Interdisciplinary Programs

AACE 6000. Arts and Culture Organizational Leadership. (3 Hours)

Offers an overview and introduction to leadership knowledge areas, tools, and skills sets for the arts and culture sector. Key topics include issues and challenges in the management of arts-oriented organizations, leadership characteristics and techniques for arts and culture teams, balancing organizational priorities with artistic vision and values, board formation and management, audience outreach, and operational practices. Focuses on the administration of people and processes to communicate mission; realize goals; and effectively manage the creative resources, human resources, and financial challenges of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.

AACE 6010. Planning for Arts and Cultural Organizations. (3 Hours)

Offers an overview and introduction to knowledge areas and primary skills sets for planning, launching, and sustaining arts and cultural organizations. Key topics include evaluating opportunities in the arts and culture sector; building effective vision, mission, and values for arts and culture initiatives in balance with civic and community contexts; smart approaches to arts and culture funding; developing sustainable and flexible strategic plans; and planning challenges for the contemporary strategic arts organization.

AACE 6020. Experiential Study in Arts Administration. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn best practices in arts project management, including how to assess and scope a project, develop a timeline with clear action items and goals, relay needs and expectations to clients, research materials to assist in the process, and measure and deliver project results. Faculty coach students to cultivate professional skill sets, build competency around key areas of student interest, and bridge theory with practice. Students receive feedback from their project sponsor, review lessons learned, and incorporate suggestions to improve and further develop their career plans. Seeks to support the development of business communication skills, project and client management skills, and frameworks for analysis.

AACE 6110. Information Technology for Arts and Cultural Organizations. (3 Hours)

Offers nontechnical students an opportunity to obtain a clear and current understanding of key information technology (IT) concepts set in the context of arts and cultural organizations and to empower them to make decisions that map technology to strategy. Covers how to identify technical terms, stakeholders, and issues; evaluate IT challenges; apply best-practice frameworks; and identify business needs and compare technical solutions in order to minimize cost and maximize strategic alignment. Combines readings, casework, video lectures, screen casts, guest videos, and a hands-on approach to researching solutions and leading change. Includes both group and individual deliverables that students synthesize to create and present a final project.

AACE 6120. Advocacy and the Arts. (3 Hours)

Seeks to equip future arts leaders with the competence, power, and commitment to act in the interest of creative resilience—and creativity—for the collective good. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to both advocate for the arts and advocate through the arts. Each module presents a specific challenge faced by artists and arts institutions and compels students to identify and articulate creative solutions to overcome this challenge. Exposes students to diverse knowledge sources—including theoretical and practical literature, organizational and project case studies, and guest presentations by arts leaders in the Boston area—to help prepare students for this important work.

AACE 6200. Programming and Community Engagement for Cultural Entrepreneurs. (3 Hours)

Examines the role and tools of the cultural entrepreneur and investigates practical and tactical approaches centered around real-world examples. Topics include how cultural entrepreneurs turn new ideas into concrete initiatives and how they communicate with and learn from their audiences and communities to assess and evaluate the implementation of cultural endeavors. Offers students an opportunity to create their own cultural initiative from the ground up. Through modules covering mission and vision, program evaluation, community engagement, and basic resource management, the successful student should finish the course with a real project “in a box,” ready to launch.

AACE 6210. Building Value Through Cultural Enterprise. (3 Hours)

Examines the question of value through the lens of cultural institutions big and small. Explores examples from real-world case studies. Focuses on areas of value, ways to measure impact on both qualitative and quantitative levels, and how to demonstrate that impact to a variety of audiences from our daily visitors to our federal government. Value in the cultural sector is a critical question that institutions and individuals working in this area must answer on a regular basis for themselves, their constituents, and their supporters.

AACE 6220. Innovative Approaches to Audience Engagement. (3 Hours)

Investigates the philosophy, methods, and application of a wide spectrum of audience engagement strategies. Utilizes provided materials, inquiry-based research practices, and experiential study to introduce students to the various interpretations and outcomes of effective audience engagement, particularly as it relates to an arts organization’s mission, vision, and values. Drawing directly from their course work and research, students are paired with an arts organization to design a creative audience engagement strategy that both aligns with the organization’s mission and supports a new visionary initiative.

