Media and Entertainment, B.S.

The Media and Entertainment major at Kennesaw State University invites students to explore the critical ways in which communication and converged media connect with and affect our lives, society, and culture. The theoretically-based program focuses on the forms and effects of media, including radio, film, television, print, and electronic media, and requires that students demonstrate basic digital media production skills.

Our students are critically engaged with creative analysis, production, and research into traditional and emerging forms of media. The curriculum emphasizes media history, media institutions, theory and research, production, ethics, policy, management, and technology and their effects on contemporary life. In addition to producing digital media, students learn to analyze and synthesize important information about media’s role both within American society and globally, the formal attributes of a variety of media genres, media as a site of gender and racial identity formation and reflection, and the technological and cultural impacts of digital media. Media and Entertainment Studies majors learn to read and write effectively and look at the world with a critical eye.

Students who graduate with the BS with a major in Media and Entertainment will be ready for careers as media professionals within communication-based industries (i.e., media writing, media production, media editing, media sales, media buyer, media research, public affairs, publishing, public information officer, community outreach, political advocacy, and ministry), government, education, law and policy, management, and/or non-profit organizations. This program also lays the groundwork for further graduate study of mass communication, thus opening the door for employment as instructors in higher education. 

The major requires 18 credit hours of lower-division course work (1000-2000 level) comprising various offerings that serve as important groundwork leading to advanced studies. Lower-division offerings include basic courses in communication research, visual communication, public speaking, writing, law and ethics, and an introductory course relevant to the student’s selected program of study.

All communication and media majors must earn a grade of ‘C’ or better in all communication and media courses counted toward their degree and pass the Communication Entrance Exam with a score of 78% of higher. Students who fail to pass the grammar test in three attempts much pursue majors in other departments.

To be eligible to apply to a major in [Public Relations, Journalism, MENT], students must meet the following criteria:

• Meet the School of Communication & Media (SOCM) Sophomore GPA requirement. This Sophomore GPA requirement consists of combined adjusted 2.75 GPA in the following five courses:
  • COM 2020  
  • COM 2033  
  • COM 2129  
  • COM 2135  
  • COM 2240  
• Achieve a satisfactory score of 78% or higher on the SOCM Entrance Exams. Students may take the test no more than three times.