The original version of this article stated that the cinema and television arts major was established as a major in 2015, however another version of the major under a different name existed prior to the major’s name change in 2015. Elon News Network regrets this error.

Elon University School of Communications has announced the addition of a new major to its curriculum — digital content management. 

The last time the School of Communications introduced any new majors was in 2015 with the establishment of communication design and media analytics. 

According to cinema and television arts professor and program director of the new major, Vic Costello, the new major was proposed to introduce more education about digital media. 

“It's a step toward trying to create a major that's filling a need that we're seeing,” Costello said. “More and more employers are telling us we need students with these skills.” 

The digital content management major includes classes that already exist in the School of Communications such as STC 2600: Brand Identity, CDE 2580: Principles of Design, MEA 2800: Data-Driven Strategies for Digital Media and CTA 3230: Media Production for Digital Platforms. 

Costello said he and co-proposer of the major, cinema and television arts department chair Staci Saltz, were trying to establish the major using classes that already exist in the School of Communications. 

“I think when we started to envision what this could look like, we actually said, ‘You know what? We have a lot of the courses already here, but they're spread out across departments,’” Costello said. “We very strategically looked at the skills that are in high demand right now and tried to design the curriculum around that.” 

The announcement of the new digital content management major comes after a 17% decline in enrollment at the School of Communications since 2021. 



Dean of the School of Communications Kenn Gaither said adding this major will hopefully increase the total enrollment of the school. 

“When the water line for a boat goes up, it lifts up the boat, and then when it resides, there's still a line there,” Gaither said. “And we hope, metaphorically, that this major will lift up our other majors as well, and the students who are in this major will be able to double major.” 

As a member of the Dean’s Student Advisory Board, Elon senior Lauren Boulia and 27 other students meet twice a semester to give feedback to the School of Communications and discuss important issues such as new majors and changing curriculum. 

Boulia believes that this new major will give students the opportunity to learn new skills within the School of Communications that can help them in their professional development and develop skills that employers are looking for. 

“I had an internship this past summer where I was doing video production, and it was nothing narrative. It was a lot of B2B marketing, but they didn't know how to verbalize that in their application,” Boulia said. “So a lot of the people that they got to apply to that job where hobby videographers or film students or other people that just didn't necessarily fit. When Vic Costello and Stacy Saltz were presenting this major, I felt that kind of immediately filled that gap of, ‘OK, this makes sense.’” 

While Boulia thinks that the digital communication management major may pull away from other majors within the School of Communications, she does believe that this will boost enrollment as a whole because of the overlap between majors. 

“People walk into the comm school and can change their major at the drop of a hat because there's so much overlap,” Boulia said.

Despite the possibility that majors within the School of Communications may lose students to the new major, Costello said they are looking to see a boost in all majors over the next three to five years. 

In addition to the overlap within majors, Gaither said he hopes to see students enrolled in schools outside of the School of Communications pursue the digital communications management major. 

“Anytime we can connect different academic areas, it's only a win,” Gaither said.