AACE 6300. Fundraising in the Arts. (3 Hours)

Offers advanced study of fundraising and resource development within the arts and cultural sector. Designed to help students develop the knowledge and skills required to create and increase various revenue streams. Covers fundraising ethics, grant writing, sponsorship proposals, pitching, stakeholder and volunteer engagement, storytelling, and other skills necessary to support fundraising goals. When applicable, students are encouraged to use this course to explore and apply fundraising fundamentals for their organization, startup, or creative practice.

AACE 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

AACE 6973. Special Topics in Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship. (2-4 Hours)

Focuses on a specific topic of relevance to the domain of arts administration and cultural entrepreneurship. Topics vary each semester. May be repeated up to 5 times for a maximum of 20 semester hours.

COMM 5250. Communication and Technology Research Methods. (4 Hours)

Presents an in-depth introduction to ethical quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches in communication, media, and technology-related research. Offers practice in concept explication and analysis across levels of society—from the individual to the organization. Covers designing and analyzing survey and content data, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, focus groups, ethnography, community-based research, and comparative case studies.

COMM 5510. Technology and Strategic Communication. (4 Hours)

Provides a current, integrated, and strategic approach to digital media practice and scholarship applied to strategic communication. Examines research literature on social media, search engine optimization, extended reality, and artificial intelligence and applies concepts studied to a real-world project or campaign. Students critique how digital technologies have been used strategically and develop their own goal-based strategy, content, format, and evaluation plan. Discusses ethical implications and impacts on diverse audiences.

COMM 6304. Communication and Inclusion. (4 Hours)

Explores the relationships between communication, social identity, and social inclusion. Focuses on how communication shapes perceptions and positions of social identity categories and how individuals and groups resist and transform identity and promote inclusion through communication. Examines communication and inclusion in the contexts of gender, race, sexual identity, social class, ability, and age. Course topics cover a range of theoretical and practical issues, including diversity in organizational settings and the social construction of identity.

COMM 6320. Political Communication. (4 Hours)

Covers the major theories about the role of communication in U.S. politics, public opinion, and public policy. Discusses how to formulate and evaluate your own theory-based hypotheses on the influence of media in American democracy. Emphasizes the role and place of the media in a democratic system devoted to the proposition that the government should be responsive to the "will of the people." The course is organized around five subjects that are central to the study of political communication: communication systems and practices; communication effects: media, politics, and society; the politics of entertainment and the changing political information environment; elections, accountability, and the mass media; and media and political institutions.

COMM 6500. Environmental Issues, Communication, and Media. (4 Hours)

Analyzes major debates over the environment, climate change, and related technologies such as nuclear energy, wind power, natural gas “fracking,” and food biotechnology. Studies the relevant scientific, political, and ethical dimensions of each case; the generalizable theories, frameworks, and methods that scholars use to analyze them; and the implications for effective public communication, policymaker engagement, and personal decision making. Offers students an opportunity to gain an integrated understanding of their different roles as professionals, advocates, and consumers and to improve their ability to find and use expert sources of information; assess competing media claims and narratives; write persuasive essays, analyses, and commentaries; and author evidence-based research papers.

COMM 6631. Crisis Communication and Image Management. (4 Hours)

Examines literature related to crisis communication—including theories, models, and strategies—and establishes ethical principles in terms of what, how, and when essential elements must be employed for effective and ethical crisis communication. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to distinguish between an incident and a crisis; to analyze communication practices and methods applied during a crisis; to apply social scientific theory to explain how and why a crisis occurred; and to draw upon theory to develop effective crisis communication plans. Assesses responses to crises using ethical principles such as transparency (the what element), two-way symmetrical communication (the how element), and timing (the when element). Designed to prepare communication professionals who appreciate the need for responsible advocacy when responding to crises.

