University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa receives approval for Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Carolyn Tanaka, (808) 956-8109
External Affairs & University Relations
Posted: May 29, 2009

HILO, HAWAIʻI — During its monthly meeting held today at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) approved the Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The new degree program will support the state‘s economy by ensuring the best of Hawaiʻi‘s media talent can remain in the islands and sustain the growing technical and production crews.

The Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media, effective fall 2009, will be administered by the Academy of Creative Media (ACM). ACM is uniquely positioned to meet state needs in the preparation of a trained workforce that will help establish and enhance a Hawaiʻi filmmaking industry and intellectual property economy. The program prepares students to take creative and leadership roles as directors, producers and designers, and who can originate productions and attract global productions to the islands. As one of the few schools globally with a unique focus in indigenous filmmaking, it will empower students to tell their own stories of Hawaiʻi, the Pacific and Asia rather than have those stories told for them.

Established by the BOR in January 2004 as an academic unit focusing on the study and production of cinematic and digital media, ACM has expanded from its original three-course offering to 39 courses. Student enrollment has grown from 37 in spring 2004 to 320 in spring 2009, and student majors have grown from zero to 120 active majors in spring 2009. Thirty-four students have graduated from UH Mānoa with the Interdisciplinary Studies/Creative Media major.

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