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Advisory Board

Digital Media CT (DMCT) represents a collaboration with faculty from both private and public institutions of higher education in Connecticut. These representatives participate on the DMCT advisory board, providing feedback on DMCT initiatives and championing opportunities for their students.

To share our mission with as many students as possible, DMCT remains committed to soliciting participation from as many Connecticut universities and colleges as possible. Participating faculty represent a major or degree-granting program that aligns with one of the four branches of Digital Media identified in the manifesto.

We expect advisory board members to commit for at least two years but recognize that this commitment will vary based on availability. At this time, DMCT has participation from ten Connecticut institutions, with the logos of these institutions displayed on every DMCT page. We hope to expand this number further over the coming years.

Leadership Team

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Matthew Worwood

Director of Digital Media CT and Assistant Professor in-Residence
at University of Connecticut
.
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Wayne Edwards is an Emmy award winning production leader with over twenty years of experience in Broadcasting and Multi-media Production.

He is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of New Haven teaching content production, live broadcasting, and journalism. During his time on campus, the university has won 7 New England Regional Emmys; he’s implemented a Sport Communication minor; developed Race, Gender, and Class in the media and Electronic News Gathering and Reporting courses.

Wayne’s career began at ESPN leading the live production of professional, collegiate, and amateur sport events. He produced multiplatform content in the roles of Feature Producer, Field Producer, and Post-production Editor. He also aided in the training and development of on-air personalities. Afterwards, he was part of the executive team that launched Back9Network, a golf lifestyle channel. Wayne continues to function as a freelance producer for various national and regional networks and is also a consultant in the creation of live multiplatform shows.

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Brea Thomas-Young

Assistant Director of Digital Media CT
at University of Connecticut
.
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Brea Thomas-Young is a Creative professional with several years of experience working with start-ups, non-profit organizations and local businesses. She is currently the Associate Director of Digital Media CT, a collaborative with the mission of being a key player for Digital Media Education in Connecticut. Brea attended the University of Connecticut where she earned her BA in Digital Media & Design. She is passionate about all things design, tech & art with an all-encompassing goal of exposing these worlds to the youth of underrepresented communities.

Brea is also a multidisciplinary artist that has had her work showcased in exhibitions at the Carriage Barn Art center in New Cannan, CT & the Norwalk Art Space. She also uses her creativity to lead workshops throughout the community & at a Resident Makerspace in Stamford CT.

Advisory Board

Wayne Edwards

Wayne Edwards

Distinguished Lecturer
at University of New Haven
.
Read Bio

Wayne Edwards is an Emmy award winning production leader with over twenty years of experience in Broadcasting and Multi-media Production.

He is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of New Haven teaching content production, live broadcasting, and journalism. During his time on campus, the university has won 7 New England Regional Emmys; he’s implemented a Sport Communication minor; developed Race, Gender, and Class in the media and Electronic News Gathering and Reporting courses.

Wayne’s career began at ESPN leading the live production of professional, collegiate, and amateur sport events. He produced multiplatform content in the roles of Feature Producer, Field Producer, and Post-production Editor. He also aided in the training and development of on-air personalities. Afterwards, he was part of the executive team that launched Back9Network, a golf lifestyle channel. Wayne continues to function as a freelance producer for various national and regional networks and is also a consultant in the creation of live multiplatform shows.

Andrea Wollensak

Andrea Wollensak

Professor of Art
at Connecticut College
.
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Andrea Wollensak is an artist/educator and Professor of Art at Connecticut College. Themes in her work explore place-based narratives on environment and community. Her work spans media from traditional and digital fabrication, to generative-interactive systems and includes collaborations with computer scientists, musicians, poets, and scientists.

Wollensak has exhibited internationally, most notably at the Göteborg International Biennial, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Brno Design Biennial Moravian Gallery, Akademie der Kunste Galleries in Berlin, University of West England at the Bristol Gallery, Center for Visual Art in Denver, Granoff Center Gallery at Brown University, and the Burchfield Penney Arts Center in Buffalo.