COMM 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 6995. Research Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete and present a high-level research project. Requires the framing of a significant question or set of questions, the research to find answers, and written communication skills to convey the results to a wide range of audiences. Projects bridge theory and practice and are intended to have an impact on the professional life of students.

Prerequisite(s): COMM 5250 with a minimum grade of C-

COMM 7962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

CRTE 5010. Understanding Creative Technologies. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to engage with the communicative and ethical dimensions of new technology through a combination of empirical analysis and problem solving. Organized into four units that collectively present an interdisciplinary approach to media and technology in the 21st century. Begins with a technology-focused unit that emphasizes how social and cultural contexts shape how machines function and how people interact with them. Continues with units concerning digital media and design and audience that introduce the creation of media content through a critical lens. Concludes with a unit on ethics that asks students to reflect on the ethical dimensions of the decisions and problem solving highlighted in previous units.

CRTE 5030. Developing Creative Technologies. (4 Hours)

Explores tools, processes, and technologies to develop human-centered prototype experiences with creative technologies. Offers students an opportunity to learn, use, experiment with, and test creative technologies using prototype scopes ranging from rapid and paper prototypes to mid- and high-fidelity prototypes. Also offers choice of technology based on student interest. Students share and learn through critique and user testing from interdisciplinary feedback to improve their prototype projects.

CRTE 6500. Creative Technologies Studio. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the design of experiences and artifacts using creative technologies starting with concepts and culminating with a usable project. Students utilize multiple ideation methods to develop their project ideas. Once ideas have been cultivated, students work individually or as part of a small group to bring their project to fruition. Students work in critical groups to strengthen project ideas, prototype them using current hardware and software to collect meaningful feedback, and iterate to improve the project. Designed to illustrate the need for rapid innovation, resiliency, and gracefulness in the face of frequent failure situations.

CRTE 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

CRTE 7500. Creative Technologies Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to create a culminating project that builds upon the studio course project and aligns with their chosen concentration and professional aspirations. Students work individually or as part of a small group to outline a proposal to guide the planning and design of the project that will serve as the cornerstone of their portfolio. Weekly work results in a formal prototype, written report, and final presentation that discusses and reflects on the design process at the crossroads of methodological, systematic iteration and creative exploration.

Prerequisite(s): CRTE 6500 with a minimum grade of C

EXRE 5010. Immersive Media: Extended Realities (XR) History, Theory, and Impact. (4 Hours)

Introduces the historical foundation and conceptual frameworks with which to analyze and interrogate extended reality experiences, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. Covers the theoretical, cultural, and technological developments that have informed contemporary XR. Explores the promises, dreams, and expectations, as well as the ethical concerns and philosophical dilemmas, associated with the field. Offers students an opportunity to create XR experiences and prototype their own ideas.

EXRE 5011. Seminar for EXRE 5010. (1 Hour)

Offers students an opportunity to analyze and critique extended reality experiences. Examines historical, seminal, and new experiences. Discusses the XR experiences using industry nomenclature and basic research methodology.

Corequisite(s): EXRE 5010

EXRE 5020. Developing Extended Realities (XR). (4 Hours)

Examines how to create extended reality (XR) experiences including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Studies coding and developing projects in XR using current hardware and software, including scripting, sensing, interactions, and preproduction methods that are specific to XR. Examines simulation sickness, sensing, eye tracking, empathy, and narrative in XR.

EXRE 5030. Designing Extended Realities (XR). (4 Hours)

Studies the craft and theory of designing, executing, and directing compelling extended reality experiences. Covers techniques to analyze, advise, and critique designs in the XR industry, or the many industries this experience augments, via a hands-on, experiential learning approach. Offers practical, professional, and theoretical instruction in writing and design, spatial narrative, and world building. Presents methodologies for formatting and directing interactive scripts and voice-overs. Shares professional methods as well as strategies and approaches to world building in the metaverse. Explores all forms in the broad field of extended reality, including games, animation, 360 video, journalism, and advertising. Offers networking opportunities through invited guests, publishers, and partners in XR.

