Faculty Spotlight: 2023–2024

Mneesha Gellman, Associate Professor, Marlboro Institute and Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative was awarded a grant from the New World Foundation to support the Emerson Prison Initiative and its newly-launched Reentry and College Outside Program (RECOUP) to support returning citizens. The New World Foundation supports leaders and organizations that advance democracy, protect community and build a humane social vision.

Assistant Professor in the department of Communication Studies Deion Hawkins authored an article “Lack of access to health care is partly to blame for skyrocketing HIV rates among gay Black men,” published in The Conversation. The article explores the disproportionately high rates of HIV among Black gay and bisexual men in the United States and concludes that structural barriers, such as lack of access to healthcare, affordability issues, and social stigma and discrimination, are the primary drivers of the HIV disparities faced by the Black queer community, and addressing these inequities is crucial to improving health outcomes.

Professor of civic media and the director of the Engagement Lab Eric Gordon co-authored a case study article published in the journal CoDesign. The article explores the Emerson College based storytelling initiative “Transforming Narratives of Gun Violence (TNGV)”, which seeks to transform dominant narratives of gun violence that are harmful and dehumanizing by centering the perspectives of those most impacted, highlighting the potential of collaborative critical making, a practice that unites critical thinking and hands-on experiments to encourage learning by doing to transform harmful narratives and promote social change.

Communication Sciences & Disorders Professor Ruth Grossman was interviewed by Emerson Today about her research on the intersection of autism and gender. Grossman’s goal is to raise awareness and understanding of autism across neurotypes, examining how first impressions and assumptions influence interactions between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Professor Grossman is currently on leave as a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University.On April 10, she presented some of her findings in an online talk hosted by the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. 

Wyatt Oswald, a professor in the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies, co-authored a preprint article currently under review for the international scientific journal  Climate of the Past. The article discusses vegetation-atmosphere interactions as a possible explanation for the Holocene Conundrum, a widely studied mismatch between simulated and reconstructed temperatures. Using sedimentary pollen records, the research team aims to determine the pattern and magnitude of North American land cover changes at continental to regional scales.

Malic Amalya, Assistant Professor of Experimental Media and 16mm Film Production, organized a film  showcase on March 29th, in collaboration with two Emerson graduate students as part of a year-long 100th birthday celebration of 16mm film. The event was organized in collaboration with AgX, an artist-run film lab and collective, and featured work of AgX members, including Visual and Media Arts Professor Kathryn Ramey.

Kathryn Ramey, Professor and Associate chair of the department of visual and media arts will be screening her film “El Signo Vacío” (the empty sign) on Sunday, May 5 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge as part of the International Film Festival Boston. Professor Ramey’s film, about the ongoing U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico, was initially supported by an Emerson College Faculty Advancement Fund Grant (FAFG) in 2018.

Marketing Communication associate professor Naa Amoponsah Dodoo co-authored a research article published in March 2024 in the Journal of Advertising. Her research paper “Disclosing AI’s Involvement in Advertising to Consumers: A Task-Dependent Perspective” examines how the disclosure of AI affects consumers’ word-of-mouth (WOM) intent in relation to ads through experimental studies.

Associate professor and director of the Emerson Prison Initiative Mneesha Gellman has a new book “Misrepresentation and Silence in United States History Textbooks: The Politics of Historical Oblivion,” published Open Access by Palgrave Macmillan. The free publication was made possible by the Leibnitz Institute for Educational Media at the Georg Eckert Institute in Germany, where Gellman was awarded a fellowship in 2022. Read more in Emerson Today.

Communication Studies associate professor and Chair J. Gregory Payne co-authored a book chapter “Studying FC Barcelona as a Corporate Body” published in the 2024 Routledge book FC Barcelona: History, Politics and Identity. The chapter analyzes the Barcelona Football Club as a global corporate entity and proposes brand territories in which the football (soccer) club can achieve a competitive advantage over its rivals.

