Fairfield University's new New Media: Film, Television, and Radio major is not only the first of its kind among Jesuit universities: It's also the first media program in the country led by Jesuit priests.

"There aren't a lot of Jesuits out there involved in this, but our work in these fields is rooted in Ignatian spirituality," said the Rev. James Mayzik, S.J., director of the program and the University's state-of-the-art Media Center. "We believe that the world is impregnated with the divine. To me, the creative moment is where I see the divine intersecting with the human most powerfully. I want students to have a number of those moments, and our program is all about students exploring their creativity through film, television or radio."

Fr. Mayzik, who holds an MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, first came to Fairfield in 1993, when there was only one regular film course taught on campus. By 1997, Fr. Mayzik, who was doing production work in New York City when he wasn't teaching, had created a minor called Film and Television through the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. The program attracted 11 students that year, growing to about 80 to 90 in recent years, making it one of the more popular minors on campus. Fr. Mayzik noticed many of his students were also majoring in Communication.

"It was clear to me that there were always students in Communication who really wanted to do film and TV as an art, not through the communication angle," Fr. Mayzik said. "It was really a major in waiting."

Fr. Mayzik began to look for fellow Jesuits with his passion for exploring media and its artistic possibilities. He found the Rev. Mark McGregor, S.J., who was working toward his MFA at Loyola Marymount University in California, and the Rev. Mark Scalese, S.J. who holds an MFA in filmmaking from Temple University.

Fr. McGregor, a Seattle native, traveled cross-country to visit the campus in 2003. At Loyola, he'd worked with a few Fairfield graduates who'd minored in New Media and he was impressed by the program. While his alma mater has a film school and other Jesuit schools offer concentrations in film, television and media studies through their Communication programs, the Fairfield degree offers more hands on production training from an artistic point of view, Fr. McGregor said.

He asked his provincial, the leader of the order's Oregon Province, for a transfer.

"My provincial really saw the exciting opportunity that Fairfield could offer among Jesuit schools," he said.

Jesuits have long recognized the importance of communication through media and the arts. In fact, it was a hot topic at a 1994 meeting of the order's officials, said Fr. McGregor, whose focus is screenwriting and history.

"The Jesuits have always been involved in the arts. There's an interest in storytelling," he said. "As Jesuits, we search for truth and the question of who we are as a people and ways of seeing our stories through other people's stories."

"Maybe it's looking at things with a humanist's eye," said Fr. Scalese.

New Media: Film, Television, and Radio offers students three distinct track concentrations in film, television and radio. The program requirements include classes in history, theory and production, all taught at the Media Center, a 15,000-square-foot space with two well equipped studios, 14 editing suites, screening and digital imaging rooms and classrooms. The site has an impressive inventory of digital cameras, recorders, lights, and grip and audio equipment that Fr. Mayzik said is comparable to equipment found at the country's top film schools. High definition television production equipment will be acquired this fall, in addition to new mobile production facilities.

And since many of the program's adjunct professors are Media Center staffers, students can find the advice they need at a moment's notice.

"It's all in one spot. You walk down the hall and there's the professor you need to talk to about something you're doing, working on a project of his or her own," Fr. Mayzik said. "It's basically a small production house right here on campus. There's no place I know of that's like that."

A handful of 2005 graduates, who anticipated the new major's approval and completed the required courses, will leave with the first New Media degrees this May. Fr. Mayzik expects to see between 75 to 100 students in the program in the fall. Some of them unveiled their work in April at CineFest Fairfield, a night of screenings at the downtown Community Theatre that is set to be an annual event.

Though Fairfield's program in film, television and radio does not have a religious focus, having three Jesuits run the program gives it a clear vision.

"We three have a real mission sense to what we're doing," Fr. Mayzik said. "Underneath it, I think we point to certain spiritual principles, encouraging our students to use these media to speak the truth they see. It's about becoming artists in film, television and radio."

Posted On: 05-17-2005 10:05 AM

Volume: 37 Number: 267