 360 video, journalism, and advertising. Offers networking opportunities through invited guests, publishers, and partners in XR.

EXRE 5973. Topics in Extended Realities (XR). (4 Hours)

Focuses on a specific topic that is of timely relevance to the domain of extended reality. Explores current discourses in the field and draws directly from ongoing instructor expertise and research. Offers students an opportunity to develop original projects in response to course topic, informed by case studies, critical readings, instructor and guest lectures, class discussions, and exercises. Emphasizes developing skills and strategies for self-directed XR experience production, including experimentation, planning, development, iteration, revision, and critique of creative work. May be repeated once.

EXRE 6500. Extended Realities (XR) Studio. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the design of experiences and artifacts using extended reality technologies for the development and critique of XR projects. Includes planning and design of the final work. Students use multiple ideation methods to develop project ideas and work in critical groups to strengthen project ideas and then prototype. Requires the completion of a project and presentation of the work.

EXRE 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.

EXRE 7500. Extended Realities (XR) Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to focus on the creation of extended reality experiences. Includes planning and design of the experiences. Discusses and reflects on the design process at the crossroads of methodological, systematic iteration, and creative exploration.

Prerequisite(s): EXRE 5010 with a minimum grade of C-

EXRE 7990. Thesis. (4 Hours)

Offers students support in developing and producing the written component of an extended reality thesis that integrates and applies their accumulated knowledge. Encourages student participation within a practice and research community consisting of classmates, advisor(s), and external professionals.

Prerequisite(s): EXRE 5030 with a minimum grade of C-

INAM 5000. Introduction to Creative Computing. (4 Hours)

Introduces foundational concepts of computational media art, focusing on the use of computational processes for the creation of interactive and generative experiences. Students use data and mathematical procedures to generate images, express ideas, and create meaning. Offers students an opportunity to obtain practice-based experience with the benefits and limitations of using computational processes, reflecting on what computers can and cannot do well. Uses computational procedures and concepts such as automation, recursion, and data processing for creative purposes. Students create computational media projects using code and/or other media such as photography, video, performance, installation, etc.

INAM 5183. Interdisciplinary Special Topics: Pop-up Course. (1,2 Hours)

Addresses timely trends, issues, and events in the fields of arts, media and design as they unfold. Offers students an opportunity to learn about and respond to issues of the day in an immersive, interdisciplinary, short-course format. Includes emphasis on experiential forms of teaching and learning. Content and instructors vary by offering.

INAM 5300. Principles of Design. (2 Hours)

Introduces the foundational essential components of the design process, investigates key concepts in historical and contemporary design practice, and includes applied practice to illustrate the way expert designers think, collaborate, and create. Core content focuses on a broad range of design applications across industry sectors to improve intellectual dexterity and provide a range of interdisciplinary skills and knowledge.

INAM 5305. User Observation and Design Planning. (2 Hours)

Introduces the theory and methods of behavioral observation, description, and analysis. Covers the methodologies and tools for conducting quantitative and qualitative user research, including surveys, persona development, customer journey maps, and other industry-standard tools for studying user experience. Course content focuses on the general forces acting upon an organization, such as competition, technological breakthroughs, diverse information channels, demographic shifts, and how practitioners are using design to proactively respond to these forces.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5300 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 5310. Principles of Creative Collaboration. (2 Hours)

Studies methods for recognizing and removing personal creative blocks, techniques for strengthening communication skills in a team-based environment, as well as active listening skills to amplify the ideas of others. Increasingly complex organizations require teams to boldly navigate uncertainty, leverage the power of diverse perspectives, and collaborate effectively to uncover innovative ideas. This course builds upon these concepts.

