Rose State College Offers New Film Studies and Digital Media Degree and Hires Program Coordinator Published December 6, 2022

Program prepares students for careers in filmmaking and content creation 

Rose State College (Rose State) will begin offering a new degree in film studies and digital media in the spring 2023 semester. Within the Liberal Arts and Sciences Division, Rose State will offer an associate in applied science with two track options in film studies and digital media. 

"As the film industry grows in our state, we want to equip our students with the resources and training to keep the talent right here in Oklahoma," Rose State President Dr. Jeanie Webb said. "This program is the first of its kind at Rose State and shows our commitment to providing education that reflects Oklahoma's evolving landscape." 

The goal of the film studies and digital media program is to provide basic film and digital media production knowledge and skills through instruction of theory, technology, equipment operation, production, directing, audio and post-production. Upon completion of the program, students will be prepared for positions in filmmaking and content creation. 

The new film studies and digital media program will be led by Marcus Mallard, who will serve as the coordinator of the program. Mallard comes to Rose State with extensive experience in cinema education, research and screenwriting. 

"I look forward to building a program that is going to help Oklahoma voices tell Oklahoma stories," Mallard said. "It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like or what you think you know about film, you should get to tell your story, and I want to help everyone I can do that.” 

Mallard is a professor of English, Film and Digital Media at Rose State College and has worked in the arts and education fields across the state of Oklahoma. He attended Oklahoma Panhandle State University, where he completed two bachelor's degrees, a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Photography and a Bachelor of Arts in English. Mallard also has a Masters in English with an emphasis in Film Studies from the University of Central Oklahoma. 

Marcus has taught writing and cinema classes at OPSU, UCO, OCCC and was hired full-time at Rose State College in August 2021. Marcus released his first edited anthology in 2016 with co-editor Dr. Philip Simpson entitled The Walking Dead Live! Essays on the Television Show, and he has new work featured in the anthology Animated Mischief: Essays on Subversiveness in Cartoons Since 1987, due out in Spring 2023, which examines the Netflix series Big Mouth through the lens of theories of developmental psychology and identity formation. 

Rose State has forged strategic partnerships in the community to bring this program to fruition, including a Memorandum of Understanding with OCCC to teach two of the classes. The program is led by an esteemed list of individuals making up its advisory board, including:

• Patti Duran, Mid-Del Tech
• Randy Heitz, Tyler Media
• Amy Janes, Green Pastures Studio
• Katrina Loos, MedTech Strategist & Market Pathways
• Matt Payne, Prairie Surf Media
• Sara Thompson, deadCenter Film
• Logan Walcher, Independent Filmmaker and Cinematographer 

Rose State is considered a top-ranked community college with a 21-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio, offering a four-year experience at a two-year community college. Rose State provides on-campus housing with savings of up to 40 percent on college tuition. 

Interested students should apply and contact Marcus Mallard at mmallard@rose.edu to learn more about the new degree and enroll this Spring.