Affiliated faculty in Writing, Literature & Publishing and Visual & Media Arts, Jocelyn Marshall was awarded a Yellow Door Fellowship from the Prospect Street Writers House, which will support her hybrid memoir project. She has also been invited to the Editorial Board of Art Journal, a service which aligns with her commitment to ensuring marginalized histories are widely published and discussed, especially in regard to research related to women, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC artists.

Professor of civic media and journalism Paul Mihailidis co-authored a research article “Researching Social Media and Activism With Children and Youth: A Scoping Review,” published in the International Journal of Communication. The article explores  current research on social media and activism involving children and youth and concludes that current research has limited inclusion of diverse participants and future research should prioritize inclusivity.

Associate professor of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Rhiannon Luyster, co-authored a research paper “Do focused interests support word learning? A study with autistic and nonautistic children,” published in March 2024 in Autism Research, the official journal of The International Society for Autism Research. The article examines if autistic and non-autistic children who have focused interests have advantages in word learning.

Marketing Communications professor Thomas Vogel co-authored an article “How does generative artificial intelligence impact student creativity?” published in the April, 2024 issue of the Journal of Creativity, the official journal of the Academy of Creativity. The article explores the role of AI on student creative thinking.

Marketing Communication associate professor Roxana Maiorescu-Murphy has a new research article published in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. “An Analysis of Online Perceptions in Response to Microsoft’s and Google’s Sexual Harassment Scandals” explores corporate diversity and crisis management through the analyzation of Google’s and Microsoft’s sexual harassment scandals. The findings provide implications for the practice of communication management with respect to scandals.

Associate professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Robin Danzak co-authored an article, “Family is About Who Loves You: Exploring the Adoption Journey With Photos and Stories” published in the January, 2024 issue of the The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review. Her research takes a novel approach in using images, photovoice and focus group methods to research the adoption phenomenon experienced by both adoptees and their families.

Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies professor Tulasi Srinivas will be speaking at Boston University this spring on her latest research on the climate crisis and water in Bangalore, India that she developed with support from Emerson’s Office of Research and Creative Scholarship as well as Harvard Divinity School and the Henry Luce Foundation.

Performing Arts professor Magda Romanska has a research article, “The Bionic Body: Disability, Technology and Posthumanism” published in the 2024 issue of the Journal of Body, Space & Technology, a journal of contemporary artistic practice and research published by the Open Library of Humanities (OLH). Her article explores the new field of critical posthuman disability studies and its engagement with modern technologies.

Visual and Media Arts professor John Gianvito received a 2023 Ford Foundation JustFilms grant through the non-profit Documentary Educational Resources for the production of “Her Socialist Smile,” a documentary film which explores Helen Keller’s advocacy for social justice.

Marketing Communication professor Seounmi Han (Katie) Youn co-authored an article, “Social Presence and Imagery Processing as Predictors of Chatbot Continuance Intention in Human-AI-Interaction,” which was published in a 2023 Special issue on AI in Human-Computer Interaction in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. The article explores what factors drive consumers to use artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots.

Communication Sciences & Disorders Scholar-In-Residence Maryam Salehomoum co-authored “Assessment in Farsi–English Emerging Bilingual Children: A Tutorial” published in the December, 2023 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Special Interest Group publication on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity. The tutorial highlights the need for culturally sensitive assessments of bilingual children with regard to their language learning histories.

Journalism professor Paul Mihailidis co-authored a research article “Designing equitable media literacy interventions for critical youth agency” published in January, 2024 in the peer-reviewed SAGE Journal Global Studies of Childhood. The article detailed findings from a national study of impactful media literacy that Professor Mihaildis co-conducted with collaborators at the University of Iowa and Syracuse University among others, and shares the process for creating a Field Guide for Equitable Media Literacy Practices.

