The Creative Media Department is near the end of its five-year pilot program and preparing to transition into a “regular” major at CSU Stanislaus. Students have enrolled in the program since its inception in 2019 as the field continues to draw interest and careers soar in the digital world.
The department was created to address the demand in several disciplines to help prepare students for a robust career in digital media that include graphic design, journalism, photography, marketing, and video production.
Professor Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, who teaches videography, helped lead the way to create the program.
“When it first launched, we had like six or seven majors,” she said. “Now we’re up to forty.”
The department has grown steadily over the years despite being launched during COVID-19, but word-of-mouth seems to have helped this new department in many positive ways.
Gomula points out they have been able to grow even without any active recruiting.
“Even now with our first round of graduates, we seem to be slightly larger.,” she said.
Next year, the department will transition into a regular status and is looking into revising the class groupings to keep areas from bottlenecking, according to Gomula. There are a couple of goals and plans to develop a Creative Media minor and start a master’s program. These goals add immense value to the already robust field of study in Creative Media.
Students are attracted to the department’s broad range of creative courses and appreciate the one-on-one academic support.
Jacqueline Davis (senior, Creative Media) says about the department, “it’s really nice that it’s a small community.” She looked at classes she wanted to take and discovered she could do many of them in the program.
Davis’s career goals are geared toward digital marketing and fashion combining all the elements she enjoys working with and creating. She recommends the program for anyone determined to be creative and willing to overcome creative blocks.
Creative Media students are provided with visual, written, and graphic communication classes to fulfill their major and the means to discover their preferred creative outlet.
Tania Guiterrez (junior, Creative Media) suggests that since the major is so broad, she recommends making sure you take classes that are related to what you want to do after college.
“[It] can lead to so many opportunities in the future,” she said, “Jobs related to music, film, TV, design, technology, and more.”
Guiterrez says her favorite part of being in the program is how much she has learned from her professors and fellow classmates.
“As a creative media major, you never stop learning,” she said.
Her most memorable moment has been making a documentary for Visual Anthropology.
Highlights of the Creative Media major, according to Gomula-Kruzic, are getting to see different aspects of media making as well as being able to build your own degree path, which gives everyone a different experience.
In a short amount of time, the program has surely grown and continues to thrive at Stan State. For more information about the Creative Media program contact Jessica Gomula-Kruzic at (209) 667-3436 or email [email protected] College of the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences the Academic Success Center for an appointment if you’re interested in change of major.