Outside the lines
New degree programs blur boundaries among university schools
By Summer Skinner

Steve Meeks is a business and computer science student planning to switch to digital media studies in the fall. Already working in the Web publishing industry and with a research position for Google on his résumé, Meeks is glad there is finally a degree program focused on the connection between business and technology.

Tidy lines usually separate a university’s schools or colleges from one another, clearly delineating where an academic program is housed.

These days, however, lines are blurring at UHCL and on campuses across the nation as universities compete to stay relevant in an age of converging media and technology. New graduate programs at UHCL in two traditional fields, communication and biology, address the way technology has radically transformed these established industries. Twentieth-century computer technologies no longer play a secondary role in these fields. Instead, computer technologies have become this century’s driving force behind production and problem-solving methods, as well as key business decisions.

Keeping pace with the emphasis on technology means academic departments have to go outside their comfort zones to pull in courses not usually associated with their fields. The Master of Arts in Digital Media Studies is the first digital media master’s degree in Texas and the first one in UHCL’s history to draw faculty and courses from all four schools in the university. The Master of Science in Biotechnology is the first graduate program in biotechnology in the state to offer concentrations in Molecular Biotechnology, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology and Biotechnology Marketing & Management.

Putting these programs together has required tremendous collaboration among faculty in the schools of Science and Computer Engineering, Human Sciences and Humanities, Education and of Business. For the digital media studies program, having faculty and courses from all four schools is essential to the program’s effectiveness, says Associate Professor of Communication Ashley Packard, who is convenor of the program.

“The core faculty for the digital media studies graduate program comes from two undergraduate programs in the School of Human Sciences and Humanities, communication and visual arts, so the degree was conceived as a partnership from the very beginning,” Packard says. “But we wanted to offer more. We wanted people in the program to acquire complementary skills taught in other schools in the university. Students in the program can learn about the technology and how to use it to communicate effectively from HSH faculty, but they can supplement that with training in e-marketing, business programming and management from faculty in the School of Business. If they envision a need to do work that involves training others, they can take instructional technology classes from faculty in the School of Education, or they can put their animation and graphics skills to use in a gaming course from the School of Science and Computer Engineering.”

Joseph Giarratano, associate professor of computer science and computer information systems in the School of Science and Computer Engineering, is expanding his three-year-old course, “Computer Game Programming,” to include new material on digital media and artificial intelligence. He says the collaboration among all four schools is part of the adaptation to change that universities have been engaged in since their birth in the 12th century.

“In the 19th century it was the Industrial Revolution that needed mechanical and agricultural college graduates to maximize output from factories and farms,” says Giarratano. “Now we are in the Information Age and biotechnology, nanotechnology and a whole host of other novel applications are being explored. No discipline is totally independent of any other. Students today must at least be aware of developments in other fields rather than confining themselves to one narrow specialty.”

The obvious convergence of technology with most industries is what led Steve Meeks, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from University of Kansas, to earn close to 40 hours for a second bachelor’s degree in computer science at UHCL. He is also about halfway through required courses for his MBA. Now Meeks plans to enroll in the digital media studies graduate program.

“As you can see, I’ve been putting together my own informal degree plan that, finally, is now a formal degree,” he says.

The forward-thinking Meeks, who works part-time as a research assistant for Google and also assists with marketing for the niche Web publisher Alesco Enterprises, says he sees a shortage of cross-disciplinary executives who can manage the multiple facets of new media companies.

“The problem I have experienced with many businesses is that someone hired with a singular focus, such as marketing, tends to manage complex projects from a singular approach,” Meeks says. “The digital media studies program provides the breadth of knowledge that would enable an executive to effectively manage complex projects that involve diverse media, messages and audiences.”

By integrating faculty whose areas of expertise range from media theory, law and ethics, Web design and digital photography to information systems administration and management, business marketing and instructional technology, graduates of the program also will be prepared to go into business for themselves.

UHCL graduate student Sarah Salinas, who plans to enroll in the Master of Arts in Digital Media Studies in the fall, says the program offers everything she needs to open her own photography studio after graduation.

Photographer Sarah Salinas is one such future entrepreneur. Currently working as an assistant photographer at Arrant-Grimes Photography Studio, Salinas plans to prepare for opening her own studio by completing a Master of Arts in Digital Media Studies. Her undergraduate degree is in journalism with a minor in digital photography from Sam Houston State University.

“With this program, I am able to venture into learning many different aspects of digital media. The program offers a variety of different classes that touch on both the creative and business aspects of digital media,” she says. “When I graduate, I will be able to take and retouch my own photos, develop my company’s Web site and manage my business and advertise for it as well.”

Currently, the way many communication professionals gain skills in content creation and management for emerging media is through hands-on experience with formats like blogs, interactive television, virtual reality and mobile computing devices such as iPods, Palm Pilots and cell phones. Few degrees are available that train students in all aspects of new media.

“All these big stations in town have the news on your cell phones and on their Web sites. Knowing digital media is an absolute must now,” says Mariana Oyanguren of Lotus Communications Corp., which owns one of Houston’s Spanish-language television stations, KHLM-TV Informa 43. “The more you know, the better off you are in this market. It opens opportunities.”

In many ways, the emerging field of biotechnology is similar to the field of new media. Both have been completely transformed by technology and both have businesses struggling to redefine themselves. UHCL’s new Master of Science in Biotechnology addresses those new concerns by adding technology and business courses to traditional biology courses. New technology has quickly expanded the scientific community’s pool of knowledge, leading to a host of life-changing drugs and vaccines, disease-resistant crops and innovative ways of dealing with hazardous materials. These advances have translated into growing profits for biotech companies that can get their business plans right.

“In the past three decades, the United States and many other countries have seen the birth and growth of this industry dedicated to the generation of a variety of products needed for medicine, agriculture and biomedical research,” says Associate Professor of Biology and Program Chair Larry Rohde.

Those new products require a new type of scientist able to manage and market biotechnology companies as well as understand the science that drives them. Through a partnership with faculty in the School of Business, the School of Science and Computer Engineering was able to respond quickly to the changing environment in the biological sciences and create the biotechnology master’s degree program.

To learn more about the biotechnology program, call 281-283-3711, send an e-mail to
sceadvising@uhcl.edu or visit www.uhcl.edu/sce/biotech. To learn more about the digital media studies program, call 281-283-3333, send an e-mail to HSHadvising@uhcl.edu or visit www.hsh.uhcl.edu/DMS.

INDUSTRIAL GRADE: New and emerging media are different from old media in more ways than the technology. Find out what Houston-area communicators have to say about the role of ethics and creativity in their field now by visting the Web Exclusives section of Egret Online.