RTF Doctoral Graduates

The professional placement for scholars from the Department of Radio-Television-Film graduate programs is second to none. Below is a list of recent doctoral graduates, their dissertation titles, and when available, where they are presently teaching and researching.

2022

Kathy Cacace
Position: News Writer and Editor, World News Digest for Facts on File

Jaewon Choi
Dissertation: “Exploring the Surveillance Culture in the Context of Smart Health: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between South Korea and the U.S.”
Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Medill Spiegel Research Center, Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University

Selena Dickey
Dissertation: “Fringe Access: Mapping Local Television Distribution, 1952-1978”
Position: Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, Furman University

Britta Hanson
Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Film & Media Arts, SMU

Nathan Rossi
Dissertation: “The Mediated Identities of Central American Adoptees: Community Building and Resistance in Digital Spaces”
Position: Assistant Professor of Instruction, Screen Cultures, Northwestern University

Brett Siegel
Dissertation: “Protecting the Shield: How the NFL Navigated Institutional and Ideological Crisis in the Trump Era”
Position: Assistant Professor, Communication, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Maria Skouras
Dissertation: “Soft Power and Strategic Communication: @america in Jakarta, Indonesia”

Jing Wang
Position: Assistant Professor, Film and Media, Emory University

2021

Briana Barner
Position: Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Communication, University of Maryland

Kate Cronin
Dissertation: “’News, In Pictures if Possible!”: The Material Flow of Early Television Newsfilm”
Position: Program Manager, Code Nation (Chicago)

Richelle Crotty
Dissertation: “Mobile Networks of Power”
Position: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Technology and Information Policy Institute (TIPI) and Consultant for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA)

Soyoung Park
Position: Research Professor, Humanities Research Institute at Chung-Ang University (Seoul, Korea)

2020

Gejun Huang
Dissertation: "New Frontier of Digital Media and Entertainment: Exploring Entrepreneurship in Chinese Digital Game Industry"
Position: Assistant Professor, School of Communication at Soochow University

Daniel Mauro
Dissertation: "Locating the Politics of Amateur Media"
Position: Curatorial Assistant, Glenstone Museum

Morgan O'Brien
Dissertation: "Rejecting Nostalgia: Retro Jamming in Devolver Digital’s Independent Video Games"
Position: Quality Assurance Tester, Aspyr Media and Instructor, Central Texas College

Tim Piper
Dissertation: "Transition Game: Television and the National Basketball Association During the Multichannel Shift, 1970-1984"
Position: Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, Oglethorpe University

Alexis Schrubbe
Dissertation: "Homework Gaps and Connectivity Canyons: Education, Broadband, and the Shattered Myth of the Network Society"
Position: Program Manager, Michigan Moonshot at Merit Network, University of Michigan

Ramna Walia
Dissertation: "Intertwined Networks of Travel: The Located Mobility of Malegaon Media Culture"
Position: Assistant Professor, School of Modern Media, UPES

Lesley Willard
Dissertation: "From Hobby to Side Hustle: Fan Artist Professionalization in the Post-Network Era"
Position: Lecturer and Internship Director, Department of Radio-Television-Film; Program Director, Center for Entertainment & Media Industries

2019

Nick Bestor
Dissertation: "Playing in Licensed Storyworlds: Games, Franchises, and Fans"
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of English, University of Nevada, Reno

Jinsook Kim
Dissertation: "Contesting Hate: Online Misogyny and Anti-Hate Feminist Activism in South Korea"
Position: Assistant Professor, Film and Media, Emory University

Annie Major
Dissertation: "Not Streaming Near You: Specialty Film Distribution and Marketing in the Digital Age"
Position: Assistant Professor, Film, Television, and Digital Media, TCU

Paul Monticone
Dissertation: "For the maintenance of the system: institutional and cultural change within the motion picture producers and distributors of America, 1922-1945"
Position: Assistant Professor, Rowan University

Michael O'Brien
Dissertation: "Third Cinema in the United States, 1960-67"

Jacqueline Pinkowitz
Dissertation: "Reel South: Race, Region, and the American Film Industry in the Era of Black Civil Rights, 1954-1976"
Position: Assistant Professor, Journalism and Media Studies, Mercer University

Hogeun Seo
Dissertation: "Platform rules: a case study of Samsung’s failure in the smartphone platform industry"
Position: Assistant Professor, Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

2018

Laura Felschow
Dissertation: "Wonder Women: Gender and Production in the Superhero Genre"
Position: Assistant Professor at SUNY (State University of New York) at Oneonta

Jennifer Minsoo Kang
Dissertation: "Unboxing Television: The Rise of Korean Web Dramas and Expansion of Independent Production Companies in the 2010s"
Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Peter Kunze
Dissertation: "Staging a Comeback: Film and Theater Convergence at Disney, 1982-1998"
Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Tulane University

Xiaoqian Li
Dissertation: "Social network site use, social capital, and acculturation: a comparative study of Facebook and Renren.com use by Chinese international students in the United States"
Position: Assistant Professor of Communication, Illinois Institute of Technology
https://humansciences.iit.edu/faculty/xiaoqian-li

Lucia Palmer
Position: Assistant Professor, Media Studies, Middle Georgia State University

2017

Elizabeth Bolton
Dissertation: "Personalizing Politics: Producing Accountability on Pakistan's News Television"

Tupur Chatterjee
Position: Assistant Professor, School of English, Drama & Film, University College Dublin

Peter Kovacs
Dissertation: "Big Tobacco and Broadcasting, 1923-1960: An Interdisciplinary History"

Amanda Landa
Dissertation: "Contemporary Japanese Seishun Eiga Cinema"

Sara Liao
Dissertation: "Fashioning China: Precarious Creativity of Women Designers in Shanzhai Culture"
Position: Assistant Professor, Penn State University

Caitlin McClune
Dissertation: "'Digital Unhu' in Zimbabwe: Critical Digital Studies from the Global South"
Position: Academic Program Coordinator, American Studies, UT Austin

Colleen Montgomery
Dissertation: "Animating the Voice: An Industrial Analysis of Vocal Performance in Disney and Pixar Feature Animation"
Position: Assistant Professor, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ

Adolfo Mora
Dissertation: "Seeing Color and Television: What Do Millennials' Television Practices Tell Us About Post-Raciality?"
Position: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Schreiner University

Vijay Parthasarathy
Dissertation: "Birth of the Cool: Global Flows and the Growth of English Language Stand-Up Comedy in Mumbai"

Swapnil Rai
Dissertation: "Networked Bollywood: Star Switching Power and the Global Trajectories of Indian Cinema"
Position: Assistant Professor, University of Michigan in Film, TV, and Digital Media 

Michael Rennett
Dissertation: "How Grown-Ups Are Born: The Emerging-Adult Genre and American Film and Television"

Adam Clark Williams III
Dissertation: "Creating While Black: Digital Participation, Digital Expressions, and Cultural Capital Among Black Teens in Austin, Texas"