Affiliated faculty in Writing, Literature & Publishing and Visual & Media Arts, Jocelyn Marshall received a professional development grant from the Modern Language Association. She also received Honorable Mention for the College Art Association’s Professional Development Fellowship in Art History. The exhibition catalog she co-edited for a 2023 Mellon Foundation-funded exhibition she co-curated in partnership with SUNY University at Buffalo has been released digitally with support from SUNY Press.

Part-time faculty and cultural strategist and co-founder of HowlRound Vijay Mathew will be leading a subject matter expert webinar for the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) in May, 2024. His presentation will be the first time faculty/staff from Emerson is represented at IAAP as an expert contributing to the body of knowledge and practice in the accessibility space.

Comedic Arts assistant professor Ken Feil contributed to a new book, Rolling: Blackness and Mediated Comedy which will be released in April, 2024 by Indiana University Press. This edited volume covers a range of cases representing African American humor across film, television, digital media, and stand-up comedy.

Communication Sciences and Disorders assistant professor Lindsay Griffin recently co-authored a research article, Lingual Pressure Generation Measures Using Two Devices, in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. The research was conducted at Emerson in 2021–2022 and at Samford University, Case Western Reserve University, James Madison University and Texas Christian University.

Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies professor Tulasi Srinivas was featured on a January 2024 New Books Network podcast in which she discussed her 2023 book Wonder in South Asia, published by SUNY Press.

Communication Studies assistant professor Lauren C. Anderson has a new research article published in December, 2023 in the academic journal Communication & Sport. Revisiting the Relationship Between Sports Fandom and the Black Criminal Stereotype examines whether sports fans’ perceptions of “the Black criminal stereotype” in athletes have changed over the past several years, especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Writing, Literature & Publishing assistant professor John Rodzvilla has a book review published in the December, 2023 issue of The Journal of Web Librarianship. His piece, Open Access Literature in Libraries (book review) reviews the authors’ assertion that Open Access has evolved into the most complex challenge of the scholarly publishing, and best practices are needed for librarians to confidently engage with Open Access.

Marketing Communication assistant professor Eric Hogue has a new research article published in December, 2023 in the academic journal Applied Economics. “The complementary relationship between live performances and post-concert streaming for top-performing artists” examines the complementary effects of live concerts on incremental post-concert music streams in 29 US cities, with the aim to gain insight into the influence of live performance on post-concert streaming of artists’ recorded music.

Marlboro Institute associate professor Adam Franklin-Lyons has a book review published in the Fall 2023 issue of The Catholic Historical Review. His piece, The Keys to Bread and Wine: Faith, Nature, and Infrastructure in Late Medieval Valencia by Abigail Agresta (review) reviews the author’s assertion of the coexistence of both religious and technological responses to environmental crises in medieval Spain.

Journalism Assistant Professor Zhao Peng has a new research article published in the academic journal Information, Communication & Society. “A privacy calculus model perspective that explains why parents sharent” investigates what factors explain parents’ sharenting behaviors. Sharenting refers to the practice of parents, caregivers or relatives sharing information about their children online.

Marlboro Institute Assistant Professor Ian McManus recently published an article “Workforce automation risks across race and gender in the United States” in the American Journal of Economics and Society. The article examines different effects of workforce automation across race and gender in the US.

Marlboro Institute Associate Professor Lindsay Beck co-authored a paper “Increases in Intellectual Humility from Guided Conversations are Greater When People Perceive Affiliation with Conversation Partners” published on the education platform The Constructive Dialogue Institute. The paper examines factors that support long-term changes in intellectual humility, including affiliative interactions with new conversation partners.

Professor and Director of the Engagement Lab, Eric Gordon, co-authored a recent article, “Applied visual art for codesign: three case studies of emergent practices,” published in CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts. Codesign is a set of practices that facilitate collaboration in the design process, leading to shared investment in outcomes. The article reviews three case studies and concludes that applied visual art has great potential to support codesign.