EXRE 5973. Topics in Extended Realities (XR). (4 Hours)

Focuses on a specific topic that is of timely relevance to the domain of extended reality. Explores current discourses in the field and draws directly from ongoing instructor expertise and research. Offers students an opportunity to develop original projects in response to course topic, informed by case studies, critical readings, instructor and guest lectures, class discussions, and exercises. Emphasizes developing skills and strategies for self-directed XR experience production, including experimentation, planning, development, iteration, revision, and critique of creative work. May be repeated once.

EXRE 6500. Extended Realities (XR) Studio. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the design of experiences and artifacts using extended reality technologies for the development and critique of XR projects. Includes planning and design of the final work. Students use multiple ideation methods to develop project ideas and work in critical groups to strengthen project ideas and then prototype. Requires the completion of a project and presentation of the work.

EXRE 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.

EXRE 7500. Extended Realities (XR) Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to focus on the creation of extended reality experiences. Includes planning and design of the experiences. Discusses and reflects on the design process at the crossroads of methodological, systematic iteration, and creative exploration.

Prerequisite(s): EXRE 5010 with a minimum grade of C-

EXRE 7990. Thesis. (4 Hours)

Offers students support in developing and producing the written component of an extended reality thesis that integrates and applies their accumulated knowledge. Encourages student participation within a practice and research community consisting of classmates, advisor(s), and external professionals.

Prerequisite(s): EXRE 5030 with a minimum grade of C-

INAM 5000. Introduction to Creative Computing. (4 Hours)

Introduces foundational concepts of computational media art, focusing on the use of computational processes for the creation of interactive and generative experiences. Students use data and mathematical procedures to generate images, express ideas, and create meaning. Offers students an opportunity to obtain practice-based experience with the benefits and limitations of using computational processes, reflecting on what computers can and cannot do well. Uses computational procedures and concepts such as automation, recursion, and data processing for creative purposes. Students create computational media projects using code and/or other media such as photography, video, performance, installation, etc.

INAM 5183. Interdisciplinary Special Topics: Pop-up Course. (1,2 Hours)

Addresses timely trends, issues, and events in the fields of arts, media and design as they unfold. Offers students an opportunity to learn about and respond to issues of the day in an immersive, interdisciplinary, short-course format. Includes emphasis on experiential forms of teaching and learning. Content and instructors vary by offering.

INAM 5240. Make Your Mark: Trademark and Advertising Law in Creative Industries. (4 Hours)

Introduces trademark, branding, and advertising and endorsement law through the lens of the music industry and other creative industries. Approaches these areas of law through a combination of materials that may include statutory and case law, administrative agency guidance, pending legal disputes and current events, problems and hypotheticals, sample transactional documents, and student presentations. Covers trademark use, distinctiveness, and protectability; trademark infringement and dilution; false advertising law; FTC regulations on advertising and endorsement; and right of publicity law. Explores how law and industry norms shape practices and outcomes with the goal of preparing students entering creative industries to form strategies and make decisions related to these areas of law as they arise.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

INAM 5347. Understanding Users. (4 Hours)

Introduces basic and advanced frameworks and methodological tools for understanding and accounting for the characteristics, needs, and attitudes of individual users and user groups, ranging from traditional mental models to cutting-edge folk theorization approaches. Covers both how to understand users and how to account for how users themselves understand and adapt to systems from both a system design and sociotechnical system critique perspective. Explores and problematizes the idea of the “user” as compared to alternate approaches such as embedded community/cultural context and post-userism.

INAM 5963. Topics. (1,2 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn about timely issues, develop new skills, or explore areas of broad interest in an immersive, short-course format. Content and instructors vary by offering.