INAM 5400. Facilitating Creative Collaboration. (2 Hours)

Explores the different types of roles that individual contributors may take in team-based environments; methods for navigating challenging situations to improve team productivity; and techniques for strengthening leadership, communication, and collaborative skills. Successful leaders leverage a variety of techniques and tools to discover, understand, and maximize the ways in which teams interact, communicate, and collaborate. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to develop and execute action plans by applying these practices for optimum team productivity and output.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5310 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 5405. The Agile Mindset and Design-Led Innovation. (2 Hours)

Focuses on approaches to problem solving that are human centered and guided by the underlying principles of adaptability, collaboration, design, and creativity. Grounded in both theory and applied practice, offers students an opportunity to learn techniques for building their own adaptive capacity, crafting and communicating a strong vision, applying a framework for distributed leadership, engaging and empowering team members, and codesigning solutions that require shifts in beliefs and practice.

INAM 5410. Persuasion and the Power of Storytelling. (2 Hours)

Explores the basic theory of persuasive communication, including models of information processing, motivational appeals, message acceptance, fast and slow decision making, and rules of effective human interactions. Effective leaders across organizations possess the ability to engage, inspire, and challenge teams through authentic connection and clear communication. Compelling stories help to make sense of complexity, engage the audience emotionally, and call others to action. Offers students an opportunity to learn to frame the problem, consider audience motivations, utilize compelling and dramatic narrative construction, convey complex information orally and visually, and generate emotional appeal and action.

INAM 5415. Design Studio: Fundamentals of Iterative Prototyping. (2 Hours)

Analyzes the different types of prototypes and the logic for when and how to employ each technique when testing distinct assumptions. Covers prototype selection; the methods for prototyping ideas and testing underlying assumptions; implementing prototypes to discover, communicate, and validate; and techniques for executing and testing ideas. Offers students an opportunity to learn the need for rapid innovation, resiliency, and gracefulness in the face of frequent failure situations.

INAM 5420. The Creative Process. (4 Hours)

Explores several themes that stimulate creativity in individuals and teams. Analyzes the notion of creativity, including defining creativity, understanding how it is measured, and analyzing processes of creativity across multiple disciplines and industry sectors. Delves into the mechanics of creativity to explore how the most innovative thought leaders have revolutionized their industries and left a lasting impact on the world. Offers students an opportunity to explore their own creativity and professional applications to align their creative process with scientifically proven strategies. Students work with a variety of teams on assignments throughout the course to foster collaboration and learning.

INAM 5425. Design Methodology. (4 Hours)

Explores the mindset, skill set, and tool set associated with design. The content is oriented toward practical methods for approaching a design problem holistically to help frame and solve challenges with a wide range of applications across industry sectors. Includes approaches to noticing and observing, framing and reframing, imagining and designing, and experimenting and testing. Introduces concepts of user experience (UX) design, user interface (UI) design, and system design to provide a strong foundation for future coursework.

INAM 5430. The Improvisational Mindset. (2 Hours)

Studies the essential skills to becoming a more authentic and dynamic leader by learning to read situations accurately, make well-calibrated and appropriate responses for different audiences and circumstances, as well as lead with more confidence and empathy. Offers students an opportunity to develop a broader leadership tool kit, including the ability to adapt to shifting landscapes, business challenges, and unanticipated situations with agility, spontaneity, and creativity.

INAM 5435. Multidisciplinary Collaboration and Creative Engagement. (2 Hours)

Focuses on helping students conceive design solutions through analyzing assumptions, intuition, and working through iterative sequences in a team-based environment to generate creative outcomes. Central to this course is an acknowledgement of the limitations of individuals and singular disciplines and the need for collaboration that includes diverse perspectives. Successful leaders leverage a variety of techniques and tools to discover, understand, and maximize the ways in which teams interact, communicate, and collaborate. Topics include team formation, leading teams, decision making as a group, gathering diverse perspectives, testing assumptions, and managing conflict.

INAM 5440. Organizational Storytelling and Public Relations. (2 Hours)

Explores theoretical and practical competence in organizational branding, promotion, and public relations. Presents the practical and analytical skills needed to envision promotional strategies, community engagement efforts, and marketing materials by leveraging user experience design across both traditional and digital environments.

