Rowan to offer television studies program named for longtime donor

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Rowan University will launch the Diana King Master of Arts in Television Studies in September 2022 to prepare students for careers in screenwriting or critical writing about television.

Diana King was a longtime benefactor of the university. Her family pledged $1 million to support student scholarships.

According to Kim Akass, a professor in Rowan’s Radio, Television & Film program through the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts, Rowan’s MA in television studies is the only such program in the nation. “It is possible to study television at other institutions, but it’s usually as part of a film or media MFA,” she said.

Students from Rowan’s RTF undergraduate program have gone on to work on shows such as Game of Thrones and Rizzoli & Isles.

According to Akass, there’s long been a demand for a master’s level television studies program at the university, and the new MA has been in development for a number of years.

The spike in TV watching over the pandemic made the need for the program more obvious, she said. “The medium is just getting bigger and bigger,” she noted.

The donor for whom the program is named passed away in 2019 after she’d established the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation in 1988 to honor her parents, the founders of King World, a legendary TV distributor of programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, and Rachael Ray.

Previously, the foundation gave $1 million in 2002 to fund the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation Professorial Chair in Radio, Television & Film, a seat currently held by Prof. Keith Brand; and $545,000 to support RTF scholarships, students affected by COVID-19 and a new online tutoring program.

The admissions committee will consider applications beginning Feb. 15.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]