INAM 5964. Projects for Professionals. (0 Hours)

Offers students an applied project setting in which to apply their curricular learning. Working with a sponsor, students refine an applied research topic, perform research, develop recommendations that are shared with a partner sponsor, and create a plan for implementing their recommendations. Seeks to benefit students with a curriculum that supports the development of key business communication skills, project and client management skills, and frameworks for business analysis. Offers students an opportunity to learn from sponsor feedback, review 'lessons learned,' and incorporate suggestions from this review to improve and further develop their career development and professional plan. May be repeated two times.

INAM 5965. Engaging with Industry Partners for Rising Professionals. (0 Hours)

Offers students an enhanced applied project setting in which to apply their curricular learning. Working with a partner sponsor, students refine an applied research topic, perform research, develop recommendations that are shared with the partner sponsor, and create a plan for implementing their recommendations. Curriculum supports students as they develop key business communication skills, project and client management skills, and frameworks for business analysis. Offers students an opportunity to learn from sponsor feedback, review lessons learned, and incorporate suggestions to improve and further hone their career development and professional plan. Career development opportunities through skill-building workshops, panels, and interview preparation are available. Partner-student interactions, including a culminating project presentation, allow partners to assess student potential for co-op, internship, or other employment opportunities with the partner. May be repeated two times.

INAM 5973. Topics in Making. (1-4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity for advanced undergraduate- or graduate-level examination of a subject in making. May be repeated for up to 8 SH.

INAM 5976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers directed study of a specific topic not normally contained in the regular course offerings but within the area of expertise of a faculty member. May be repeated seven times for a maximum of 32 semester hours.

INAM 5983. Interdisciplinary Special Topics. (3,4 Hours)

Addresses timely trends, issues, and events. Offers students an opportunity to learn about and respond to issues of the day in an immersive, interdisciplinary format. Content and instructors vary by offering. May be repeated nineteen times.

INAM 6000. Interdisciplinary Critique Studio. (4 Hours)

Builds critical analysis skills and introduces students to rigorous artistic dialog. Offers direct, focused feedback on specific student projects. Feedback is conceptual and technical, serving to push the work forward and give students a critical perspective on how their work functions in the world. Offers students the time and the resources to work on long-term projects and to research and develop a more individual body of work. Also provides an opportunity to network, providing an introduction to professional practices in the visual arts, such as exhibiting art works, applying for grants, and teaching.

INAM 6360. Ethnographic Methods and the Arts. (4 Hours)

Considers what ethnography might teach us about creative industries, what it contributes to marketplace research and decision making, and how it informs creative practice. Ethnography uses participant/observation and other methods of collecting qualitative data to research specific social groups and their cultures. Asks for what purposes ethnographic methods are best suited and how ethnography might contribute to cross-cultural understanding, arts leadership, and creative practice. Covers what unique methodological issues ethnographic research in the arts might pose. Offers graduate students an opportunity to develop, with faculty guidance, an original research proposal and independently practice ethnographic methods.

INAM 6390. Human-Centered Computing Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers students a culminating experience to demonstrate proficiency in key concepts learned throughout their program in the core and concentration courses. Designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, reinforce concepts in ethics and basic concepts in user research, and focus on delivering outcomes that have the potential to be demonstrated or presented at HCI venues.

INAM 6430. AI and Creative Exploration. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn how to use off-the-shelf technologies (i.e., prompt engineering for generative AI platforms) and to design AI systems on their own using web interfaces, Python frameworks, cloud-based GPUs, etc. Combines technological training with a critical analysis of AI-based artworks. Designed to help students integrate AI tools and methods into their existing practice. The projects are student driven and should serve to further the students’ own research and creative practice. No limitations are placed on the field of application (e.g., visual arts, moving images, games, sound, writing, dance, and movement); however, strongly emphasizes the ethical and socioeconomic impact of AI tools on society—both within and beyond the boundaries of art.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 5000 with a minimum grade of C

INAM 6530. Emerging Practices in Technology and the Arts in Context. (4 Hours)

Exposes students to a range of new tools and techniques for making art in a contemporary interdisciplinary framework. Explores how digital technology is reshaping artistic methodologies, affinities, and ways of making. Enriches existing student creative practices and encourages expansion into new, interdisciplinary territories. Includes guest lectures, performances, and off-site visits as well as studio workshops, discussions, and critiques.

