Cinema Faculty

Main Content

Birdsong, Todd, Assistant Professor of Practice, Digital Media Arts, M.F.A., Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2015; 2022. Analog and digital processes within sound and transmission art, time-based media, photography, and instrument making.

Brooten, Lisa B., Associate Professor, Media Studies, Ph.D., Ohio University, 2003; 2002. Media and globalization, gender, alternative media, social movements, political communication, interpretive/critical research methods, ethnography.

Burns, David R., Associate Professor, Digital Media Arts and Animation, M.F.A., Parsons School of Design, 2001; 2005. 3D computer animation, media arts practices, media arts theory, technology, culture, and society, memory and post-memory.

Freibert, Finley, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2019; 2022. Researches at the intersection of media industry studies, media history, digital cultures, and LGBTQ+ history.

Galloway, R. Dennis, Senior Lecturer, Media Production, B.A., California University of Pennsylvania, 1978; 2013. New production technology.

Kreider, Wago, Associate Professor, Media Production, M.F.A., Rutgers University, 2002; 2006. Experimental and documentary media production, sound studies and production, cinematic histories, architectural and environmental studies.

Kalayeh, Pirooz, Assistant Professor, Screenwriting and Film Production, Ph.D., European Graduate School, 2018; 2021. Filmmaker, artist, and author.

Kapur, Jyotsna, Professor, Cinema Studies, Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1998; 1998. Feminist and Marxist analysis of media, globalization, children’s film and consumer culture, documentary and ethnographic film, the German and Japanese new wave and Indian cinema.

Lewison, Sarah, Professor, Media Production, M.F.A., University of California, San Diego, 2001; 2007. Video art, social movements, environmental media, installation, live art and performance.

Mercer, Kevin, Assistant Professor, Digital Media Arts and Animation, M.F.A., Pennsylvania State University, 2014; 2021. Interdisciplinary work investigates the human as a cybernetic component within systems and networks and integrates animation, sound, projection, physical computing, and hacked electronics within immersive spaces.

Metz, Walter, Professor, Film Criticism, Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 1996; 2009. Contemporary film and television criticism and theory, literature and film, science and film, post-war American culture.

Motyl, H.D., Associate Professor and Interim Director of the School of Theater and Dance, Media Production and Screenwriting, M.F.A., Northwestern University, 1990; 2007. Film/Video production and screen writing, narrative, gay representation.

Needham, Jay, Professor, Audio Production, M.F.A., California Institute of the Arts, 1989; 2003. Video, film, digital audio production, and electro-acoustic music.

O’Brien, Heather, Assistant Professor, Cinema Production, M.F.A., California Institute of the Arts, 2013; 2020. Essay film, minority representation, and documentary.

Padovani, Cinzia, Associate Professor, Media Studies, Ph.D., University of Colorado 1999; 2005. Historical approaches to political economy, public service broad-casting, international communication, social movements and the media.

Pape, Jennifer, Assistant Professor of Practice, Audio Production, M.F.A., Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2017; 2017. Music composition and performance, audio documentaries, radio dramas, and sound art.

Perkins-Buzo, Reid, Associate Professor, Media Arts, M.F.A., Northwestern University, 2004; 2014. 2D/3D animation, game development, virtual reality, augmented reality, expanded reality, spherical (360°) video production and interactive media.

Phillips, Mike, Clinical Assistant Professor, Media Studies, Ph.D., The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 2018; 2019. American and transnational popular culture, film genre, historical fiction, African American cinema, intermediality.

Spahr, Robert, Associate Professor and Interim Director of the School of Media Arts, Digital Media Arts, M.F.A., Parsons School of Design, New York City, 1991; 2009. Explores the Internet using code-based automated art, live art performance, drawing, painting, sculpture and time-based media.

Zhou, Hong, Associate Professor, Cinema Production, M.F.A., York University, Toronto, Canada, 2000; 2008. Film and video production, cinematography, Chinese cinema, surrealist cinema. 

Emeriti Faculty 

Boruszkowski, Lilly A., Associate Professor, Emerita, M.F.A., Northwestern University, 1980.

Covell, Michael D., Assistant Professor, Emeritus, M.F.A., Ohio University, 1975.

Downing, John D.H., Professor, Emeritus, Ph.D., London School of Economics and Political Science, 1974.

Gher, Leo, Associate Professor, Emeritus, M.S., Southern Illinois University, 1980.

Gilmore, David A., Associate Professor, Emeritus, M.F.A., Ohio University, 1969.

Hochheimer, John L., Professor, Emeritus, Ph.D., Stanford University, 1986.

Johnson, Phylis, Professor, Emerita, Ph.D., Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2003.

Keller, Kenneth R., Associate Professor, Emeritus, M.TV., University of Illinois, 1966.

Kolb, Gary P., Professor, Emeritus, M.F.A., Ohio University, 1977.

Lemish, Dafna, Professor, Emerita, Ph.D., Ohio State University, 1982.

Logan, Fern, Associate Professor, Emerita, M.F.A., School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1993.

Meehan, Eileen R., Professor, Emerita, Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1983.

Roddy, Jan P., Associate Professor, Emerita, M.F.A., University of Illinois, 1987.

Swedlund, Charles A., Professor, Emeritus, M.S., Illinois Institute of Technology, 1961.

Tudor, Deborah, Associate Professor, Emerita, Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1992.