Undergraduate
Liberal Arts Pathways Minors
Storytelling Pathways Minor in Liberal Arts
The Storytelling Pathway Minor in Liberal Arts is a 15-credit program of study that aims to give students experience in understanding storytelling from a variety of viewpoints, including their own; they will use the concepts and practices of storytelling as a way to understand culture and society, as well as the differing modes of sharing stories in and across different cultures. The ways that stories are made, told, shaped, and produced will factor into the learning experience for students in the minor.
As part of a well-rounded university education, the Liberal Arts play a vital role in students’ lives. Liberal Arts courses allow students to contextualize their experiences and how they fit in the world around them, and to empathize with the experiences of others, understanding those experiences as just as vital and necessary as their own. Storytelling is the chief means of conveying what it means to be a human being in the world. The Pathway Minor in Storytelling delivers courses that concentrate on this subject matter, correlating with the IUPUI PLUS Learner Profiles of Innovator, Communicator, Problem Solver, and Community Contributor.
Learning Objectives:
- Understanding narrative structures, including different modes, terminologies, and the relationship between speaker and story. This correlates with the Problem Solver and Communicator categories of the Profiles.
- Differentiate between genres and linguistic modes to grasp usage and context. This objective correlates with the Problem Solver and Communicator categories of the Profiles.
- Understanding cultural context and difference, and the larger structures that produce societal positions. This objective correlates with the Community Contributor category of the Profiles.
- Developing an awareness of visual literacy in reference to narrative, particularly as it relates to reading and analyzing comics and graphic novels. This objective correlates with the Innovator and Communicator categories of the Profiles.
- Build a growing awareness of the theory and criticism of narrative, in order to decode the stories of others. This objective corrlates with the Problem Solver and Communicator categories of the Profiles.
- Consider narrative production at different skill levels, analyzing and engaging the form in a variety of modes and methods. This objective corresponds with the Innovator, Communicator, and Problem Solver categories of the Profiles.
Required Courses:
Students will complete 15 credit hours of approved Pathways courses, including 6 credit hours of:
- Two foundational courses: ENG-W131 or ENG-W140 and COMM-R110 in which students in the Pathway Minor program will be required to complete modules and signature assignments designed to introduce them to Pathway Minor themes
- Elective courses for the minor: minimum grade of C
Students will also complete elective courses including 9 credit hours of approved courses from the following categories (see approved courses below):
- introductory Thematic Concentration
- intermediate Thematic Concentration
- advanced Engaged Learning Experience
NOTE: To ensure a robust interdisciplinary experience, students should not take more than two courses from any one department/program as part of the 15-credit pathway minor.
Introductory Thematic Concentration:
- ENG L115 Literature for Today
- ENG L204 Introduction to Fiction: Literature and the Arts
- ENG W206 Introduction to Creative Writing
- ENG W207 Introduction to Fiction Writing
- ENG W208 Introduction to Poetry Writing
- COMM M150 Mass Media and Contemporary Society
- JOUR J110 Foundations of Journalism and Mass Communication
Intermediate Thematic Concentration:
- ENG W301 Writing Fiction (Prerequisite: ENG-W206 or ENG-W207, each with a grade of C or higher.)
- ENG W302 Screenwriting (Prerequisite: Eng-W206 or W207 with a grade of C or higher.)
- COMM R330 Communication Criticism (Prerequisite: COMM-G 100 or COMM-R 110 and reading placement of at least 80.)
- REL R312 Prophets, Captives, and Converts: American Religious Lives
- JOUR J315 Feature Writing (Prerequisite: JOUR-J 200 or permission of instructor.)
- ANTH E404 Field Work in Ethnography/Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
- MHHS M410 Addiction Narratives
Advanced Engaged Experience:
- COMM T431 Introduction to Playwriting (Experiential Learning)
- ANTH E457 Ethnic Identity (Diversity Experience)
- COMM M462 Television Aesthetics and Criticism (Prerequisite: COMM-M 150 or permission of instructor.) (Collaborative project)
- MHHS M492/592 Narrative Medicine (Faculty-led Research)
- MHHS M420/520 Culture of Mental Illness (Faculty-led Research)
NOTES:
- Students may petition the director of the Pathway Minor program to have any 300-/400-level elective with a RISE designation and storytelling focus count toward their engaged experience. For example, a student may complete an internship, individual research project, service learning project, or study abroad with a storytelling focus.
- Students may petition, either before or after taking a course, to have one course from outside of the School of Liberal Arts count toward their pathway minor, if it meets the learning objectives. Examples of courses that can be petitioned to count include:
- HER-D 304: Drawing/Illustration – Narrative Imagery
- HER-H 222: History of American Comics and Graphic Fiction
- NEWM-N 202: Digital Storytelling
Petitions should be sent to the Director of the Pathways Minor Program and will include:
- course number, title, instructor and term of instruction
- a copy of the syllabus
- statement of how the course meets specific Learning Outcomes of the minor
- completed assignments (if course is finished) that best demonstrate Learning Outcomes
