“If you can’t imagine it, you can’t have it.”
– Toni Morrison

Three campuses. Three communities. Infinite stories.

Program Overview

The Documentary Storymaking minor emphasizes hands-on experience in the methods, tools, practices and partnerships that foster students’ understanding and ability to create meaningful stories with and for diverse communities. 

While developing students’ personal capacities for creative and ethical expression, the minor in Documentary Storymaking is also deeply community-based and connects to the issues, concerns, and stories of broader importance in partnership with a variety of organizations and communities within the Lehigh Valley.

Established in Spring 2016 through a collaboration among Lafayette College, Lehigh University, and Muhlenberg College, the Documentary Storymaking minor is open to students on each campus pursuing any major field of study.

Requirements

The minor consists of 3 required courses: 

Doc 150, Introduction to Documentary Storymaking,
Rights and Responsibilities in Documentary Storymaking,
and Doc 370, Capstone in Documentary Storymaking. 

Additionally, students complete two approved electives, one of which is production focused. 
Read more about course descriptions and requirements.

For more information about the consortial minor, contact the program director:
Lora Taub, lorataub@muhlenberg.edu or 484.664.3880.
For help with cross-registration through LVAIC, see the LVAIC website here.

Student Works

Free to Be Us

Dir. Ali Ruchman

Shelf Life 

Dir. Sophia Echevarria

Voice of the Streets

Dir. Tracey Robinson

Unschooling

Dir. Fatimah Fair

More student work available online as part of the
Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium Digital Archive

News

Spring 2021 Classes

Doc150 instagram grid

We are excited to share the spring 2021 semester schedule, with two required Documentary Storymaking courses offered. Doc 250: Rights and Responsibilities in Documentary Inquiry…

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Snapshots of the Valley

The students in valuable collaboration with community members across the Lehigh Valley made meaningful, cinematic work with deep attention to location, ethical engagement and the framing of stories that often go unnoticed, yet are snapshots of the intricate moving parts in the Valley.

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Who We Are

Drew Swedberg
Program Alum 
Adjunct Professor
Film and Media Studies
Lafayette 

Michael Kramp
Assoc. Professor of English
Director of Film Studies
Lehigh

Jack Lule
Fulbright Specialist in Journalism
Iacocca Professor
Journalism and Communication
Lehigh

Julia Maserjian
Digital Scholarship Manager
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
Lehigh

Olivia Landry*
Asst. Professor of German
Modern Languages & Literatures
Director of Film and Doc Studies
Lehigh

Nandini Sikand*
Assoc. Professor & Chair
Film and Media Studies
Lafayette

Andy Smith
Assoc. Professor
Film and Media Studies
Lafayette

Lora Taub*
Professor, Media & Communication
Dir., Documentary Storymaking
Dean for Digital Learning
Muhlenberg

David Romberg
Asst. Professor
Film Studies
Muhlenberg College

*advisors

Founding Faculty and Friends ​

Jenna Azar
Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz
Tamara Myers
John Pettegrew, In Memoriam
Kate Ranieri
Greg Reihman

We are a community of practice collaborating across three institutions to expand access to and engagement in documentary teaching, practice, and scholarship in the Lehigh Valley.

Copyright 2024 Documentary Storymaking: A LVAIC Consortial Minor