Selected awarded grants and artist residencies include Banff Centre for the Arts (1995), National Science Foundation (1999), Rockefeller Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy (2000), Weir Farm Art Center and National Park (2005), International Artist Studio Program in Sweden, (2007), Hafnarborg Art Museum, Iceland (2011), Connecticut Artist Fellowship (2005 and 2011), Connecticut Sea Grant (2021), and the Anchorage Museum (2021-22). She has presented her work at numerous conferences including ISEA, ACM SIGGRAPH, Generative Art, CAiiA, College Art Association, among others.

Wollensak’s creative and critical writings have appeared in numerous publications including Computers and Graphics, Zed, Visible Language, Artbyte, Parachute, Fuse, Walking and Mapping: Artists as Cartographers, by Karen O’Rourke [MIT Press, 2013], Acting Bodies and Social Networks, A Bridge Between Technology and Working Memory, edited by B. Pirani and I. Varga, chapter “Social Bodies and Locative Technologies” by Gianni Corino [UPA, 2010]. Wollensak received her BFA from University of Michigan (1983), MFA from Yale University (1990).

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Todd Barnes

Artistic Director
FTMA at Sacred Heart University
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Todd Barnes is an award-winning filmmaker with a law degree. In his 25+ years in the business, he has been an actor, director, producer, writer, and editor. His films have been awarded Best of Next at the Sundance Film Festival (Homewrecker), nominated for a Palm D’or at Cannes (My Blind Brother), and presented on the Showtime Network by Spike Lee (Engine Trouble).

Commercial clients include IBM, Adobe, Lenovo, Victorinox, Springer (DE), Maverick Publishing (UK), and Canal+ (FR). In his time as an entertainment attorney for Rudolph & Beer LLC in New York City, he worked with clients Britney Spears, Backstreet Boyz, N’Sync and the Wu-Tang Clan among many others.

In 1979, Brian Barnes (father) brought home a Betamax video recorder and his sons, Brad and Todd, have been making movies ever since. Brad has become a Professor at NYU, Columbia and USC in Los Angeles. Todd is a Professor at Sacred Heart University and the Artistic Director of Connecticut’s only graduate film school (FTMA).

Todd was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, received his BA from Middlebury College in Vermont and got his JD from Boston College in Massachusetts. He lives in Fairfield with his lovely wife Kim and two sons, Augie and Maverick. He is thinking about getting a dog.

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Julie Casper Roth

Assistant Professor
of Film and Television
at Norwalk Community College
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Julie is an award-winning filmmaker interested in hidden histories, the unseen, and the ignored. Her documentary and experimental work has been screened nationally and internationally. She is a two-time finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, the recipient of a NYSCA Individual Artist grant, the recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship in Video, and a recipient of the College Art Association Professional Development Fellowship. Julie attended Smith College and received her MFA from the University at Albany. She has taught documentary production at the University at Albany and Skidmore College, and she is currently an Assistant Professor of Film and Television at Norwalk Community College.

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Dr. Elena Bertozzi

Professor & Director, Game Design &
Development, Chair, Visual & Performing Arts
at Quinnipiac University
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Dr. Elena Bertozzi is the co-founder of SolitonZ Games, Director & Professor of Game Design and Development, and Chair of Visual and Performing Arts at Quinnipiac University. Her work focuses on using play to communicate information, often about sensitive topics, that empower players to make pro-health choices. Her current work is on a game to address vaccine hesitancy.

As a professor, Elena has developed numerous courses in the developing field of game design. In addition to practical coding and design courses, she seeks to provide a foundational understanding of games that is grounded in theory and in a historical understanding of the importance of play in the development of culture. Students are encouraged to engage critically with texts and play experiences and produce analytical writing and games that demonstrate their developing expertise. This analysis specifically includes thinking about the way that play can establish and reinforce power structures that exclude historically marginalized groups. The playground also provides a fertile environment for pushing back against these structures and experimenting with ways they can be opposed and dismantled.

