Pok Chi Lau has heard the question hundreds of times: Does Kansas University offer a major in photography?

Starting next semester, he can give a new answer. That’s because KU is rolling out its new photomedia major in the spring, with a full-blown start in the fall.

“It’s been so many years to make this happen,” says Lau, a photography professor. “No one in the Midwest has anything close to what we’re proposing.”

The new major is actually two majors – a Bachelor of Arts in photomedia and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photomedia. The difference, in part, is that the BA requires a foreign language.

The photomedia program has been a priority for Greg Thomas, who came to KU three years ago as chairman of the design department.

He said he found many area high schools that have strong photography programs, and he figures KU is losing out on 10 to 15 students a year from Lawrence’s two high schools alone by not offering a photography major.

The response, so far, has been phenomenal. He says the department has done very little promotion, yet 15 to 20 students have signed up already, and alumni are contacting him every day wanting to know how they can help.

“It’s kind of one of these, gee, why didn’t we do this before?” Thomas says.

He says the largest emphasis in the design department currently is visual communications, which has about 250 students.

“I think this has the potential to be larger than that,” Thomas says.

Major changes

The new major attracted Abbey Saathoff, a junior from Overland Park. She added photomedia to her majors, in addition to art history.

“I actually wanted to go to college for photography, but KU didn’t have a program,” she says. “I figured I’d major in art history, get all the art stuff and go somewhere else after KU. I was surprised that there weren’t any big schools in Kansas with any sort of a photography major. There were a few courses, but nothing beyond that.”

Ultimately, she says, she wants to be a fashion photographer.

Julianne Kueffer, a fifth-year student from Prairie Village, also decided to switch majors after hearing KU was offering the photomedia program.

She likes the multidisciplinary, liberal arts-based approach to the program.

“It’s photography with a purpose,” Kueffer says. “That interests me. I like to see photography in that light because it’s career-worthy.”

Real-life work

Thomas says photomedia will incorporate areas of fine art and commercial photography, photojournalism, videography and other derivatives.

“Anything that’s about creating an image, which is pretty broad,” he says. “I hope it can be something where they’ll be able to go anywhere and adapt. We want to provide tools and resources. We don’t want to rubber-stamp people here.”

The first class to be offered in the spring semester will be taught by 10 members of the photography department at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Mo. It will give the students hands-on experience doing commercial photography.

“When a parent comes in here,” Thomas says, “one of the first questions I hear is, ‘Is my kid going to be able to make a living?'”

New directions

In some ways, Thomas says, the new photomedia major is being introduced at a time of crossroads in photography.

Debates loom over whether traditional film and darkroom photography still should be taught, or whether an all-digital approach is better.

“I think you need to learn on that,” Thomas says of film. “That’s how I was taught.”

While the department may add staff for the new program, Thomas says relying on adjunct professors with real-life experience will help to keep students current on technology trends.

Meanwhile, photography professor Lau says he’s hoping the new program focuses more on people than it does gadgetry.

“We don’t want a vocational training school,” he says. “We want something that will hopefully influence positive human behavior.”

He says the areas of medical research, social research and the military especially are hungry for photographers at the moment.

And Lau says those careers will require students to know a wide variety of photography skills – exactly the types of skills the new photomedia degree promises to teach.

“This is expected of you now before you graduate,” he says. “Why not face the reality?”