The CMAC Ph.D. program is accepting applications for Fall 2025.
Visit the Duke Graduate School website for information on the application process.
The interdisciplinary, interdepartmental Ph.D. program in Computational Media, Arts & Cultures (CMAC) is meant to be small, experimental, and interdisciplinary. Its focus is on the intersection of media arts and humanities, sciences, and technology, both in theory and in practice. At the core of the proposal is the computational revolution, and its implications for how we live, think, work, create, and communicate within and across various disciplines. Rather than being the purview of any one discipline, the study and creation of computational media is part of many. Critical engagement with the global, social, and cultural impact of computational media is a central feature and value of the program, alongside media affordances and effects within existing and emerging fields. The core partners in the program are the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, the Program in Literature, the Information Science + Studies Graduate Certificate Program, and the Franklin Humanities Institute.
Students admitted into the Computational Media, Arts & Cultures Ph.D. program will be required to take the Computational Media, Arts & Cultures Proseminar, demonstrate competency in coding and digital media production and or a natural language, participate in four Practicum experiences during their first two years of study, and develop Methodological and Research Fields for their exams, which will be structured around a portfolio format. Dissertations will combine written and practice-based components, as appropriate to the topic, and be presented to the public. Demonstration of skills in mentoring, collaboration, and communication will be expected as well.
Requirements for the CMAC Ph.D. program
The CMAC graduate program requires 15 courses and practicum experiences (excluding language courses). Undergraduate courses may be taken without credit, upon approval, if they are relevant to the student's program of study.
- Computational Media, Arts & Cultures Proseminar (first semester)
- 2 Practice-Based courses
- 4 CMAC Faculty-led Seminars
- 1-4 Practicum Experiences, including Independent Studies
- Additional electives, on approval
- Language proficiency in at least two languages, one of which must be a machine language
- Preliminary exam