As a game designer and developer, she works with teams of physicians, scientists, artists, and programmers to make games that help people help themselves. These games often intersect with research interests in the areas of gender, technology, and sexuality.

Karen Ritzenhoff

Dr. Karen A. Ritzenhoff

Professor in the
Department of Communication
at Central Connecticut State University
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Dr. Karen A. Ritzenhoff is a Professor in the Department of Communication at Central Connecticut State University where she is also affiliated with the cinema studies and honors program. She teaches classes in visual communication, film and media studies, documentary and women & film. Ritzenhoff is co-Chair of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.

She has published several coedited volumes on war films and also studies Stanley Kubrick. Her most recent publications are Mediated Terrorism in the 21. Century (2021) with Elena Caoduro and Karen Randell as well as Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-Making of Blackness (2021) with Renée T. White.

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Blythe Frank

Assistant Professor and Director, Cinematic Production Management.
at Quinnipiac University
.
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Blythe Frank is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Cinematic Production Management Masters program at Quinnipiac University. Blythe attended the American University of Paris, competed her MA at the Sorbonne and received her MFA in Film Producing from Columbia University, where she taught as an adjunct for 4 years prior to joining the faculty at Quinnipiac University’s School of Communications. Her teaching and curriculum-building is focused on the practical applications of producing, insight into the industry as a full ecosystem and understanding the nexus between the creative and business. Experiential learning is an essential component to the CPM program. Blythe just completed the inaugural two-week travel course to the Cannes Film Festival with 25 of her students, and is building additional opportunities outside of the classroom to enrich learning. Blythe is also an award-winning independent producer with a primary focus on feature films, and currently has two narrative features and a social impact feature documentary based on a best-selling book in early stages of production. She is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America and NYWIFT.

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Guy-Serge Emmanuel

Associate Professor of Interactive Media and Design at Quinnpiac University
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Born in Ottawa, Canada, lived in Montreal, QC during his youth. He holds a B.A in Photography from Brooklyn College, an M.F.A in Communication Design from New Jersey City University, NJ, and a PhD. in Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University, IA. He has been teaching interactive design at the college level since the mid 2000’s; as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, NY for 7 years, as well as at F.I.T, NYU, and Bloomfield College. He is the former Department Chair of the Art & Design department and was an Associate Professor at the University of New Haven, CT.

Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Interactive Media and Design at Quinnipiac University. Outside the classroom, Guy-Serge has taken part in the creation of Summer Studio, a program introducing graphic design to underrepresented youth in Connecticut. DEI themes are also present in his research. He is a scholar of User Experience (UX) Design whose work focuses on bringing race and ethnicity into the persona creation process. The published article How Related Are Designer to the Personas They Create? illustrated the issue and the forthcoming articles Bringing Race Into Focus and UX Design Curriculum provide pedagogical pathways to address the issue. He is also fascinated by the profound impact emerging technologies can have on design education as seen in his academic article Video Games and the 21st Century Design Student. Finally, he is the recipient of multiple grants, the latest from the National Science Foundation due to his successful completion of the Innovation Corps program which focuses on his present endeavor, biophilic design and emerging technologies.

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JC Barone, PhD

Professor
at Western Connecticut State University
.
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Dr. JC Barone has been an active producer/director and educator for over 20 years and the recipient of numerous awards for his work including the Communicator Award of Distinction, the Videographer Award of Distinction, and six Telly Awards. His documentary work has been screened at various festivals and a museum exhibition. JC is a recipient of the Connecticut State Universities System-wide top Teaching Award. He was selected as a Teaching Fellow at the Television Academy, L.A., and serves as a competition judge for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. JC is a full-time professor of Communication & Media Arts at Western Connecticut State University where he teaches digital media production. His teaching focuses on the connection of academia with industry and the community.

