The Department of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of human communication focusing on the intersectional nature of meaning and knowledge.
Our courses examine how texts and screen texts — film, television, and the virtual world — transmit messages and look at the historical, sociocultural, and economic forces that shape their circulation and interpretation, taking into account race, ethnicity, gender, class, and more.
Nicole Emery, Academic Administrative Assistant
305 College Street
Pettigrew Hall
Phone: 207-786-8392
rfss@bates.edu
Our major prepares students to work in a wide range of fields, including politics, broadcast journalism, education, advocacy and activism, video game design, film and television, and more. Recent graduates include digital content managers, production assistants, film producers, and morning show news anchors, and many students go on to achieve post-graduate degrees across many different topics.
of 2020-2024 Bates graduates are employed and/or attending graduate school — settled into their next opportunity within 6 months of graduation.
“The rhetoric department at Bates gave me my adult professional life. Full stop. I walked in with no plan and walked out with the components for a career I didn’t even know existed yet. My professors taught me that persuasion, argument, and rhetoric (the real kind, not the pejorative cable shout-y kind) were ways of genuinely engaging with other humans and their points of view. That you could build an actual life being creative. The documentary classes, my thesis, and my film independent study, the debate team, all of it. These people handed me everything I needed. Advertising, entertainment marketing, branding, every campaign and creative brief I’ve touched in thirty-plus years traces back to that department.”
— Christopher Donovan ’92
Lewiston, ME, United States — Students watch the film, “Say Cheese!” by Bates alum Amy Geller `96, during a Film Festival Studies taught by Professor Jonathan J. Cavallero in Olin Arts Center 105 at Bates College in Lewiston, ME on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Students discussed whether they should show the film at the upcoming festival and issues with copyright over the music that is used in the film. (Photo by Yoon S. Byun) © 2026 Strewn Wonder, LLC
Lewiston, ME, United States — A student talks about plans for the upcoming film festival at the beginning of his Film Festival Studies taught by Professor Jonathan J. Cavallero in Olin Arts Center 105 at Bates College in Lewiston, ME on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Students discussed showing a film by a Bates alum and issues with copyright. (Photo by Yoon S. Byun) © 2026 Strewn Wonder, LLC
Lewiston, ME, United States — Professor Jonathan J. Cavallero talks to students about planning the upcoming film festival at the beginning of his Film Festival Studies in Olin Arts Center 105 at Bates College in Lewiston, ME on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Students discussed showing a film by a Bates alum and issues with copyright. (Photo by Yoon S. Byun) © 2026 Strewn Wonder, LLC
Lewiston, ME, United States — Professor Jonathan J. Cavallero talks to students about planning the upcoming film festival at the beginning of his Film Festival Studies in Olin Arts Center 105 at Bates College in Lewiston, ME on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Students discussed showing a film by a Bates alum and issues with copyright. (Photo by Yoon S. Byun) © 2026 Strewn Wonder, LLC
The RFSS major at Bates offers a hands-on approach for students, with community engagement serving as a key element in many of our classes. Students have the chance to participate in events including the Bates Film Festival and the “Presidential Campaign Rhetoric” course, during which they run nine-week-long mock campaigns. We also host lunch panels discussing popular culture; recent panels focused on the box office phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer” and the films Nope and Sinners.
The department’s faculty is composed of award-winning scholars, thinkers, and writers who have studied Italian film, anti-sexual violence organizing, political rhetoric, and Black queer studies. They have been published in top journals both nationally and internationally, break new ground in their chosen fields, and work closely with students to put our teaching into practice at the individual level.
David Omasombo ’26 and Chiwer Mayen ’26 have shared many basketball courts across their young lifetimes, including historic Alumni Gym, but the first one stands out in their memories for being the worst, in a technical sense. The surface was uneven, the rims inconsistent, and, most of the time, there were no nets.
Chronicling Bates alumni in the news — from the class of ’77 to ’26 — and a remembering journalist Kim Gamel ’90.
Many Bates faculty and staff have received grants, awards, and other acknowledgements of their strong teaching and research. Read on for more great Bates news.
