The schools of Dance, Film and Theater will merge into one this fall after years of work in hopes of making a more creative and streamlined program.
In February 2011, a commit tee was formed under the former dean of the College of Fine Arts, Charles McWeeny, for the purpose of merging curriculums.
“There is much to be gained by this union,” McWeeny said in a previous Post article. “This will support recognized undergradu ate, graduate and (Honors Tuto rial College) programs, offer new possibilities for creative research, and support the college’s goals of multidisciplinary and interdisci plinary collaboration.”
The first step of this merger in volves organizing the curriculum and scheduling so students can more easily take classes in differ ent schools.
“The issue was (when) the courses were scheduled in the day,” said Madeleine Scott, founding director of the School of Dance. “You need to… offer a class at a time when dance ma jors can take theater courses. … (The merger) will help people take courses they’ve been wanting to take and were encouraged to take but couldn’t because of schedul ing conflicts.”
Courses that were considered special offerings are now looking to be regularized.
The other steps of the merger are more structural and organiza tional, which Scott said is highly critical for a successful merger.
“We’re not just merging pro grams,” she said. “We’re hoping to find a way to coordinate three dif ferent cultures.”
The goal is to complete the structural pieces within the year, but Scott said she thinks the in tegration of individual programs might take longer since it has to come from the ground up.
Committees and faculty were not the only ones with input in the merger. Scott said students were part of the entire conversation. Meetings were held with students from all the schools, both under graduate and graduate, and stu dent participation will continue.
Paige Barnes, a junior study ing stage management, said the merger will help College of Fine Arts students have a more com plete knowledge of their fields.
“A lot of theater kids I know are interested in getting experience in film,” she said. “Many think because they’ve worked in one they’ll be skilled in the other, and it just doesn’t work that way.”