INAM 5445. Inclusive Communication and the Power of Diverse Networks. (2 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn how to create a shared purpose, strengthen engagement, foster generative learning, and leverage the power of differences in a team-based environment where a diversity of ideas is actively encouraged. Matrixed companies are leveraging more cross-functional, flexible teams to work on short-term projects. Diverse networks of relationships provide webs of support while offering new perspectives that spur innovation and growth. This course explores these themes in depth through applied practice.

INAM 5500. Adaptive Leadership. (2 Hours)

Explores the power of discovery as a driving force for uncovering emergent strategies, how to adapt to changing circumstances in a team-based environment, methods for creating and articulating strategies that are flexible and scalable, and how to collaboratively lead teams in order to solve problems that address required change. Adaptive leadership enables managers and their organizations to rapidly and efficiently shift strategy in direct response to changing internal and external circumstances.

INAM 5505. Dynamic Multichannel Communication. (2 Hours)

Covers the practical tools to improve clarity when articulating new ideas, how to command the attention of any audience, and distinctive communication styles tailored to digital and virtual formats. New platforms and technology innovations have allowed individuals to share user-centered, dynamic, and practical information through personalized, engaging, and digestible messages. Video conferencing has also evolved to change the way we connect with peers, colleagues, and external audiences. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to hone more effective communication skills tailored to these evolving mediums using creative and adaptable techniques based upon research and proven methods.

INAM 5507. Foundations of Data Visualization. (1 Hour)

Establishes the conceptual models of data visualization and information design with respect to data analysis and examines the implications of these models for the visualization practice. Distinguishes and articulates what makes a successful visualization and which pitfalls to avoid. Draws insights from research in visual perception and examines design strategies to organize information. Identifies improvements to existing visualizations and formally evaluates visualizations in user studies.

INAM 5508. Visual Data Encodings. (1 Hour)

Examines visualization strategies for common data types, focusing on the visualizations that are appropriate for specific research questions and data types. Focuses on visualization methods for one-to-n-dimensional data sources and examines the many different ways to express time and duration. Identifies interactive techniques to support the discovery of patterns, filter through data to isolate meaningful data points, and explore connections between multiple data sources.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5507 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of B or INAM 5507 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of B

INAM 5510. Data-Driven Storytelling. (2 Hours)

Offers practical methodologies for detecting and articulating the stories behind datasets and how to communicate data findings in visual, oral, and written contexts. Covers select topics in data-driven storytelling projects across industry sectors and provides practical tools for navigating the often-competing demands of rigorous analysis and accessible narrative and storytelling. Designed to foster moderate technical learning of applications and software. Incorporates theories from relevant fields in data visualization and data science and emphasizes storytelling for broad public audiences.

INAM 5515. Ethics and Creative Innovation. (4 Hours)

Explores questions of ethics and organizational responsibility as they relate to innovative and creative endeavors. Introduces the theories and methods used in ethical decision making with application across industry sectors. The heightened focus on fairness, trust, accountability, and transparency requires organizations to critically examine their innovative practices to ensure they are safe, inclusive, and socially responsible. Offers students an opportunity to learn about key strands of understanding in these areas, to reflect on their views in relation to current debates, and to hone strategies to systematically navigate uncertainty and iteration within creative practice. Focuses on ethical paradigms to illustrate how systems of power shape the role of creative practices in society. Requires a final creative project.

INAM 5520. User Experience and Emerging Technologies 1. (2 Hours)

Explores emerging digital interfaces and technology. Ongoing reliance on computer interfaces and emerging technologies—including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), voice user interfaces (VUI), and artificial intelligence (AI)—are growing rapidly and impacting the way we connect with colleagues and customers alike. The advances in artificial intelligence and voice technologies have enabled the creation of platforms and tools that support conversational interactions between people and devices. Offers students an opportunity to obtain an understanding of the tools that will continue to transform user experience across industries and how human-computer interaction has influence across application domains and industry sectors to improve their collaborative work with peers and colleagues, as well as their connection with customers.