Associate professor and director of the Emerson Prison Initiative Mneesha Gellman was featured on the New Books Network podcast, discussing the book Education Behind the Wall: Why and How We Teach College in Prison. Gellman edited the book, which examines different aspects of teaching in prison. Read more in Emerson Today.

Journalism Assistant Professor Gino Canella‘s research article “Cinematic journalism: the political economy and ‘emotional truth’ of documentary film” was recently published in the academic journal Studies in Documentary Film. Professor Canella’s research examines documentary’s surging popularity among news outlets and its effects on journalistic norms.

Journalism Associate Professor of American Studies, Roger House, wrote an opinion piece for The Messenger about how President Joe Biden can stop his slipping support from Black male voters. Read more in Emerson Today.

Journalism Associate Professor Azeta Hatef wrote an article for the Los Angeles Review of Books about Hulu’s new reality television show Secrets & Sisterhood: The Sozahdahs. The show provides a complicated perspective about growing up Afghan in the United States. Read more in Emerson Today.

Marlboro Institute Associate Professor Mneesha Gellman was interviewed by Bill Ayers on his Under the Tree Podcast on Indigenous Peoples’ Day about her research on the benefits of indigenous languages in the public school classroom and the opposition it faces. Professor Gellman is the author of Indigenous Language Politics in the Schoolroom: Cultural Survival in Mexico and the United States. Read more in Emerson Today.

Communication Sciences and Disorders Assistant Professor Lindsay Griffin co-authored a research article, “Dysphonia Outperforms Voice Change as a Clinical Predictor of Dysphagia,” in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. The study investigated if voice change or disorders of the voice after swallowing are valid predictors of dysphagia (swallowing difficulties).

Marlboro Institute Assistant Professor Ioana Jucan recently released a new book, Malicious Deceivers: Thinking Machines and Performative Objects published in August, 2023 by Stanford University Press. The book unpacks the notion of fakeness through the related logics of dissimulation (deception) and simulation (performativity) as seen with software/AI, television, plastics, and the internet. Read more in Emerson Today.

Communication Sciences and Disorders Professor Ruth Grossman is one of five investigators receiving a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project “Ready to CONNECT: Conversation and Language in Autistic Teens,” funded by the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders. Read more in Emerson Today. Read more in Emerson Today.

Communication Studies Professor Richard West has been named the winner of the National Communication Association’s (NCA) 2023 Samuel L. Becker Distinguished Service Award in recognition of a lifetime of contributions to the field of communication. Read more in Emerson Today.

Visual & Media Arts Assistant Professor Ougie Pak was selected to participate in the 2023 TIFF Filmmaker Lab, a talent development program which provides directors with an exceptional professional development experience at the Toronto International Film Festival and an introduction to the global community of filmmaking.

Visual & Media Arts affiliated faculty Heather Cassano is the recipient of a 2023 LEF/CIFF Fellowship, the LEF Foundation’s partnership with Points North Institute to support five New England-based filmmaker teams to attend the Camden International Film Festival and connect with other filmmakers and industry leaders.

Writing, Literature & Publishing Associate Professor Benoit Denizet-Lewis received a Public Scholars award from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his upcoming book, We Don’t Know You Anymore: Identity Change in America. The NEH Public Scholars program offers grants to individual authors for research, writing, travel, and other activities leading to the publication of well-researched nonfiction books in the humanities.

Assistant professor Novuyo Tshuma‘s new novel ‘Digging Stars’ debuted on September 12, 2023, and was reviewed by the New York Times. Blending drama and satire while examining the complexities of colonialism, racism, and being American, ‘Digging Stars’ probes the universes of love, friendship, family and nationhood.

Associate Professor Vincent Raynauld and his co-author Mireille Lalance at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières won a 2023 Best Paper Award from The Northeastern Political Science Association. “The Hyper-Masculine Campaign: Party Leader Brand Image, Heteronormativity, and the 2021 Canadian Federal Election,” won in the Identity Issues Best Paper category.