INAM 6976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers directed study of a specific topic not normally contained in the regular course offerings but within the area of expertise of a faculty member. May be repeated without limit.

INAM 7000. Introduction to Research in Interdisciplinary Design and Media. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of different forms of art and design research. Designed to guide students in crafting a plan for navigating their own individual path through the program. Creates a shared vocabulary for interdisciplinary research and sets expectations for the remainder of each student’s highly individualized path. Throughout the semester, the class reads and discusses key texts on interdisciplinary arts and design and media research; researches and reports on case studies of other research that relates to the direction of their research, including dissertations by prior students from CAMD and other institutions; and participates in guest presentations/discussions by program faculty regarding the integration of research and practice.

INAM 7001. Research Methods in Interdisciplinary Design and Media. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of research designs and methods across disciplines. Discusses how to select and use these methods and strategies and discusses IRB procedures. Includes guest presentations from faculty across the campus. This course is not meant as a comprehensive methodological training but rather an overview that should be complemented with at least one specialized methods course from a university-wide list of courses in the first semester of study and two others in the second semester of study.

INAM 7900. Research Seminar. (4 Hours)

Requires students to present their work in progress for feedback by their peers, faculty, and visitors. The work conducted in this seminar serves as the foundation for establishing the topic and method of study employed for the dissertation.

INAM 7901. Dissertation Writing Seminar. (4 Hours)

Introduces and discusses conventions in dissertation writing such as structure, contextualization, argumentation, tone, formality, and citation styles. Development of a thesis proposal and honing the project’s methodology is the main function of this course. Offer students an opportunity to continue developing publishable scholarly work that is associated with the dissertation project.

INAM 7990. Thesis. (4 Hours)

Offers the candidate, working with a thesis advisor, an opportunity to continue to complete the research project defined and proposed in INAM 7100. The research is carried out in an independent manner, with periodic presentations to the thesis committee. These presentations define the benchmarks for determination of successful progress in the project. The ultimate result is an exhibition, screening, performance, or other form of public display or presentation, together with a thesis paper or written corollary.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 7100 with a minimum grade of B-

INAM 7996. Thesis Continuation - Half-Time. (0 Hours)

Offers continued work on the thesis project.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 7990 with a minimum grade of B-

INAM 8984. Research. (1-4 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to conduct research under faculty supervision. May be repeated up to three times for a maximum of 16 semester hours.

INAM 8986. Research. (0 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to conduct full-time research under faculty supervision. May be repeated up to nine times.

INAM 9000. PhD Candidacy Achieved. (0 Hours)

Indicates successful completion of program requirements for PhD candidacy.

INAM 9700. Dissertation Fieldwork. (0 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to pursue experiential research outside the classroom and outside the university.

INAM 9980. Experiential PhD Research Residency. (0 Hours)

Comprises a research residency experience in an organization whose mission and activities are aligned with the College of Arts, Media and Design PhD program. The research residency is designed to help develop dissertation ideas or research papers or to obtain access to resources helpful to dissertation development or research. A faculty member serves as an advisor for the residency experience, but individuals within the organization in which the student is working are asked to serve as formal mentors for the student residency experience. May be repeated two times.

INAM 9990. Dissertation Term 1. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by individual members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 9000 with a minimum grade of S

INAM 9991. Dissertation Term 2. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by individual members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 9990 with a minimum grade of S

INAM 9996. Dissertation Continuation. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by individual members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): INAM 9991 with a minimum grade of S

MUSC 5973. Special Topics in Music. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to music. May be repeated twice for a maximum of 12 total semester hours.

