October 14, 2014

Starting this fall, all Drexel students can choose from three new Westphal College minors. In addition to the existing fifteen Westphal minors, these new courses of study give students a chance to tailor their education to specific interests.

A new Interactive Digital Media (IDM) minor is for students who want to learn skills that are in high demand across nearly all professional fields. The IDM minor teaches the design and development of websites and mobile applications, providing a basic foundation in the rapidly growing world of interactivity. Another new Digital Media minor, Animation and Visual Effects, introduces the technological and design skills that animators use in storytelling. The minor provides access to the toolbox used by visual effects artists in the entertainment and design industries, with classes such as organic modeling, spatial data capture and multimedia timeline design. 

From the Dance program comes a new minor in Somatics, which uses body-based practices like yoga, dance and Pilates to gain an understanding of movement and physical awareness. Somatics students learn to analyze and interpret the body’s structural basis and patterns and to develop strategies that apply somatic concepts. The minor weaves studio and academic coursework and is inherently beneficial to sports trainers, nurses, and dance/movement and physical therapists; but an understanding of how we carry our bodies universally affects health and communication, and can be beneficial to anyone. For more information on minor registration and requirements, follow the links in this article to Drexel’s academic catalog.