The Interdisciplinary School for Engagement in Humanities and Social Sciences offers the Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media and Certificates in Digital Humanities and Latin American Studies.
Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media
The Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Film and Media provides graduate-level coursework in film and media production, with supporting coursework in screenwriting, history, theory, and pedagogy. This program culminates in an original thesis production project. This program is optimal for continuing students, local educators, and emerging filmmakers.
Admissions Requirements
In addition to the University-wide admission requirements, the M.F.A in Film and Media requires:
- Prior completion of a Bachelor's degree with a GPA of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (overall or in the most recent 60 semester credit hours).
- Resume
- Creative Portfolio (see details below)
- Statement of Purpose
- Two letters of recommendation
Portfolio
Applicants should include a portfolio that showcases their best, most relevant work. The portfolio can include up to three sets of materials, in any combination of the following categories:
- short reel/compilation (max 5 mins)
- short film/s (max 8 mins each)
- photography (5-10 photos, with a cohesive theme or story)
- screenwriting sample/s (max 10 pages each)
The statement of purpose should introduce yourself, contextualize your portfolio materials, explain your fit in the program in relation to your goals, and explain what you hope to achieve in the program.
Degree Requirements
The M.F.A. in Film and Media requires the completion of 60 semester credit hours as listed below.
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Credit Hours |
| FMS 5133 | Lighting and Cinematography | 3 |
| * | 3 |
| FMS 5233 | Sound Recording, Mixing, and Editing | 3 |
| FMS 5333 | Editing | 3 |
| FMS 5433 | Directing | 3 |
| FMS 5533 | Producing | 3 |
| FMS 5543 | Writing for Short-Form Media | 3 |
| FMS 5603 | Nonfiction Production | 3 |
| |
| Writing for Feature Film | |
| Writing for Episodic TV/Streaming | |
| Special Topics in Screenwriting | |
| |
| History of American Film & Television | |
| Topics in Film/Media History | |
| * | |
| Film Theory | |
| Topics in Film & Media Studies | |
| |
| Teaching Film Studies | |
| Teaching Film Production | |
| Teaching Screenwriting | |
| |
| * | |
| Writing for Feature Film | |
| Writing for Episodic TV/Streaming | |
| Special Topics in Screenwriting | |
| Special Topics in Production | |
| Independent Study | |
| |
| FMS 6983 | Thesis for Development and Pre-Production (repeated for a total of 6 semester credit hours) | 6 |
| FMS 6986 | Thesis for Production | 6 |
| FMS 6993 | Thesis for Post-Production and Defense | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 60 |
*New Film and Media Studies (FMS) Courses
FMS 5153. Aesthetic Analysis of Narrative Film before 1960. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.
Advanced survey of the aesthetic development of Film, pre-1960. Course Fees: GL01 $90; STLF $18.48.
FMS 5163. Aesthetic Analysis of Narrative Film since 1960. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.
Advanced survey of the aesthetic development of Film since 1960. Course Fees: GL01 $90; STLF $18.48.
FMS 5443. Directing II. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.
Prerequisite: FMS 5433. Continued refinement in directing the camera and performers for the screen. Course Fees: GL01 $90; STLF $18.48.
Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities
The Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate is housed in the Interdisciplinary School for Engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences (ISE) within the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and fosters cross-college collaboration, including partnerships with the College of Education and Human Development and other academic units across UTSA. This certificate offers a flexible, interdisciplinary credential that integrates humanities inquiry with digital methods and innovative approaches. Designed to complement existing graduate degree programs and certificates, the program allows students to apply elective coursework from their home disciplines toward the certificate without extending the time to the degree. Drawing on faculty expertise across colleges, the certificate supports the university's emphasis on interdisciplinary and experiential learning while equipping graduates with practical, ethical, and transferable digital humanities skills that enhance career readiness and competitiveness in public humanities, cultural, nonprofit, technology-related, and academic fields.
