媒体研究系于2000年秋季开始在弗吉尼亚大学艺术与科学学院开设跨学科本科专业。该系历史悠久，方向严谨，以媒体为研究对象。该部门着重于媒体（广播，电影，电视，摄影，印刷，数字和电子媒体）的形式，机构和效果，尤其着眼于近代和当代的大众媒体。
Students from across the University are encouraged to explore the offerings in Media Studies as part of their undergraduate experience. Those wishing to focus on production or creative arts, law, commerce, policy, research at an advanced level, or in development and research applications of digital technology, should use media studies as the first step toward a master's or doctorate degree in their fields. Graduates can expect to find work in radio, television, publishing, digital media, and the business environments of traditional and new media. The Department of Media Studies offers a bachelor of arts major in Media Studies, a Distinguished Majors Program (DMP) in Media Studies, as well as two optional concentrations in film studies or media policy and ethics. Both, the bachelor of arts major in Media Studies and the DMP are programs that require an application.<br>The Media Studies Department has a significant emphasis on digital media through approaches to its history, theory, and technology and their impact upon contemporary life. Subjects of study include: aesthetics and form, individual perception, the history of media, the ethics and effects of media in the arena of policy studies, the social impact of media on public opinion, and the relations between media and the law. Students are strongly urged to choose the balance of their MDST courses according to an individual plan of study. Students should consider the broad range of topics relevant to a full understanding of media studies: media aesthetics (rhetoric and the shape of argument in media, formal analysis, media criticism, and theory of a specific medium), the history of media (film, photography, television, digital, and print media), the individual experience of media (psychology and sociology), the social experience and effects of media (political science and government, law, or public policy, ethics, anthropology, and sociology), and the economics and business of media.