INAM 5525. Fundamentals of Systems Design 1. (2 Hours)

Explores the structures and processes for the design of systemic relationships between people, artifacts, environments, and activities. Systems may be physical, virtual, social, or a combination. Covers the principles of systems theory and explores the connection between design methods and systems thinking. Addresses the questions that are fundamental to design practice: What is a system and what are the different types? How do we observe, analyze, and represent systems? What interactions can we have with systems and what are the different types of interaction?.

INAM 5963. Topics. (1,2 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn about timely issues, develop new skills, or explore areas of broad interest in an immersive, short-course format. Content and instructors vary by offering.

INAM 5964. Projects for Professionals. (0 Hours)

Offers students an applied project setting in which to apply their curricular learning. Working with a sponsor, students refine an applied research topic, perform research, develop recommendations that are shared with a partner sponsor, and create a plan for implementing their recommendations. Seeks to benefit students with a curriculum that supports the development of key business communication skills, project and client management skills, and frameworks for business analysis. Offers students an opportunity to learn from sponsor feedback, review 'lessons learned,' and incorporate suggestions from this review to improve and further develop their career development and professional plan. May be repeated two times.

INAM 5965. Engaging with Industry Partners for Rising Professionals. (0 Hours)

Offers students an enhanced applied project setting in which to apply their curricular learning. Working with a partner sponsor, students refine an applied research topic, perform research, develop recommendations that are shared with the partner sponsor, and create a plan for implementing their recommendations. Curriculum supports students as they develop key business communication skills, project and client management skills, and frameworks for business analysis. Offers students an opportunity to learn from sponsor feedback, review lessons learned, and incorporate suggestions to improve and further hone their career development and professional plan. Career development opportunities through skill-building workshops, panels, and interview preparation are available. Partner-student interactions, including a culminating project presentation, allow partners to assess student potential for co-op, internship, or other employment opportunities with the partner. May be repeated two times.

INAM 5973. Topics in Making. (1-4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity for advanced undergraduate- or graduate-level examination of a subject in making. May be repeated for up to 8 SH.

INAM 5976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers directed study of a specific topic not normally contained in the regular course offerings but within the area of expertise of a faculty member. May be repeated seven times for a maximum of 32 semester hours.

INAM 5983. Interdisciplinary Special Topics. (3,4 Hours)

Addresses timely trends, issues, and events. Offers students an opportunity to learn about and respond to issues of the day in an immersive, interdisciplinary format. Content and instructors vary by offering. May be repeated nineteen times.

INAM 6000. Interdisciplinary Critique Studio. (4 Hours)

Builds critical analysis skills and introduces students to rigorous artistic dialog. Offers direct, focused feedback on specific student projects. Feedback is conceptual and technical, serving to push the work forward and give students a critical perspective on how their work functions in the world. Offers students the time and the resources to work on long-term projects and to research and develop a more individual body of work. Also provides an opportunity to network, providing an introduction to professional practices in the visual arts, such as exhibiting art works, applying for grants, and teaching.

INAM 6100. Critical Foundations of Creative Practice. (4 Hours)

Introduces core theoretical foundations of the creative practice and creativity studies fields. Considers interdisciplinary, contemporary, and critical frameworks alongside themes such as creative economies; performance and reception studies; placemaking; social and ecological justice; critical race and gender studies; and the intersection of ethics, culture, politics, and public policy around modes of creative practice.

INAM 6200. Topics in Communication Strategies. (4 Hours)

Explores methods and techniques of professional writing to build creative narratives for cultural leaders as well as written and nonwritten communication. Covers strategies for advocacy, including artists/program notes, grant opportunities, business plans, blogs, op-eds, new media, marketing/promotion, and strategic positioning. Offers students an opportunity to develop a portfolio of documents (written and nonwritten) to establish a core for future communication platforms.

