You have studied and taught at a variety of institutions across the country ranging from Temple University in Philadelphia to University of Illinois at Chicago to Trinity University. How do you think your variety of educational and teaching experiences have contributed to your course content and pedagogy today? 

There were actually a couple of others along the way as well, because I worked as an adjunct on the side in grad school, but yeah all that regional diversity has become an invaluable resource for my work in the classroom. My pedagogy has always centered on active learning, but teaching communication theory depends heavily on a solid understanding of intercultural communication- which can be much more micro than people realize. It’s also given me insight on two important things as a teacher. One, students are generally the same everywhere regardless of location, or school size, or cost of tuition, and secondly there is as much diversity within groups as there is among groups. I wish I could make every student ride the NYC subway for a month just to realize how futile it is to make assumptions about people based on what they are rather than who they are. And the same goes for our students- we have to connect on an individual level if we really want to know how to reach them.

The Communication and Media field is one that is ever growing and evolving. How do you stay abreast of where the field is headed and incorporate this direction into your research? 

Well, first of all it’s important to recognize that we’ve left the information age. It’s a communication age right now, and we see that in our new media, our politics, even the emergence of AI- it’s all about how you communicate rather than what you say. This is not necessarily a good thing, but it makes reading and doing scholarly research way more fun because it’s all so relevant. I also think most comm scholars are polymaths, which is a fancy way of saying that we’re curious about everything. This is essential because staying current academically also requires that we consume a lot of media, and then do more research in order to situate it in a historical context, and then figure out the best interdisciplinary framework. So, basically we’re all news junkies, with voracious media appetites who are obsessed with history and academic theories across the board. It’s a very balanced life, as you can imagine. 

Your research is centered around technomasculinity and toxic masculinity in media and you have hosted masculinity detoxes for Trinity students to attend. From your research, what are some examples of media where toxic masculinity may be present but hidden to most consumers and what are examples of media that provide representations of healthy masculinity?

I love the detoxes, and men on campus seem to be excited about them too because we have great turnout. Honestly, Trinity is very lucky to have a program like Women and Gender Studies to sponsor events like this. The goal is to teach men that healthy masculinities can exist even in a culture where toxic masculinities are still the default. It’s a conversation starter on how to build authentic identities that affirm our masculinity without being harmful to ourselves or anyone else. Luckily, we are starting to see more of that in media and my favorite movie to show is Good Boys. It’s a funny movie and much loved by the guys I know because it is so accurate, but also such a refreshing counter to most of what we see. As for latent toxicity- I mean, pick your poison. I’m extremely disturbed by the popularity of MMA and bodybuilding influencers, but I’m also really stunned by the enduring popularity of mindless action films like John Wick which blend absurd antiquated machismo with a genre I like to call white boys with feelings. Pretty much anything that uses shame to make men feel inadequate unless they’re indomitable I try to avoid. 

Earlier this year, you were quoted in an Trinitonian article regarding the implications of ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education. What does the conversation on AI look like in the field of Communication and Media, a field that hinges on the creation and recycling of source material and where do you see it headed in the future?  

Studying AI has always been the domain of communication studies, even though for many years scholars have too often looked only at computer science research- which is strictly focused on making AI work from a technical standpoint. Lately though, many AI developers have started realizing that AI can’t be understood without an interdisciplinary background so the conversation is finally pivoting back to researching how it fits into the media landscape, what it means to society, and what it really takes to develop it in a socially responsible way. All that also for great conversations in our comm classes because fundamentally AI is a media technology, and understanding it in the context will be crucial to most future employment. So really our courses in the communication department may be more important to students now than ever.