The Spirit of Prometheus

Technorati Tags: Pomona College,education,interactive media,fund-raising

I recently received an email from my alma mater, Pomona College, regarding a proposed “Spirit of Prometheus” fundraising campaign. The email asked me to read this prospectus and then complete a survey, which I did.

In summary, the prospectus proposes that the college raise $450 million over the next 5-7 years, to be spent in the following ways:

1. “Fostering Creativity Through the Arts” ($144.5 million) – This primarily consists of a major ($130 million) investment in new arts facilities, as well as a cool “Distinguished Visiting Artists” program to bring 3 high-profile artists to campus each year as visiting faculty.
2. “Building Bridges, Locally and Globally” ($66 million) – This investment is primarily intended to tear down the existing Oldenborg International Center and replace it with 2 buildings that basically serve the same purpose (except “better”).
3. “Enhancing Affordability and the Student Experience” ($156.5 million) – $100 million of this money is intended for “New Scholarships for Domestic and International Students, $25 million is for 2 new Residence Halls, and $25 million is for an upgrade to the Rains athletic center. There is also an interesting $4 million set-aside to fund a program to bring high-profile speakers to the college.
4. “Expanding Faculty Resources and Student Learning” ($83 million) – This money is spread out pretty evenly between new professorships, a “Summer Experience Program” to allow students to do paid work over the summer, and improvements to the library system for the 21st-century.

Overall, I was pleased with the goals and impressed by the ambition that the proposal represents. I am excited about many of the proposed improvements to the campus and I think that most of them make a lot of sense. I’m particularly enthusiastic about the Distinguished Visiting Artist program, the Pomona College Speakers Program, improvements to the Rains center, the addition of underground parking, and new/improved residence halls.

However, I was disappointed that, despite a $144.5 million investment in the Arts, the Prospectus didn’t make any mention of increasing Pomona’s focus on or leadership in the area of interactive media. With the remarkable growth that this industry has been experiencing in recent years and the convergence between it and traditional media such as film, it seems clear to me that this new medium will play an increasingly significant role in shaping culture both in America and internationally.

Pomona is already behind institutions such as USC, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and others in providing courses that explore the this emerging artform as well as its cultural impact. Any major financial focus on education in the Arts during the 21st century should include discourse on subjects such as machinima, serious games, commercial video games, and more.

How are serious games being used to make powerful statements about war, poverty, immigration, and how could they be even more effective in addressing these issues? How are video games influencing the creation of film and television? What psychological impacts are violent and mature games having on the people that play them? How have interactive media evolved as tools for story-telling, and where are they likely to go in the future? What level, if any, of government regulation/oversight/censorship of interactive media is appropriate? All of these are questions that I think deserve the attention of Pomona’s students.

For obvious reasons, I would like to see Pomona do a better job of recognizing not only the artistic validity interactive media but also its increasing social, economic, and cultural importance. Hopefully, one or two of the 10+ new faculty positions that the Spirit of Prometheus campaign proposes will be able to be focused on this important area.