The School of Humanities has a new bachelor’s degree in the works: Bachelor of Science in Digital Media and Communication. It is set to start in fall 2025, with a soft launch in March 2025 so students can declare it as their major.

This program allows Humanities students an opportunity to stay for more than two years, as it is the first bachelor’s degree that the School of Humanities will offer. The new degree focuses on many subjects in humanities while also incorporating opportunities in business pathways.

“Art, as well as graphic design, is a major focus of the degree, and anything in film,” Dean of Humanities Jessica Lindberg said. “And of course most importantly, anything in communication and journalism.”

Some of the classes that will be available in this program include Writing for Digital Media, Media Law and Ethics, Digital Design and Publishing, and Foundations of Graphic Design.

As the name suggests, this degree is a Bachelor of Science, differentiating it from a Bachelor of Arts degree with more science-focused courses.

“Typically, degrees fall into two categories: Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, and there’s not a lot of difference,” Division Chair of Humanities Allen Dutch said. “In a Bachelor of Science program, you might take an extra science class, but sometimes you don’t. It’s just a designation.”

Students in this program will develop technological skills in graphic design, Photoshop, Adobe Suite and more. According to Lindberg, they will also learn about marketing, public relations and event coordination through real-world examples and experimental learning.

This program differs from others because it collaborates digital media with the School of Business. Nine credit hours from the School of Business are included in this program.

This degree’s purpose is to provide students with a digital media experience that is not readily available at colleges in North Georgia. According to Lindberg, many students who chose this pathway in the past had to look as far as Atlanta or Kennesaw.

“The northwest Georgia area is huge in the creative economy of the state. There’s a lot of growth and potential here,” Lindberg said. “We want to be on the edge of discovering this region.”

The program is now fully built and approved by the University System of Georgia.The humanities team is preparing the classes in the program for the arrival of students.

As of now, 75% of the program will be available online. According to Dutch, the plan for future development is to have 90% of the program available online within a few years.

“One of the things we wanted to make sure of is that the degree will give people the opportunity to work in what we like to refer to as the ‘creative economy’ in Georgia,” Dutch said.

To contact the School of Humanities and learn more about the Digital Media and Communication program, students can email [email protected].