Faculty Notes Fall 2010

Viorica Marian (PhD, Cornell University), associate professor of communication sciences and disorders, has been awarded a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study bilingualism.

Pamela Souza (PhD, Syracuse University), associate professor of communication science and disorders, has been named the associate editor of the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research.

Faculty Notes Fall 2010

Robert Hariman (PhD, University of Minnesota), professor and chair of the communication studies department, was featured at the 2010 Chicago Humanities Festival, highlighting nocaptionneeded.com, a blog that discusses the role of photojournalism and other visual practices in a vital democratic society.

Eszter Hargittai (PhD, Princeton University), associate professor of communication studies, was named Outstanding Young Scholar by the International Communication Association.

James Schwoch (PhD, Northwestern University), professor of communication studies, has been appointed senior associate dean for the School of Communication program at Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q). Schwoch is one of the founding faculty members of NU-Q. He has taught nearly every NU-Q student at one point or another, and he played a central role in developing the library collections at the Doha campus, according to John Margolis, dean and chief executive officer of NU-Q. "Jim brings to his leadership of the communication program not only an intimate familiarity with NU-Q and its students but also a distinguished record as a scholar and teacher," Margolis said.

Faculty Notes Fall 2010

E. Patrick Johnson (PhD, Louisiana State University), professor and chair of performance studies, was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. He also received the Leslie Irene Coger Award for Distinguished Performance from the National Communication Association and the Pride Index Esteem Award for Outstanding Service to the Black LGBT Community. His solo play, Sweet Tea, premiered at the Viaduct Theatre in May and was remounted at the John Warfield Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas-Austin.

Mary Zimmerman (PhD, Northwestern University), Jaharis Family Foundation Professor of Performance Studies, directs Armida for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City this winter. Zimmerman directed a new production of Candide at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago this fall. Performance studies junior Darren Barrere assisted Zimmerman on the production, and the cast included Erik Lochtefeld (C96), Tom Aulino (C77), Tempe Thomas (C03), Govind Kumar (C08), and Emma Rosenthal (C10). Mara Blumenfeld (C92) was costume designer, and Dan Ostling (GC96), associate professor of theatre, was scenic designer. Zimmerman will direct Lucia di Lammermoor for the Met a second time this year.

Faculty Notes Fall 2010

Kat Falls (MFA, Northwestern University), adjunct professor in radio/television/film, was featured on the Today Show, as her young adult novel, Dark Life, was the July pick for Al Roker's Book Club for kids.

Kyle Henry (MFA, University of Texas-Austin), assistant professor of radio/television/film, was selected as one of 12 Documentary Film Fellows representing five film projects participating in the Sundance Institute's Documentary Edit and Story Laboratory, this summer in Park City, Utah. Henry is editing the documentary Where Soldiers Come From, directed by NU alumna Heather Courtney (J89), which will be broadcast in 2011 on PBS.

Weiko Lin (MFA, UCLA), lecturer in radio/television/film, wrote, directed and performed in a staged reading of the new play 100 Days at both the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and at the Silk Road Theatre Project at The Historic Chicago Temple Building. He was invited to do a five-day lecture for Taiwanese producers on movie pitching and producing for the international market, hosted by Taipei National University of the Arts and the Taiwan Information Office Film Division. Lin also received the outstanding faculty award at the Greek Awards at Northwestern.

Spencer Parsons (MFA, University of Texas-Austin), assistant professor of radio/television/film, released his feature film I'll Come Running on DVD from IFC in October. The film is available through VOD and was screened on the Sundance channel this summer. The film was also screened at Block Cinema, Columbia College Chicago, and the Ozark Foothills Film Festival. His newest short film, Chainsaw Found Jesus, premiered in August at Rooftop Films in Brooklyn, NY, and enjoyed a week-long engagement in September at the reRun Gastropub, also in Brooklyn.

A play by Elaine Romero (MFA, University of California-Davis), lecturer in radio/television/film, has won a 2010 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. Ponzi was commissioned by the Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas.

Jeff Sconce (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison), associate professor of radio/television/film, writes a blog, Ludic Despair, which was voted one of the best film criticism sites by Film Comment.

Mimi White (PhD, University of Iowa), professor of radio/TV/film, has returned to the Evanston campus after helping launch the communication program in Qatar.

Faculty Notes Fall 2010

David H. Bell (MA, University of Virginia), Donald G. Robertson Director of Music Theatre, took his Jeff Award-nominated show The Bowery Boys to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 22nd Annual Festival of New Musicals, a premier music theatre industry event, in October. The Bowery Boys, book and lyrics by Bell and directed by Dominic Missimi, professor emeritus in service of theatre, was developed by the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre and went through a three-week workshop as part of Northwestern's American Music Theatre Project in 1998.

Amanda Dehnert (BFA, Illinois Wesleyan), assistant professor of theatre, took her high-flying adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan to the Lookingglass Theatre Company this fall. Lookingglass, founded by a group of School of Communication alumni, features many alumni in its ensemble. The cast of Peter Pan included Thomas J. Cox (C88), Raymond Fox (C89), Alex Weisman (C10), Aislinn Mulligan (C08) as Tinkerbelle, seniors Ryan Nunn (as Peter) and Nate Trinrud, and juniors Kelley Abell and Royer Bockus. The play premiered on the campus of Northwestern two years ago.

Henry Godinez (MFA, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), associate professor of theatre and artistic director of the Theatre and Interpretation Center, directs A Civil War Christmas for Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois. The show runs November 19 through December 19.

Cindy Gold (MFA, Alabama Shakespeare Festival) starred in Invasion of Skokie for the Chicago Dramatists. Russ Tutterow (C69) is founder and artistic director of Chicago Dramatists. Emmi Hilger (C08) assistant directed the show.

Michael Rohd (MFA, Virginia Tech), assistant professor in theatre, received two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, one for his company, Sojourn Theatre in Portland, Oregon and the second for a new work to premiere next year at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, its first ever original production. Rohd received a non-equity Joseph Jefferson Best New Work Award for his play Wilson Wants It All. He also led a performance piece at the American Alliance for Theatre and Education conference, during which seven Sojourn artists worked with 45 volunteer performers to perform short pieces for the conference attendees. The pieces, five minutes in length, were performed 24 times over the course of the conference.

Molly Shanahan (MA, Ohio State University), lecturer in dance, and her dance company Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak performed at The A.W.A.R.D Show! 2010 at the Dance Center Columbia College Chicago in July.

Jessica Thebus (PhD, Northwestern University), will direct Stage Kiss, a new play by Sarah Ruhl, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre this May.

Harvey Young (PhD, Cornell University), associate professor of theatre, performance studies, African-American studies and radio/television/film, was elected vice president for Research and Publications of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). He was also asked to deliver a keynote address at the first international symposium on Chicago Theatre to be held in Chicago in May. Young's book, Embodying Black Experience, is now available.