MUSC 6300. Music Perception and Cognition Research. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of the perceptual, cognitive, and brain bases of performing, composing, and listening to music for enjoyment and for human benefit. Studies how and why music stimulates our senses and how it can promote health and well-being. Topics include theories and empirical research on pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre; music and language; development of musical ability; and special populations in musical functions. Meetings include demonstrations and exercises in experiment design and data analysis. Requires an in-depth research project (paper and in-class presentation), in consultation with the instructor. By the end of this course, students should be able to design and conduct their own research study in music perception and cognition.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUSC 6510. Music and the Brain Advanced Research. (4 Hours)

Reviews contemporary studies in cognitive neuroscience of music, specifically in speech, language, and music. Offers students an opportunity to obtain in-depth training on the methods of cognitive neuroscience of music. Students design and implement a group project, analyze the data, and write up the results in an end-of-term paper.

MUSI 5220. The Independent Performing Songwriter: Creation, Commerce, and Well-Being. (4 Hours)

Explores the evolving terrain of the independent music industry for songwriters who write, perform, and release music independently. Examines songwriting, production, performance, and how to navigate the digital music landscape effectively. Covers the business side of music including rights, royalties, and branding strategies. Studies best practices to manage one's own career. Emphasizes the artist's well-being, exploring mindfulness, time management, and resilience to maintain a sustainable and fulfilling career. Offers students an opportunity to enhance artistic skills and obtain a holistic understanding of the music industry.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 5330. Actionable Analytics in the Music Industries. (4 Hours)

Covers the analytical frameworks and tools to obtain, evaluate, analyze, interpret, and visualize data from the music industries. Explores the metrics most often used in Artists and Repertoire, concert booking and promotion, streaming music and video, paid and organic social media, music publishing, brand partnerships, and the independent artist journey. Addresses data analysis tools and data aggregation platforms, whose capabilities enable the creation of visualizations and data-informed narratives that support decision-making processes to achieve specific artist, professional, and organizational objectives and outcomes.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data

MUSI 5973. Special Topics in Music Industry. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to the music industry. May be repeated up to two times for up to 12 total credits.

MUSI 6964. Co-op Work Experience. (0 Hours)

Offers eligible students an opportunity for work experience.

MUSI 7976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers independent work under the direction of members of the department on chosen topics. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 7980. Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to integrate their course work, knowledge, and experiences into a capstone project. Offers students an opportunity to work in partnership with local, state, or national leaders to produce an operational music company. This is a faculty-guided project for students completing course work in music industry leadership studies.

MUST 5510. Sound, Motion, and Computer Interaction. (4 Hours)

Introduces methods for detecting human movement in video data using a high-level computer programming language. Focuses on the development of interactive computer music applications for video. Presents methods for programming discrete functions to acquire and process sound and movement data. Emphasizes the process of sequencing and integrating discrete functions to develop movement-responsive computer programs that transform sound and action into quantitative signals, artistic media, and aesthetic experiences.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 2431 with a minimum grade of C or graduate program admission

MUST 5520. Data Sonification. (4 Hours)

Introduces the emerging and highly interdisciplinary field of data sonification, principally for purposes of better understanding data. Covers topics such as established sonification theory and strategies, psychoacoustics, collaboration with data providers, the design of sonification presentation and navigation systems, research methodology, and based lab experimental procedures. Technologies and disciplines include software design utilizing industry-standard programming languages, audio sound design, graphic design, and web development. Explores sonification concepts in the context of real-world projects.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 2431 with a minimum grade of C or graduate program admission

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data

MUST 5973. Special Topics in Music Technology. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to music technology. May be repeated up to two times for up to 12 total credits.

MUST 6603. Embedded Programming for Digital Musical Instruments. (4 Hours)

Explores embedded computers and their employment for the design of digital musical instruments. Studies how to program low-level audio applications that take advantage of the responsiveness and the interactive features of embedded systems. Starts with an overview of high-level embedded audio programming; then transitions into a deep exploration of low-level C++ programming techniques, specific for the design of digital musical instruments. Primarily covers low-latency real-time audio synthesis/processing, yet includes an in-depth introduction to physical computing, sensors, and simple electronics. Offers students an opportunity to gain experience with the full design-development-test cycle of software and hardware components of digital musical instruments within the confines of a final project. Requires knowledge of audio and programming.