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Albert Kim

Professor
at Manchester Community College
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Albert has taught Communication/Media courses at Manchester Community College since 2001. He also taught at CCSU/New Britain CT and Albertus Magnus College/New Haven. After pioneering ICE Radio Radio Station at MCC in 2008, the award-winning broadcast outlet/podcast platform is celebrating its 15th Anniversary on the air in Fall of 2023. Albert serves at Faculty Advisor for both ICE Radio and the ICE TV/Video Club, and is kicking off a student-run production agency on campus this year, to give enthusiastic MCC students more hands-on opportunities in audio/radio/video production. This will expand their community outreach and partnerships with the media/PR/advertising needs of local businesses and non-profit orgs. Albert is a member of Intercollegiate Broadcasting System and Broadcast Educators Association, and is invited regularly as a moderator for various national panels on college radio, programming and promotions tactics, and best practices for student engagement with campus media.
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Nicki Chavoya

Professional in Residence
University of New Haven.
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Since graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2005, Nicki's work has ranged from documentaries to music videos to short films and art installations. Her work has been featured on MTV, VH1, NPR, Prefix Magazine, NME Magazine and Under the Radar. Her documentary work has taken her around the world to Haiti, Italy, Germany, France, Mexico and throughout the U.S and has premiered at the Berlinale and SXSW and screened for international audiences at Hot Docs, Full Frame, IDFA, on National Geographic and in theaters both in Europe and North America. Nicki most enjoys collaborating with other artists, having directed and produced for international acts including Mdou Moctar, Pulizer-finalist Wadada Leo Smith, Grammy-nominated Vijay Iyer and more.. She often works with the Greater New Haven community, teaching film & video workshops and providing media consultation to area non-profits. She is also on the Advisory Board for Hands Offering Hope and P.L.A.C.E. Multicultural Children’s Museum & Creative Arts Center.

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Tom Garrett

Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Film and Media Studies at
University of New Haven
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Tom Garrett ’83 is a producer of feature and documentary films and a founding partner of Circa Films, an international sales and distribution company. He is an expert on the inner workings of Hollywood, the international film market, and the changing dynamics of the film and television industries in the age of streaming. He has decades of experience as an executive producer, director, and screenwriter. A member of the Producers Network at the Cannes Film Festival, Professor Garrett has screened his films at the Berlin, Toronto, and Florence film festivals and on A&E, USA Network, and TF1 (France). He also is director of special initiatives for the Sarasota Film Festival and a juror for the International Emmy® Awards.

Garrett’s latest project, King of the Underdogs, a feature documentary he co-produced exploring the career of Rocky director John G. Avildsen, opened to much acclaim, winning best documentary awards at the 2017 Beverly Hills Film Festival, the Impact Docs, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, the George Sidney Independent Film Competition, and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Based on the book Garrett co-wrote on Avildsen, the documentary features interviews with Sylvester Stallone, Ralph Macchio, and Martin Scorsese.

Professor Garrett has worked as a producer and director for advertising agencies and public relations firms such as Chiat-Day/Mojo, JWT, and BBD&O, with clients including Chanel, Reebok, Tag Heuer, and Calvin Klein. He has also produced music videos for Run-D.M.C. and U2. Prior to coming to the University of New Haven, Garrett was film program coordinator at Sam Houston State University and assistant professor at the University of Tampa.

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David Calabrese

Associate Professor of Illustration at Hartford At School at University of Hartford
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David Calabrese is an award winning illustrator who specializes in Imaginative Realism art. For a number of years he worked as in house 2D & 3D Artist where he created graphics, illustrations, storyboards, and animations. David had illustrated two children’s books, been published in ImagineFX Magazine and has been awarded certificates and merits to annuals such as The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles Illustration West 59th Annual Illustration Competition , The Connecticut Art Directors Club 45th Annual and Infected By Art: Volume 10. David currently teaches illustration and animation courses at the Hartford Art School where he is an Associate Professor of Illustration.

Are you working in higher education? and would like to join or learn more about the collaborative? Contact us here!

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