Comparative Media Studies Program Administrative, Support and Development Team

By way of some history, 3 years ago, the MIT faculty established a new Masters program in Comparative Media Studies. This was to be one of the first graduate programs in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. This June, the program graduated their first class of graduate students. Much of the success of this program has been attributed to the administrative and support staff team being honored today. Each member of the team has not only done their job consistently well, but they have had to maintain the flexibility to work in a constantly changing environment. Each has shown the imagination and creativity necessary to grow a graduate program from scratch. They have also had the faith to believe in themselves-to appreciate that in working together, they could create something that would be of MIT quality. What they created was interdisciplinary and interdepartmental in nature. Members of the team have collaborated with staff from other sections to coordinate the cross-listing of courses and to keep abreast of shifting faculty commitments. They have developed structures for recruiting students, including an on-line chatroom that makes MIT far more accessible to a growing number of international applicants. Team members have embraced change, demonstrating an open willingness to teach themselves a broad array of new practices. They anticipate problems and this, in turn, has fostered a high degree of student satisfaction. Team members have developed and executed a long term plan which has put the program on sound economic footing. They have developed external visibility within industry by fostering research relationships, internship opportunities for students, and potential funding opportunities. Finally, they have been instrumental in establishing the public reputation of the Program by hosting and coordinating conferences and forums. Undoubtedly, this team is greater than the sum of its parts. On behalf of the MIT community, we are honored to present the Comparative Media Studies Program Team with an Excellence Award for Building Bridges.