WE ARE THE COMMUNICATORS 

The Department of Media & Communication Arts (MCA) prepares socially responsible, resourceful professionals to thrive in the continuously evolving fields of multi-media and communications. Our programs have deep roots in New York City's vibrant film, journalism, advertising, branding, and public relations communities. 

MCA provides students with a strong analytic foundation and teaches the professional crafts and skills they need to succeed and shape culture in their fields with creativity and dynamic storytelling. 

Each year, MCA gives monetary fellowships, scholarships and awards to students who excel in their areas of study. We are the home of the NBCU Fellows Academy, the Inner Circle Foundation Fellows, the Bert Saperstein Scholarships, GroupM Scholarships, Irving Rosenthal Scholarship, Art Stevens PRSA-NY CCNY Scholarship, Sidney Meyers Scholarship, Isael E. Levine Award, David & Rose Dortort Awards, the Beatrice and L. Richard Guylay Class of 1934 Award, the Ernest Boynton Jr. Memorial Award, the Moody's, and we continue to solicit and build new opportunities for fellowships and awards.

Our students, majors and minors, often take credit-bearing and salaried internships at New York City flagship organizations, including Finn Partners, L'Oréal, Y&R, GroupM, CNN, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, ABC News, MSNBC, Fox5NY, Telemundo, Univision, Newsmax, NewYork 1, Vice, BronxNet, CUNY-TV, Rubenstein Associates, and The United Nations. Many MCA grads go on to graduate school here at City College, the CUNY Graduate Center,The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, Columbia Journalism School, New York University, The New School and other great institutions.

Students and graduates regularly win awards for their work. For four years in a row video journalism students have won top honors in the regional Society of Professional Journalism Awards (SPJ). Digital journalism students have also won top honors and placed in the top three in SPJ awards, Pinnacle and Apple Awards for college students and student Emmys. Film graduates include Oscar winners, Sundance winners, MAIP winners, a winner at the Cannes Film Festival and a LaGrant Scholar. .

We consider our faculty our greatest asset. They are award-winning, working professionals and dedicated scholars who bring their real-world knowledge to the classroom. 

Undergraduate Programs

Communications Major 

Advertising and Public Relations

With a rigorous curriculum that combines media theory and hands-on experience in integrated marketing, advertising, corporate communication, public relations, and communications management, the Ad PR Program taps into global corporations, leading edge firms, and dynamic grass roots organizations. An engaged faculty, including working professionals and industry leaders, helps our students excel in the classroom, at internships, and in competitions such as The One Show.

Ed Keller, Director | Credits: 42  | Code: 121 | Admission: By application | Degree: Bachelor of Arts 

Communications Major

Journalism

Our program has a long history of producing outstanding journalists, and students can major or minor in journalism. Professional journalists teach all of our classes and encourage students to learn to report, write, produce video and audio stories about their communities. Our award-winning website HarlemView features student work from our classes about their neighborhoods, important issues and culture. We're proud to say that our students consistently win awards.

Barbara Nevins Taylor, Director  | Credits: 42 for the major, 18 for the minor  |  Code: 114 | Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Film and Video

Unique at CUNY and arguably the oldest continuous film program in the country, the Film & Video Program offers a broad range of fundamental technical and critical studies courses in the art and craft of fiction and documentary production. Immersed in a liberal arts academic environment, students discover their creative voice as they learn how to produce their own 16mm film and digital video projects.

Deirdre Fishel, Director | Credits: 54  | Code: 118  |  Admission: By application | Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts 

Cinema Studies

Capitalizing on the specialized expertise of departments across the college and anchored in the Media and Communication Arts Department, the minor in Cinema Studies offers an overview of the art, history, theory, and cultural significance of film. Two required MCA courses provide foundational knowledge as students tailor their minor from among a list of approved offerings, such as French Cinema & Literature and Theater in Film.

Jerry Carlson, Director | Credits: 15 | Code: 122  |  Minor

Graduate Programs

MFA in Film

The only 2-year graduate-level program of its kind, the MFA Film Program (formally Media Arts Production) offers a full immersion in both Documentary and Fiction filmmaking at an affordable and accessible public university. We are a culturally diverse, international filmmaking community located in New York City, the cultural capital of the world, with ready access to the finest talent, locations, and production facilities.

Andrea Weiss/Antonio Tibaldi, Co-Directors  | Credits: 54 | Code: MAP | Admission: By application | Degree: Master of Fine Arts 

Branding + Integrated Communications

Located in the media and communications capital of the world, this portfolio-driven graduate program explores how to create meaningful brand identity through strategic, integrated communications -- both theoretically and in practice. BIC uniquely combines four critical communications disciplines in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary environment. In addition to learning shared foundational and applied knowledge, students specialize in PR, Media, Creative or Management & Strategy tracks.

Michael Doody, Director | Credits: 36 | Code: 568 | Admission: By application | Degree: Master of Professional Studies

Centers

The Documentary Forum

Dedicated to supporting and encouraging the creation, exhibition, and study of documentary film, long-form journalism, and non-fiction story-telling through multi-platform media,  The Documentary Forum builds a bridge between the college’s media-making community, the Harlem community in which it resides, and the growing international online audience. In innovative intellectual environment, The Doc Forum will foster, produce and study media-making that incorporates students, faculty, alumni and the Harlem community into the global documentary conversation.

Andrea Weiss, Director

CONTACT INFORMATION

Gerardo Blumenkrantz
Acting Chair

Shepard Hall
Room 472
160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031

212.650.7167

Department e: mca@ccny.cuny.edu

MFA grad e: info@city-film.org

BIC grad e: bic@ccny.cuny.edu

See also:

• ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS
• BRANDING + INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS
• CINEMA STUDIES
• FILM AND VIDEO PRODUCTION
• JOURNALISM
• MFA IN FILM