ISIS GRADUATE CERTIFICATE
The purpose of the new ISIS Graduate Certificate is to offer an interdisciplinary program at the graduate level that focuses on the study and creation of new information technologies and the analysis of their impact on art, culture, science, medicine, commerce, society, and the environment. The program is designed for doctoral students wishing to complement their primary disciplinary focus with an interdisciplinary certificate in Information Science + Information Studies. The purpose of the certificate is to broaden the scope of the typical disciplinary PhD program and to engage the student in ISIS-related research. The ISIS Graduate Certificate is not intended to provide a disciplinary canon in information science and information studies but rather to develop a structured set of transdisciplinary skills and resources for exploring new areas of academic research. As such, the ISIS Graduate Certificate is not to lead students down an existing path of traditional academic research but rather to provide them with the means for expanding the scope of their main disciplinary focus by creating new paths of their own.
The ISIS Graduate Certificate consists of the following requirements:
- ISIS 240: Technology and New Media: Academic Practice.Students demonstrating prior mastery of ISIS 240 course content may petition the ISIS Director of Graduate Studies to substitute another ISIS 200-level course for the ISIS 240 course requirement. The substituted course may not overlap with other Graduate Certificate course requirements (i.e., ISIS 250S or any of the 3 elective courses).
- ISIS 250S: Critical Studies in New Media.
- Three elective courses from the approved elective course list. Electives must be from at least two different departments. Note: this list is not exhaustive, as new offerings happen all the time. If you are interested in a course that you think should qualify, contact the ISIS office and we'll review it as a possible elective.
- One formal presentation to the ISIS Graduate Research Forum.Presentations will be coordinated through the ISIS Director of Graduate Studies and will be documented via an online website and presentation archive.
- Participation in at least 4 ISIS Graduate Research Forum or related events. The ISIS Program Coordinator will work with the ISIS Director of Graduate Studies to track student event participation using student signup sheets at each event.
The Executive Committee for the certificate program consists of the ISIS Faculty Directors Rachael Brady, Pratt School of Engineering; Richard Lucic, Computer Science Department; Tim Lenoir, Kimberly J. Jenkins Chair in New Technologies & Society and ISIS Director of Graduate Studies; and Victoria Szabo, Art, Art History & Visual Studies. This committee will oversee admissions as well as certify satisfactory completion of the program. As the ISIS Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Lenoir will advise all certificate students and assign an ISIS faculty member to mentor each student. Students are encouraged to meet with the Director of Graduate Studies before the end of their second semester at Duke to help with course planning.
To enroll in the ISIS Graduate Certificate Program, students should complete and submit both the Graduate School Certificate Program Application Form and the ISIS Graduate Certificate Application Form.
