New York College Offering New Course On Taylor Swift

Love her or hate her. Taylor Swift has created an empire and influenced way more than just her millions of fans.

Swift is so polarizing, that colleges and universities around the country have started offering courses on her, including one in New York State.

Exploring Pop Culture

St. Bonaventure University will explore pop culture’s role in the media landscape and its impact on public policy in a new special course during the spring semester.

“From the protest music of the 1960s to the phenomena of Taylor Swift, pop culture has been a part of daily life in America,” said Dr. Richard Lee, a professor in the university’s Jandoli School of Communication.

Course Topics

Several topics will be covered in the course, all designed by Professor Lee who integrated elements from his career in journalism, government, and academia.

• How celebrities influence public policy
• The ability of politicians to avoid the scrutiny of mainstream media by appearing on entertainment television programs
• The impact of protest music during the Vietnam Era
• The phenomenon of Taylor Swift, who was named Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year, and Volodymyr Zelensky, played the president of Ukraine on a sitcom before he became the country’s president

Utica Man Helps Create University

St. Bonaventure University was founded in 1858 thanks in part to Nicholas Devereux, a large landholder and financier from Utica, New York. He and John Timon, Bishop of Buffalo, persuaded a group of friars to venture from Italy to America and establish a Catholic college and seminary in Western New York.