2019
Francesca Lyn
BFA in Painting, University of Florida
MA in Digital Arts & Sciences, University of Florida
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Graphic Intimacies: Identity, Humor, and Trauma in Autobiographical Comics by Women of Color"
Michael Means
BA in Political Science, Radford University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Cristina Stanciu, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Adaptive Acts: Queer Voices and Radical Adaptation in Multi-Ethnic American Literary and Visual Culture”
Paul Robertson
BA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
MA in Appalachian Studies, Appalachian State University
MA in English, Appalachian State University
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "The Mountains at the End of the World: Subcultural Appropriations of Appalachia and the Hillbilly Image, 1990-2010"
Andrew Spencer
BA in English, The University of Texas
BFA in Theater Studies, The University of Texas
MA in English, Baylor University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Always Already Entrapped: The Panoptic Power of Capitalism in American Literature, 1900-1945"
2018
Paula Talero Álvarez
BA in Journalism, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
MA in Cinematography, University of Córdoba, Spain
MA in Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Archana Pathak, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
Dissertation title: "Why Katniss Everdeen is our Favorite Feminist:An Analysis of the Heroine of the Hunger Games Film Saga and her Reception by Young Female Spectators"
Justin Greene
BA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English Performing Authorship in the Late-Twentieth-Century and Early-Twenty-First-Century (1960 to 2010)"
Byeongwon Ha
BFA in Film, Television and Multi-Media, SungKyunKwan University
MFA in Media Art, Yonsei University
MFA in Digital Media, Rhode Island School of Design
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Nam June Paik as a Pioneer of Interactive Art"
Deb Saidel
BA in Religious Studies and Music, Virginia Commonwealth University
MM in Flute Performance, Georgia State University
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Women in Music: Letting a Long Story be Long. Contemplating Women’s Sonic, Musical, and Spiritual Experiences in Prehistory"
2017
Gareth Blackwell
BA in Journalism, University of Mississippi
MA in Journalism, University of Mississippi
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Good as We Know It: Goodness in Graphic Design Discourse since 1870"
Charity Fowler
BA in Theater and Creative Writing, Florida State University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
JD, University of California at San Diego
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Representations of Alternate Sexualities in Fan Texts, Videos, and Art"
Jessica Gordon
BA in English and Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Multimodal Pedagogies, Processes and Projects: Writing Teachers Know More Than We May Think About Teaching Multimodal Composition”
Ivy Roberts
BA in Film/Video Production and Cultural History, Marlboro College
MA in Media Studies and Cultural Studies, Antioch University
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Distant Electric Vision: Cultural Representations of Television from "Edison's telephonoscope" to the Electronic Screen”
Tamara Watkins
BA in English, Saginaw Valley State University
MA in Communication & Multimedia, Saginaw Valley State University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: "(Re)Mediating the Spirit: An Analysis of Evangelical Christian Young Adult Media"
2016
Lauren Boasso
BA in English Literature, Augusta State University
MA in Comparative Literature, Binghamton University
Dissertation director: Catherine Roach, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: " Viewing Victorian Prisoners: Representations in the Illustrated Press, Painting, and Photography"
Linda Gupta
BA in Education, University of North Carolina
MSW, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Marcel Cornis-Pope, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Wreading, Performing, and Reflecting: The Application of Narrative Hypertext and Virtual World Experiences to Social Work Education"
Rebecca Johnson
BA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: "The New Gatekeepers: How Blogs Subverted Mainstream Book Reviews"
Rebekah McKendry
BA in Film Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
MA in Education, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
MFA in Film Studies, City University of New York
Dissertation director: Noreen Barnes, Department of Theatre
Dissertation title: "The Implementation and Emulation of Cult Movie Marketing"
Maria De Panbehchi
BA in Spanish Literature, University of Chihuahua
MA in Latin American Literature, New Mexico State University
Dissertation director: Nicholas Sharp, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Nostalgia and iPhone Camera Apps : An Ethnographic Visual Approach to iPhoneography"