Program Highlights
- Interdisciplinary Expertise: This certificate offers a broad, integrative education at the intersection of humanities scholarship, digital technologies, and critical inquiry. Students will have the opportunity to engage with approaches drawn from literature, history, cultural studies, linguistics, geography, public humanities, archival studies, and data and information sciences, exploring topics such as digital archives, mapping and spatial humanities, textual analysis, public-facing scholarship, web design, data analysis, and ethical and community-engaged digital practices.
- Professional Development: This certificate is designed to provide opportunities to develop practical and transferable skills applicable to careers in libraries and archives, museums, cultural and heritage organizations, nonprofit and public sector work, education, technology-related fields, and academia. Emphasis is placed on hands-on projects, collaborative work, and ethical digital scholarship, preparing graduates to contribute meaningfully across professional contexts.
- Flexibility: The program accommodates both full-time and part-time students and is designed to complement existing graduate degrees and certificates.
- Expert Faculty: Students benefit from instruction by faculty across multiple colleges with expertise in digital humanities research, pedagogy, public humanities, and interdisciplinary scholarship. Faculty are committed to mentoring students in both theoretical foundations and applied digital methods.
- Networking and Experiential Opportunities: The certificate provides opportunities to connect with peers, faculty, librarians, technologists, and community partners through workshops, speaker series, collaborative projects, digital humanities initiatives at the university, internships, and fellowships. These engagements foster professional networks and expose students to diverse career pathways.
Admissions
The certificate is designed to support degree-seeking graduate students and professionals seeking to enhance their academic training and career readiness without extending the time to complete their degree. Students wishing to apply to the Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities must submit a brief statement of purpose (500-700 words) indicating interests and goals in pursuing the certificate, as well as a resume, to the Graduate Admissions office.
Certificate Program Requirements
The certificate is offered in 4 courses (12 credit hours). The capstone course will engage students in the digital humanities praxis through hands-on methods and practices with digital tools. Students will have the opportunity to develop their own Digital Humanities portfolio or work on a Digital Humanities project that can be part of their thesis or dissertation within their degree-seeking program.
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Credit Hours |
| * | 3 |
| |
| * | |
| Data Visualization | |
| Digital Media Design and Production I | |
| Digital Communication | |
| Technology in Language Teaching and Learning | |
| Seminar in Critical GIS | |
| Making History in the Digital Age | |
| Introduction to Learning, Design, and Technology | |
| Hispanic-Latino Digital World | |
| * | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 12 |
*New Digital Humanities (DHU) Courses
DHU 5003. Introduction to Digital Humanities for Graduate Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the field of Digital Humanities (DH), broadly understood as the intersection where computing technologies and humanities and social science inquiry inform and reshape one another. It offers a critical introduction to the tools, methods, and intellectual history of the Digital Humanities (DH) and its subfields (Multilingual DH, Latinx and Latin American DH, Caribbean DH, Transborder DH, Black DH, Indigenous DH, Global Digital Humanities, Libraries and Digital Humanities, among others). Students will explore how the use of computational, geospatial, network, archival, and visualization methodologies connect and help expand traditional humanities questions, while also examining how humanistic perspectives critically interrogate the cultural, political, and public dimensions of digital technologies. Through readings, activities, and project-based exercises, students will evaluate and develop digital humanities questions and projects while engaging key theories, methods, and debates in the field and its disciplines. The course emphasizes practical experimentation with digital tools, collaborative work, and critical reflection on the infrastructures and structures that shape “the digital” in humanities research. By the end of the course, students will have a strong foundational understanding of the interdisciplinary field and practical skills to support future research. No prior technical expertise is required, but students should be willing to experiment with and engage new approaches to humanities scholarship. Course Fee: GL01 $90; STLF $18.48.
DHU 6903. Digital Humanities Capstone. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.