THTR 5300. Devised Theatre Project. (4 Hours)

Investigates innovative and experimental methods of making an original theatre performance in which the actors are also the creators. Functions as a collaborative ensemble of actors that train, rehearse, and perform together. Explores performance theories and rehearsal techniques using language, movement, music, images, and autobiography to create a performative event inspired by a central theme drawn from literature, art, politics, or history. May culminate in a public performance. Requires prior completion of theatre training.

Prerequisite(s): THTR 1120 with a minimum grade of D- or THTR 1130 with a minimum grade of D- or THTR 2342 with a minimum grade of D- or graduate program admission

THTR 5450. Acting 3. (4 Hours)

Offers advanced acting training by exploring a variety of approaches useful in bringing the heightened dramatic texts alive on stage. Demands a free and efficient actor instrument: body, intellect, voice, and imagination simultaneously engaged and able to be compellingly present, and impeccable listening skills. Expects a significant amount of preparation, practice, and rehearsal outside the studio. Requires prior completion of basic acting training.

Prerequisite(s): THTR 2342 with a minimum grade of C or graduate program admission

THTR 5700. Design for Immersive Performance. (4 Hours)

Covers designing space and media for live co-present collaborative storytelling, emphasizing nontraditional and immersive formats. Offers students an opportunity to develop the basic skill sets in standard programming languages and 3D visualization software of the theatrical design disciplines of lighting, projections, sound, and scenography to effectively communicate design in live and virtual space. Experience with 3D rendering/visualization software or any of the above disciplines is advantageous, though not required. Culminates in an immersive performance conceived, designed, and created by the class. Student groups create sections of the performance, focusing on a specific design discipline.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

THTR 5750. Contemporary Dance Studio. (4 Hours)

Introduces practice-based research in contemporary dance, exploring movement as both a creative act and a mode of inquiry. Embodied investigations examine how movement can function as a method for generating knowledge. Through movement exploration, discussion, and reflection, key topics include how dance articulates meaning and how different aesthetic values shape choreographic process. Draws from a range of contemporary movement practices, including choreographic and improvisational techniques, to offer students an opportunity to design individual movement research projects to cultivate skills in critical analysis, creative experimentation, and performance making. Curiosity and a willingness to move are essential. Some experience with contemporary dance preferred and department permission required.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

THTR 5973. Topics in Fashion Design Studies. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level in-depth examination of a subject of particular significance in the fashion industry. May be repeated up to four times.

THTR 6100. Advanced Creative Storytelling for Social Engagement. (4 Hours)

Examines the ways people use creative storytelling to forge human connection in digital environments. Includes theoretical readings and critical analysis of digital performances in social and historical context, alongside experiential projects in which students create digital performance projects and curate collections of digital performances for particular audiences and purposes. This creative practice research course is open to advanced students with established storytelling skills in any discipline.

THTR 6670. Advanced Mixed Media Performance Lab. (4 Hours)

Focuses on multi-media performance design. Involves lectures and creative practice research projects in different disciplines, with options for specific student interests. Includes research and analysis of focused evidence to make an original contribution to the current scholarly and/or professional conversation on their chosen topic. Culminates in an immersive prototype conceived by the class in collaboration with the instructor with emphasis on mixed media, multi-camera shooting, the creation of 3D sets, and green screen technology in a low-fi visual effects (VFX) environment. Students work in groups to create sections of the performance, focusing on the specific design discipline in which they are interested or for which they have experience.

THTR 6973. Advanced Topics in Performance Studies. (4 Hours)

Examines at a graduate level a specific facet of particular significance in the interdisciplinary field of performance studies. The field examines how embodied, digital, and nonhuman performance operates within a wide variety of contexts such as everyday life, public events, interpersonal communications, performance art, games, and theatrical events. May culminate in the creation of original performance projects. May be repeated up to two times.