INAM 6210. Projects in Interdisciplinary Creative Practice. (4 Hours)

Focuses on project management and assessment for creative projects and related entrepreneurial enterprises; critiques of creative work and creative organizing projects; analysis and application of multiple forms of assessment of the professional practice; and planning for intellectual property, branding, and marketing challenges. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to articulate and implement medium-to-long-range strategies for reaching next career stages and achieving larger goals in their creative enterprises.

INAM 6300. Models for Applied Inquiry in Creative Practice. (4 Hours)

Focuses on thoughtful engagement with diverse and emerging forms of critical inquiry, professional engagement, and creative practice for artists, entrepreneurs, and administrators. Through course work and interaction with leading practitioners, offers students an opportunity to gain an understanding of the impact that forms of production and business models have on potential contribution to fields of critical practice and their diverse culture, while developing innovative models for their own creative, critical, and entrepreneurial endeavors.

INAM 6301. Integrative Research Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to work independently on a research project of choice that integrates two or more creative disciplines. The research project results in students crafting their artist statement.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 6300 with a minimum grade of B-

INAM 6360. Ethnographic Methods and the Arts. (4 Hours)

Considers what ethnography might teach us about creative industries, what it contributes to marketplace research and decision making, and how it informs creative practice. Ethnography uses participant/observation and other methods of collecting qualitative data to research specific social groups and their cultures. Asks for what purposes ethnographic methods are best suited and how ethnography might contribute to cross-cultural understanding, arts leadership, and creative practice. Covers what unique methodological issues ethnographic research in the arts might pose. Offers graduate students an opportunity to develop, with faculty guidance, an original research proposal and independently practice ethnographic methods.

INAM 6430. AI and Creative Exploration. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn how to use off-the-shelf technologies (i.e., prompt engineering for generative AI platforms) and to design AI systems on their own using web interfaces, Python frameworks, cloud-based GPUs, etc. Combines technological training with a critical analysis of AI-based artworks. Designed to help students integrate AI tools and methods into their existing practice. The projects are student driven and should serve to further the students’ own research and creative practice. No limitations are placed on the field of application (e.g., visual arts, moving images, games, sound, writing, dance, and movement); however, strongly emphasizes the ethical and socioeconomic impact of AI tools on society—both within and beyond the boundaries of art.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5000 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 6500. Communication for Social Change. (2 Hours)

Examines the communication strategies employed by national and international organizations, including rhetorical messaging, public advocacy, grassroots organizing, fundraising, and media outreach efforts. Consumers are increasingly interested in an organization’s stance on social and political issues. The digital age has provided new ways to access information and support brands that embody the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and a net positive impact on social movements. Analyzes the platforms these organizations have chosen, the importance of authentic transparency, and how these concepts may be integrated into the core values of any organization regardless of industry sector.

INAM 6505. User Engagement and Experience Design. (2 Hours)

Examines the potential of interfaces as mediators between information and users. Covers the fundamentals of user experience design (UX) and the foundations for interaction design. Explores iterative prototyping and research methods to analyze patterns of behavior and implications of interface on effective communication. Includes utilizing observation, empathy, ethnography, and participatory design methods to offer students an opportunity to increase their understanding of audience and stakeholder motivations and expectations.

INAM 6510. User Engagement and Organizational Communication. (2 Hours)

Studies sensitivity to the needs and goals of various stakeholders in order to design integrated communication messaging to maximize impact and engagement across channels. New workplace trends and the changing technological landscape make it clear that connecting with others to exchange knowledge and ideas is a crucial element of success. New digital platforms, corporate team collaboration sites, and social media networks are making it easier than ever to connect with colleagues and external audiences across the globe.

