My Academic Portfolio

Teacher. Scholar. Activist.

Welcome to my academic portfolio. What you’ll find here is a portrait of my research, writing, projects, and initiatives. I’m a professor of civic media and journalism at Emerson College in Boston, MA. At Emerson I teach courses in media literacy, civic media, participatory action research, and community journalism. I also founded and direct Emerson’s MA in Media Design, a 12-month applied program that uses the design process to help students learn to use media to respond to community problems. The entire program is based with communities, and uses the frame of social justice to advance skills training in media design for civic impact.

At Emerson, beyond my role in the school of communication and oversight of the media design program, I’m a Senior Fellow at the Engagement Lab, where I have helped secure funded research project totaling over one million dollars. These projects you’ll read throughout this publication.

For the past 11 years, I’ve been Faculty Chair and Director of the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change, a program that annually gathers scholars and students from around the world to build innovative media-based solutions to problems at a global scale. To date, we’ve brought more than 1000 young storytellers, journalists and media makers through this transformative project.

I also publish widely on on media literacy, civic action taking, and digital culture. You can see my books and publications by visiting my Academia or ResearchGate sites. My most recent book Civic Media Literacies (Routledge, 2018) explores the ways in which citizens use media to meaningful participate in civic life in the digital age. I’ve authored or edited 7 other books, and have published over 50 academic papers, chapters, reports, and so on.

I currently visiting professorships at Bournemouth University in England, the Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires, and Sodertorn University in Stockholm, Sweden. I sits on the advisory board of iCivics, sat on the board of directors for the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) from 2008–2015, and served as the co-editor for the Journal of Media Literacy Education (JMLE) from 2013–2018. My work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate Magazine, the Nieman Foundation, USA Today, CNN, and others.

I also am a devoted husband to Amy Mihailidis, and father to three amazing kids, Emma, Mae, and Will. I run, bike, play in soccer and basketball leagues, and like nothing more that being with my family in new interesting places.