Candace Parrish
BS in Public Relations, Virginia Commonwealth University
MS in Strategic Public Relations, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Rowena Briones, Robertson School
Dissertation title: "Exploring Visual Prevention: Analysis of Infographics as Effective Cervical Cancer Prevention for African American Women"
Dianne Roman
BA in Fine Arts, Kent State University
MFA in Studio for Interrelated Media, Massachusetts College of Art
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Women at the Crossroads, Women at the Forefront: American Women in Letterpress Printing, 1638-2013"
2015
Guido Alvarez
BFA in Craft and Design, Universidad del Azuay School of Design
MFA in Design with a concentration in visual communication, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Avatar, cyborg, ICEVORG: Simulacra’s scion"
Amy Colombo
BFA in Photography, University of Georgia
MFA in Photography, University of Delaware
MFA in Creative Writing, West Virginia University
Dissertation director: Nicholas Frankel, Department of English
Dissertation title: "G.A.M.E.: A Hypermedia Edition of James McNeil Whistler’s The Gentle Art of Making Enemies"
Jennifer Figg
BFA in Textiles, Rhode Island School of Design
MFA in Fine Arts, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Expanding Eco-Visualization: Sculpting Corn Production"
Ahmed Hamada
BA in Mass Communication, Kuwait University
MA in Journalism, Indiana University
Dissertation director: Timothy Bajkiewicz, Associate professor, School of Mass Communications
Dissertation title: "The Integration History of Kuwaiti Television from 1957-1990: An Audience-Generated Oral Narrative on the Arrival and Integration of the Device in the City"
2014
Salvador Barajas
BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
MALS with a concentration in humanities, Hollins University
Dissertation director: Elizabeth Hodges, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Doing Memory Work in the Third Space Between Self and Community: An Auto-Ethnography"
Vera Brown
BA in English, Pittsburg State University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Joshua Eckhardt, Department of English
Dissertation title: "From Tempera to Ink to Code: The Other Media of Orthodox Iconography"
Sandra Burke
BA in Graphic Design, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
MFA in Studio Art, University of New Mexico
Dissertation director: Gretchen Soderlund, Department of English and Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies; and Archana Pathak, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
Dissertation title: "Thinking Bodies and Sensational Minds: Affect and Embodiment in Art, Science, and Philosophy"
Elizabeth Canfield
BA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
MFA in Creative Writing, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Catherine Ingrassia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Queer Alchemies: Radical Futurity in the Shell of the Now"
Lee Carleton
BS in Biblical Studies, Lancaster Bible School
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Nicholas Sharp, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Rhetorical Ripples: The Church of the SubGenius, Kenneth Burke, & Comic Symbolic Tinkering"
Randy Davis
BS in Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University
BA in International Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University
MS in Mass Communications with a concentration in multimedia journalism, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Oliver Speck, School of World Studies
Dissertation title: Bakhtin’s Carnivalesque: A Gauge of Dialogism in Soviet and Post-Soviet Cinema
Jesse Hernandez
AA in Education, Elgin College
BA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
MT, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Nicholas Frankel, Department of English
Dissertation title: “The Senses in Synthesis: An Intersensory Approach to Nineteenth-century Symbolism”
Kathryn Lynch
BFA in Fine Arts, University of Illinois
MFA in Art, Ohio State University
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "Technologies and Artworks: An Exploration through Ihde and Latour"
David Makhanlall
BA in English, University of Guyana
MA in English/Creative Writing, Queens College
Dissertation director: Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: “English Composition 100: Best Practices for Online Instruction”
Scott Mills
BFA in Sculpture, Virginia Commonwealth University
MFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in photography and film, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Nicholas Sharp, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Old World, New Media"
John Priestley
BA in English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
MA in English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Textuality of Generative Music"
Stella Reinhard
BA in Mathematics, Greenville College
MA in Children’s Literature, Hollins University
Dissertation director: Noreen Barnes, Department of Theatre