INAM 6515. Design Studio: Multidisciplinary Projects. (2 Hours)

Focuses on the development of systems, artifacts, communication, and service offerings tailored to the unique personal experience of the audience. Covers a range of research methods, ideation processes, and theoretical frameworks to help students make reasoned judgments when facing complicated situations. Students work in research teams to solve complex multidisciplinary projects requiring iterative, collaborative, and innovative approaches.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5415 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 6520. User Experience and Emerging Technologies 2. (2 Hours)

Continues the exploration of how immersive technology is revolutionizing the relationship between organizational storytellers and their audiences. Covers virtual reality video formats as a powerful tool providing a 360-degree view of the story to engage multiple audiences. Lab work explores new immersive augmented and mixed-reality formats for publication, exhibition, or other form of information distribution. Offers students an opportunity to learn immersive storytelling concepts using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5520 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 6525. Fundamentals of Systems Design 2. (2 Hours)

Introduces system modeling methods for representing different types and aspects of systems including continuous models, discrete models, probabilistic models, and structural models. System modeling and simulation software packages are used to understand and predict system behavior. Various forms of physical prototyping are also applied as complementary methods to understand, analyze, explore, and evaluate systems through the development process.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5525 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 6530. Emerging Practices in Technology and the Arts in Context. (4 Hours)

Exposes students to a range of new tools and techniques for making art in a contemporary interdisciplinary framework. Explores how digital technology is reshaping artistic methodologies, affinities, and ways of making. Enriches existing student creative practices and encourages expansion into new, interdisciplinary territories. Includes guest lectures, performances, and off-site visits as well as studio workshops, discussions, and critiques.

INAM 6900. Interdisciplinary Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to work on real-world, open-ended projects proposed by industry partners and university research centers. Students work in diverse teams as they apply creativity, collaboration, and design concepts to conceptualize the problem, define functional requirements, identify risks and countermeasures, and prototype solutions.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5415 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C

INAM 6976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers directed study of a specific topic not normally contained in the regular course offerings but within the area of expertise of a faculty member. May be repeated without limit.

INAM 7000. Introduction to Research in Interdisciplinary Design and Media. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of different forms of art and design research. Designed to guide students in crafting a plan for navigating their own individual path through the program. Creates a shared vocabulary for interdisciplinary research and sets expectations for the remainder of each student’s highly individualized path. Throughout the semester, the class reads and discusses key texts on interdisciplinary arts and design and media research; researches and reports on case studies of other research that relates to the direction of their research, including dissertations by prior students from CAMD and other institutions; and participates in guest presentations/discussions by program faculty regarding the integration of research and practice.

INAM 7001. Research Methods in Interdisciplinary Design and Media. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of research designs and methods across disciplines. Discusses how to select and use these methods and strategies and discusses IRB procedures. Includes guest presentations from faculty across the campus. This course is not meant as a comprehensive methodological training but rather an overview that should be complemented with at least one specialized methods course from a university-wide list of courses in the first semester of study and two others in the second semester of study.

INAM 7100. Thesis Proposal. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to develop and present a proposal for a topic of study/research based on their creative disciplines to a faculty committee for approval. Requires a definition of the scope of the project, a description of the interdisciplinary nature of the work, the methodologies for the research, and the assumptions being questioned or analyzed. The thesis research proposal must demonstrate the student’s ability to carry out independent interdisciplinary creative practice research.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 6301 with a minimum grade of B-

INAM 7900. Research Seminar. (4 Hours)

Requires students to present their work in progress for feedback by their peers, faculty, and visitors. The work conducted in this seminar serves as the foundation for establishing the topic and method of study employed for the dissertation.

INAM 7901. Dissertation Writing Seminar. (4 Hours)

Introduces and discusses conventions in dissertation writing such as structure, contextualization, argumentation, tone, formality, and citation styles. Development of a thesis proposal and honing the project’s methodology is the main function of this course. Offer students an opportunity to continue developing publishable scholarly work that is associated with the dissertation project.

INAM 7990. Thesis. (4 Hours)

Offers the candidate, working with a thesis advisor, an opportunity to continue to complete the research project defined and proposed in INAM 7100. The research is carried out in an independent manner, with periodic presentations to the thesis committee. These presentations define the benchmarks for determination of successful progress in the project. The ultimate result is an exhibition, screening, performance, or other form of public display or presentation, together with a thesis paper or written corollary.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 7100 with a minimum grade of B-

INAM 7996. Thesis Continuation - Half-Time. (0 Hours)

Offers continued work on the thesis project.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 7990 with a minimum grade of B-

INAM 8986. Research. (0 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to conduct full-time research under faculty supervision. May be repeated up to three times.

