When the 2012-2013 course catalog is released in March, students will see several new classes added to it. They will also see two new concentrations being offered to students: Film Studies and Arts Administration.
For a concentration to be approved, a proposal must first be presented to all participating departments. The Arts Administration concentration, for example, is the product of the Music and Business departments.
From there, the proposal is sent to the Academic Policies Committee, a group comprised of professors in several different departments and two students, which either approves or disapproves it.
First proposed in 2007 by English professor Vincent Hausmann and several other faculty, the Film Studies concentration was initially rejected.
"The first time around it was rejected because they felt we didn't have enough courses distributed across the requisite number of departments," Hausmann said.
After making several changes to the original curriculum and adding new faculty to the project, the concentration was again proposed in 2011—and approved.
"I think the perseverance helped," Hausmann said.
Four classes in at least three departments are required to complete the concentration. Classes can be taken in English, Communications, History, Asian Studies, and Modern Languages and Literature.
"The nature of cinema is interdisciplinary," Hausmann said, explaining why the concentration crosses department lines.
Hausmann said he thinks the concentration will be easy to complete because it requires only four courses, some of which count towards general education requirements.
The Film Studies faculty plan to have an inaugural event to introduce the concentration in Fall 2012.
Hausmann is also working with the Independent Film Society to sponsor a CLP on Feb. 22 that will bring filmmaker and Furman alum Chris White to screen his film "Get Better" with the goal of getting students excited about the new concentration.
Music professor Mark Britt is working with the Business department to hire a professor for the new Arts Administration concentration. The concentration will be housed in the Business and Accounting department suite and will focus on aspects of running a non-profit arts organization.
Classes for the concentration will cover accounting, marketing, and fundraising. Additionally, the Music department is planning to hire two new professors to teach musicology and lyric theater (opera and musical theater).
These three new faculty positions are made possible by an $800,000 grant Furman recently received from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to enrich the school's fine arts programs. Furman also received a $2 million grant from the Duke Endowment in November 2011.
Both Hausmann and Britt noted student interest in their respective concentrations.
"There have been students who've come and said they're interested," Hausmann said. "Students who have studied film in high school, who want to make film."
Britt said, "[Art Administration] is a growing field and very flexible," noting that several Furman alumni are pursuing graduate studies and careers in that field.
While recognizing that the programs are in their introductory phases now, organizers hope they will grow. Hausmann expressed optimism about the future of the Film Studies concentration.
"Who knows," he said, "maybe it will develop into a major."