What do our graduates think?
Tinu Silva, graduated 2014
“It is pretty rewarding when I hear employers tell me “your MA in Popular Culture really makes you stand out”. Brock University’s Popular Culture Masters program offers cutting-edge research and theoretical skills transferable in the academic and the corporate environment. Small seminars taught me to challenge ideas and develop debates. In graduate school at Brock University, it is apparent that the program is inherently designed to focus on the needs of their graduate students. The level of support and encouragement you get from professors and thesis/MRP supervisors are priceless. This program challenges you to push boundaries, explore your interests, and execute quality research.”
Tinu is now a Marketing & Communication: UX Content Strategist/Producer (SEO/SEM) at Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority
Jeff Parker, graduated 2013
Brock University’s Popular Culture MA is a completely one-of-a-kind Masters program. Examining the tenets of cultural studies through the lens of Pop-culture allowed me to bring my passion for film, television and music into the classroom in an engaging and academically rich way. The interaction amongst my peers and professors—both inside and outside of our seminars—challenged me and my ideas and and made for an interactive and collaborative learning experience. Finally, being given the trust and mentorship to pursue my own areas of interest meant that I was able to focus my studies on what mattered to me and to my professional career in the Canadian media industries.
Jeff is now the Manager of ViewFinders, the Atlantic Film Festival for Youth
Jumoke Isekeije, graduated 2010
Taking the MA in Popular Culture degree in the CPCF department at Brock University gave me an opportunity to further develop a critical edge in my academic pursuit. This critical outlook has become very useful as I continued my journey in academia. The courses I took and my professors also exposed me to diverse popular culture and media studies materials, some of which I still find relevant in my current research projects. I was also able to apply this skill to the research I completed in the Social Justice and Equity Studies program.
Jumoke is now a PhD Student (Media Studies), Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Caroline Charest, graduated 2009
As a visual communication specialist, graduate school has encouraged me to take a step back and think about communication on a higher and more integrated level. The interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research gave me the flexibility to pursue various interest in branding, visual merchandising and advertising, thus enabling me to build a special breadth of know-how right at the interface between existing modes of knowledge. A diversity of lectures and challenging class discussions prepared me to debate my ideas in public while keeping an open mind confronted with different points of view. Choosing an industry study case methodology also allowed me to apply theoretical concepts to real world problems, and made it easy to transfer acquired research skills and innovative communication practices in my field of work.
Caroline is now Visual Merchandising & Field Service Director, at Clarins, Europe’s #1 prestige skin care brand
Liam Young, graduated 2009
The interdisciplinary MA in Popular Culture at Brock provided me with a supportive and collegial space in which to draw together a number of diverse interests in film, music, and television. With the support of the program’s excellent faculty, I was able to develop the theoretical and methodological tools required to create a coherent and precise research program. The skills I honed through the program’s emphasis on critical reading, writing, dialogue, and analysis have helped to propel my further studies in communication and media studies at the doctoral level. My experiences in Popular Culture at Brock were formative, both intellectually and personally, and continue to shape my scholarship and teaching. The spirit of intellectual curiosity and creativity cultivated by the program is a great benefit to students; the program’s collegiality in particular remains a standard I seek to emulate in my current institutional contexts.
Liam has now successfully completed his PHD at the University of Western Ontario and is currently a full-time instructor at Carleton University in the School of Journalism and Communication.