INAM 9000. PhD Candidacy Achieved. (0 Hours)

Indicates successful completion of program requirements for PhD candidacy.

INAM 9700. Dissertation Fieldwork. (0 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to pursue experiential research outside the classroom and outside the university.

INAM 9990. Dissertation Term 1. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by individual members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 9000 with a minimum grade of S

INAM 9991. Dissertation Term 2. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by individual members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 9990 with a minimum grade of S

INAM 9996. Dissertation Continuation. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by individual members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 9991 with a minimum grade of S

MUSC 5973. Special Topics in Music. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to music. May be repeated twice for a maximum of 12 total semester hours.

MUSC 6300. Music Perception and Cognition Research. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of the perceptual, cognitive, and brain bases of performing, composing, and listening to music for enjoyment and for human benefit. Studies how and why music stimulates our senses and how it can promote health and well-being. Topics include theories and empirical research on pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre; music and language; development of musical ability; and special populations in musical functions. Meetings include demonstrations and exercises in experiment design and data analysis. Requires an in-depth research project (paper and in-class presentation), in consultation with the instructor. By the end of this course, students should be able to design and conduct their own research study in music perception and cognition.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUSC 6510. Music and the Brain Advanced Research. (4 Hours)

Reviews contemporary studies in cognitive neuroscience of music, specifically in speech, language, and music. Offers students an opportunity to obtain in-depth training on the methods of cognitive neuroscience of music. Students design and implement a group project, analyze the data, and write up the results in an end-of-term paper.

MUSI 5220. The Independent Performing Songwriter: Creation, Commerce, and Well-Being. (4 Hours)

Explores the evolving terrain of the independent music industry for songwriters who write, perform, and release music independently. Examines songwriting, production, performance, and how to navigate the digital music landscape effectively. Covers the business side of music including rights, royalties, and branding strategies. Studies best practices to manage one's own career. Emphasizes the artist's well-being, exploring mindfulness, time management, and resilience to maintain a sustainable and fulfilling career. Offers students an opportunity to enhance artistic skills and obtain a holistic understanding of the music industry.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 5330. Actionable Analytics in the Music Industries. (4 Hours)

Covers the analytical frameworks and tools to obtain, evaluate, analyze, interpret, and visualize data from the music industries. Explores the metrics most often used in Artists and Repertoire, concert booking and promotion, streaming music and video, paid and organic social media, music publishing, brand partnerships, and the independent artist journey. Addresses data analysis tools and data aggregation platforms, whose capabilities enable the creation of visualizations and data-informed narratives that support decision-making processes to achieve specific artist, professional, and organizational objectives and outcomes.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data

MUSI 5973. Special Topics in Music Industry. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to the music industry. May be repeated up to two times for up to 12 total credits.

MUSI 6964. Co-op Work Experience. (0 Hours)

Offers eligible students an opportunity for work experience.

MUSI 7976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers independent work under the direction of members of the department on chosen topics. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 7980. Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to integrate their course work, knowledge, and experiences into a capstone project. Offers students an opportunity to work in partnership with local, state, or national leaders to produce an operational music company. This is a faculty-guided project for students completing course work in music industry leadership studies.

MUST 5973. Special Topics in Music Technology. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to music technology. May be repeated up to two times for up to 12 total credits.