Dissertation title: "The e-Volving Picture Book: Examining the Impact of New e-Media/Technologies On Its Form, Content and Function (And on the Child Reader)"
Sean Stewart
BA in Advertising, Marshall University
MAJ with a public relations emphasis, Marshall University
Dissertation director: Yan Jin, School of Mass Communications
Dissertation title: "Visualization, Viewer and Emotion: An empirical study of cognitive and affective responses to infographics used for crisis communication"
Leah Thomas
BA in English, University of Kentucky
MA in English, University of Kentucky
MS in Library and Information Science, University of Kentucky
Dissertation director: Catherine Ingrassia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Literary Landscapes: Mapping Emergent American Identity in Transatlantic Narratives of Women’s Travel of the Long Eighteenth Century"
Kristine Trever Weatherston
BA in Film Studies, Wayne State University
MA in Communications/Media Arts, Wayne State University
Dissertation director: Elizabeth Hodges, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Nonfiction, Documentary, and Family Narrative: An Intersection of Representational Discourses and Creative Practice"
Neal Wyatt
BA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
MS in Library Science, Catholic University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: “Readers’ Advisory Poetics”
2013
Adam Dean
BA in Media Studies, Pennsylvania State University
MFA in Radio, Television and Film, University of North Texas
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Phenomenology in Human-Computer Interaction: New Approaches to Activity Theory"
Vaughn Whitney Garland
BA in English Literature, Emory & Henry College BA in Art, Emory & Henry College
MFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Participation in the Digital Public:New Media Art as Online Community"
Norberto Gomez
BFA in Art, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
MFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting, University of Houston
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "The Art of Perl: How a Scripting Language (Inter)Activated the Web"
Belinda Haikes
BFA in Studio Art/Printmaking, University of Alabama at Birmingham MFA in Studio Art/Printmaking, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Dissertation director: Gretchen Soderlund, Department of English and Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies; and Eric Garberson, Department of Art History
Dissertation title: "A Mediated Intimacy: Art, Technology and Exchange in the Digital Age"
Leejin Kim
BFA in Sculpture, Seoul National University, Korea MFA in Sculpture and New Media, University of Pennsylvania
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Anatomy-based Realistic Facial Animation and its application to Art"
Deidra Lee
BA in English, Virginia State University
MA in English, Old Dominion University
Dissertation director: Marcus Messner, Assistant professor, School of Mass Communications
Dissertation title: "Broken News: Market Segmentation and Selective Exposure in Online News"
Shana Meganck
BA in Mass Communications, Mary Baldwin College
MA in Journalism, University of Georgia
Dissertation director: Marcus Messner, School of Mass Communications
Dissertation title: "Setting our Nutritional Agenda: The Impact of Blog Sourcing on Society"
2012
Nathan Altice
BA Sociology, University of Virginia
MLA Liberal Arts, University of Richmond
Dissertation director: David Golumbia, Department of English
Dissertation title: “I am Error: A Nintendo Famicom/NES Platform Study”
Robin Ashworth
BA in English, James Madison University
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Gary Sarkozi, School of Education
Dissertation title: "Theories of Orality in Relation to West African Griot Culture and the Influence of 21st Century Media: A Case Study of Alhaji Papa Susso"
Lee Bloxom
BA in English, Wellesley College
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Noreen Barnes, Department of Theatre
Dissertation title: "Eastern Shore Stories: Technology, Place and Local Culture"
Jennifer Smith Roudabush
BA in English, University of Virginia
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation Director: Katherine Nash, Les Harrison
Dissertation Title: "Theorizing Digital Narrative: Beginnings, Endings, Authorship"
Melinda White
BS in English, Utah State University
MS in English, Utah State University
Dissertation director: Susan Cokal, Department of English
Dissertation title:"Between Floors: The Ups and Downs of Mediated Narrative"
2011
Meghan Rosatelli
BA in English, University of Colorado (Boulder)
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Richard Fine, Department of English
Dissertation title: " A Framework for Digital Emotions"
2010
Norah Lind
BA, MEd University of Virginia
MA in English, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation director: Bryant Mangum, Department of English
Dissertation title: "Lillian Wescott Hale and Nancy Hale: From Victorian to Modern Art and Text"