In this capstone, students will apply skills they have learned throughout the program and develop new technological and research skills based on a particular research project interest. Students will have the opportunity to design, develop, and complete an original individual or collaborative digital humanities research project. Building on prior coursework, students refine a focused research question and carry out advanced research that integrates humanities inquiry with appropriate digital tools and methodologies. Throughout the semester, students move from project proposal to implementation and public presentation. They will develop and refine research questions; identify relevant primary and secondary sources; determine appropriate digital methods (such as digital archiving, mapping, text analysis, data visualization, oral history platforms, or digital exhibits); and critically reflect on the theoretical, ethical, and technical dimensions of their work. The course includes structured workshops and skill-building sessions tailored to project needs, along with regular peer-review meetings in which students share progress updates, troubleshoot challenges, and provide constructive feedback. Emphasis is placed not only on technical development but also on project design, sustainability, metadata standards, accessibility, and public engagement. Throughout the course, students are introduced to digital collections, archives, and research resources available at UT San Antonio, and other institutional repositories, as well as regional, national, and transnational sources. By the end of the semester, students will have completed an essay, a project, or contributed to an existing project, demonstrating methodological rigor, critical awareness, and a meaningful contribution to digital humanities scholarship. Course Fee: GL01 $90; STLF $18.48.
DHU 6973. Digital Humanities Special Topics. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.
Special topics in Digital Humanities or new approaches of current interest to the instructor. The course topic will vary by semester, allowing students to engage deeply with a focused theme such as digital archives and cultural memory, borderlands and transnational data, digital storytelling, mapping social movements, Latinx DH, or artificial intelligence and languages. By the end of the course, students will have gained a strong theoretical and/or practical grounding in an aspect of the Digital Humanities and experience producing research that bridges humanities and social science inquiry and digital innovation. May be repeated for up to 6 credits when topics vary. Course Fee: GL01 $90; STLF $18.48.
Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies
The Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies is a 15-semester-credit-hour certificate available to degree-seeking students who have been admitted to any UT San Antonio graduate program, as well as to non-degree seeking graduate students who meet all the requirements outlined in the UT San Antonio Graduate Catalog.
The Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies offers advanced and multidisciplinary coursework designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the foundations of Latin American cultures, including skills necessary for applied work. This certificate will be particularly valuable for students in the social sciences and humanities who are interested in building cultural competency in Latin America and the international arena.
The Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies requires completion of 15 semester credit hours of graduate coursework related to Latin America and/or Latinx people in the U.S. In order to ensure students obtain a multidisciplinary perspective on Latin America, it is required that the courses be housed in at least two different departments, with at least 6 semester credit hours outside the student’s home department. Thus, students can individualize their program of study to meet their own specific areas of interest, while ensuring thematic breadth across disciplines. It is strongly encouraged to have basic proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese.
In addition to the courses outlined below, study abroad programs and courses taken as part of an international education program in Latin America also qualify for the Graduate Certificate.
The courses listed in the Program of Study below all qualify for the certificate. In addition, any graduate course cross-listed with a LAS prefix qualifies for the certificate. Courses not on the list below that have significant Latin American and/or Latinx content may be applied to the certificate, with the approval of the graduate certificate coordinator.
Certificate Program Requirements
Course List | Code | Title | Credit Hours |
| 15 |
| |
| Maya Civilization | |
| Seminar in Andean Archaeology and Ethnography | |
| Ancient Civilizations | |
| Special Problems (Footsteps of Early Maya Explorers) | |
| Special Problems (Seminars that include significant Latin American content) | |
| |
| Topics in Mesoamerican Pre-Columbian Art | |
| Topics in Latin American Colonial Art | |
| Topics in Contemporary Latin American Art | |
| Topics in Art History (Only when course includes significant Latin American content) | |
| |
| Mexican American History | |
| The U.S.–Mexico Border | |
| Colonial Mexico | |
| Modern Mexico | |
| Colonial Latin America | |
| Latina/os in the United States | |
| Topics in Latin American History | |
| |
| Hispanic Film | |
| History of Ideas in the Hispanic World | |
| Latin American Civilization | |
| Topics in Hispanic Cultures | |
| Latin American Literature to Modernism | |
| Latin American Literature from Modernism to the Present | |
| Latino/a Cultures and Literatures in Spanish | |
| Topics in Hispanic Literatures | |
| |
| Mexican Politics | |
| Topics in Comparative and International Politics | |
| Special Problems | |
| |
| Latina/o Literature | |
| Latina/o Studies: Text and Context | |
| Seminar: Latina/o Studies | |
| Total Credit Hours | 15 |