MUST 6603. Embedded Programming for Digital Musical Instruments. (4 Hours)

Explores embedded computers and their employment for the design of digital musical instruments. Studies how to program low-level audio applications that take advantage of the responsiveness and the interactive features of embedded systems. Starts with an overview of high-level embedded audio programming; then transitions into a deep exploration of low-level C++ programming techniques, specific for the design of digital musical instruments. Primarily covers low-latency real-time audio synthesis/processing, yet includes an in-depth introduction to physical computing, sensors, and simple electronics. Offers students an opportunity to gain experience with the full design-development-test cycle of software and hardware components of digital musical instruments within the confines of a final project. Requires knowledge of audio and programming.

THTR 5300. Devised Theatre Project. (4 Hours)

Investigates innovative and experimental methods of making an original theatre performance in which the actors are also the creators. Functions as a collaborative ensemble of actors that train, rehearse, and perform together. Explores performance theories and rehearsal techniques using language, movement, music, images, and autobiography to create a performative event inspired by a central theme drawn from literature, art, politics, or history. May culminate in a public performance. Requires prior completion of theatre training.

Prerequisite(s): THTR 1120 with a minimum grade of D- or THTR 1130 with a minimum grade of D- or THTR 2342 with a minimum grade of D- or graduate program admission

THTR 5450. Acting 3. (4 Hours)

Offers advanced acting training by exploring a variety of approaches useful in bringing the heightened dramatic texts alive on stage. Demands a free and efficient actor instrument: body, intellect, voice, and imagination simultaneously engaged and able to be compellingly present, and impeccable listening skills. Expects a significant amount of preparation, practice, and rehearsal outside the studio. Requires prior completion of basic acting training.

Prerequisite(s): THTR 2342 with a minimum grade of C or graduate program admission

THTR 5700. Design for Immersive Performance. (4 Hours)

Functions as an upper level design course focusing on designing space and media for theatre performance, with an emphasis on non-traditional and immersive formats. Involves lectures and projects in each discipline, with options for specific student interests. Culminates in an immersive performance conceived, designed, and created by the students. Students work in groups to create sections of the performance, focusing on the specific design discipline that interests them or for which they have experience.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

THTR 5973. Topics in Fashion Design Studies. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level in-depth examination of a subject of particular significance in the fashion industry. May be repeated up to four times.

THTR 6100. Advanced Creative Storytelling for Social Engagement. (4 Hours)

Examines the ways people use creative storytelling to forge human connection in digital environments. Includes theoretical readings and critical analysis of digital performances in social and historical context, alongside experiential projects in which students create digital performance projects and curate collections of digital performances for particular audiences and purposes. This creative practice research course is open to advanced students with established storytelling skills in any discipline.

THTR 6650. Advanced Performing Theory. (4 Hours)

Investigates performance as a method of analysis by examining foundational critical and performance theories and their relationship to contemporary performance practices. Performance studies as a field defines “performance” broadly, encompassing a wide range of live and digital performances within the contexts of everyday life, interpersonal communication, performance art, music, games, and theater. Also includes performance installations, interactive events, mixed-media storytelling, digital performance, procedurally authored performance, mainstream and avant-garde theatre, etc. Students use theoretically grounded methods of creating original performance projects as research. Open to students with established generative storytelling skills in any discipline.

THTR 6670. Advanced Mixed Media Performance Lab. (4 Hours)

Focuses on multi-media performance design. Involves lectures and creative practice research projects in different disciplines, with options for specific student interests. Includes research and analysis of focused evidence to make an original contribution to the current scholarly and/or professional conversation on their chosen topic. Culminates in an immersive prototype conceived by the class in collaboration with the instructor with emphasis on mixed media, multi-camera shooting, the creation of 3D sets, and green screen technology in a low-fi visual effects (VFX) environment. Students work in groups to create sections of the performance, focusing on the specific design discipline in which they are interested or for which they have experience.

THTR 6973. Advanced Topics in Performance Studies. (4 Hours)

Examines at a graduate level a specific facet of particular significance in the interdisciplinary field of performance studies. The field examines how embodied, digital, and nonhuman performance operates within a wide variety of contexts such as everyday life, public events, interpersonal communications, performance art, games, and theatrical events. May culminate in the creation of original performance projects. May be repeated up to two times.