Serene Arena

Serene Arena is a communication design expert focused on language use and collaborative development in communication and social systems. Her use of critical-creative thinking methods in design and education led her to receive a Masters in Civic Media from Columbia College Chicago, where she became an avid supporter of Media Literacy practice and process.

For more information: https://www.serenearena.com/

Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Ph.D.

Renee Cherow-O’Leary is the president of Education for the 21st Century, a consulting practice in New York City and Los Angeles developing educational content for children, parents and teachers for an array of national and international organizations . She is a professor in the Arts, Culture and Media program at Rutgers University, Newark. Her recent course work on “The Human-Machine Connection” is now being turned into a book about the future of education. She is also a curriculum developer on issues of growth and development as people age and is the creator of a series of programs called Life Cycle Wisdom. Renee is a pioneer in media literacy education. Her full bio can be found on LinkedIn.

For more information: http://reneecherowoleary.com/

Hannah Conner

Hannah Conner is a student at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN where she specializes in Media and Cultural Studies and French and Francophone Studies with a concentration in Critical Theory. She is particularly interested in promoting transparency in and around media. Conner joined the International Council for Media Literacy in 2021. 

Denise Chapman, Ph.D.

Dr. Denise Chapman is a counternarrative storyteller, spoken word poet, and critical autoethnographer who lectures in children’s literature and early literacy at Monash University.  She’s served as a literacy specialist focused on critical media literacy in Australia, Fiji, and the United States.  Denise uses oral stories, children’s literature, poetry, and digital images as counternarrative windows for social change and liberation. She is currently exploring the lack of diverse transmedia stories for children and how teachers and parents see its impact on children’s imagined possibilities.

For more information: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/denise-chapman

Michael Hoechsmann

Michael Hoechsmann is an Associate Professor and the Program Chair in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University (Orillia). His research focuses on digital and media literacies, cultural studies and education in formal and non-formal settings. His most recent co-edited book is Education for Democracy 2.0: Changing Frames of Media Literacy (Brill 2021). He is a board member of Media Smarts: Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, the co-chair of UNESCO MILA North America and one of the co-chairs of the Media Education Research section of IAMCR.

For more inforrmation: https://www.lakeheadu.ca/users/H/mhoechsm

Alexandre Le Voci Sayad

Alexandre Le Voci Sayad is a journalist, educator and novelist. He works in the Media and Information Literacy field as a researcher, practitioner, advocate and professor for the last 20 years. He is currently director of ZeitGeist advisory company and international co-chairman of UNESCO MIL Alliance. Sayad is also a columnist for Revista Educação and Canal Futura website, and author of several books in the field. He hosts the TV Show “Idade Mídia” and the FM Radio Show “ABC da Notícia”. He is member of the advisory board of the Educamídia program and of the Brazilian Association of Educommunication. Currently Sayad is a researcher of Artificial Intelligence and Ethics at PUC-SP. 

For more information: AlexandreSayad.com

Alice Y. L. Lee

Alice Y. L. Lee is Professor of the Department of Journalism at the Hong Kong Baptist University. She was the Head of the Department during 2014-19. Her research interests include media and information literacy, online news media, Net generation, and smart cities. She is the co-editor of two books: International Handbook of Media Literacy Education and Multidisciplinary Approaches to Media Literacy: Research and Practice. Her recent works have been published in Journalism Studies, Global Media and China, Chinese Journal of Communication, and Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. She is an International Associate Co-editor of the research journal Comunicar. She serves as a member of the Steering Committee on Strategic Development of IT in Education, Hong Kong Education Bureau.

For more information: http://www.jour.hkbu.edu.hk/faculty-member/alice-lee/

Antonio Lopez, Ph.D.

With a research focus on bridging ecojustice with media literacy, Antonio is an expert curriculum designer, educator, trainer, theorist, and researcher. He is a founding theorist and architect of ecomedia literacy. As an author he has written numerous academic articles, essays and four books: Ecomedia Literacy: Integrating Ecology into Media Education; Greening Media Education: Bridging Media Literacy with Green Cultural Citizenship; The Media Ecosystem: What Ecology Can Teach Us About Responsible Media Practice; and Mediacology: A Multicultural Approach to Media Literacy in the 21st Century. Currently he is Chair and Associate Professor of Communications and Media Studies at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

Resources and writing are available at: https://antonio-lopez.com/

Joan Maynard

I worked with Marieli Rowe as her Office Assistant from 1981-1992; I was her “Monday Morning Coffee Friend” and confidant from 2000 (when we moved back to Madison) until her death in December, 2020.  I was witness to all her ideas and dreams for the National Telemedia Council, now ICML, and will keep her vision alive in serving on the Board.

Shashidhar Nanjundaiah

Shashi has been the director and dean at reputed private media schools in India, where he is best recognized for his reconstruction of some academic approaches in a discover-learn-practice framework. His research on the political economy of post-liberalization Indian media was one of the early works in that chapter of history. He has been an editor of newspaper and magazine groups, served on boards of studies at university colleges and on panels such as Fulbright Scholarships and Advertising Standards Council of India. Shashi’s ongoing research questions whether current media literacy practices can address problems of the aesthetics of media-invisibilized material and communities, hoping to lay the groundwork for future redefinitions. He holds an MS in Communication from Radford University, Virginia, USA and an MA in English from the University of Mysore, India.

Martin Rayala, Ph.D.

Thought leader in education, schooling and lifelong learning, supporting educational transformation across the world. Seeks to create, support and enhance formal, informal and non-formal learning around the world that embraces coherent, comprehensive educational programs.

For more information: www.ensoeducation.com

Theresa Redmond

Theresa Redmond is Associate Professor of Media Studies and Teacher Education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, USA. Her teaching and scholarship focus on the intersections of multiple professional fields including: communications, media studies, literacy studies, educational technology, curriculum studies, and the arts.

For more information: https://theresaredmond.com/about/

Rosemary Smith

Rosemary was Vice President & National Sales Manager of Eagle Radio Group, headquartered in Northern Michigan. She and her husband, Kent built their media group from the ground up, including radio towers, buildings and talent. In 2018, the Smiths sold their group of radio stations, relocating to Montana to be closer to their four adult children. That’s where Rosemary met Joe Phelps, founder of the Getting Better Foundation. Realizing their missions were aligned, Rosemary came on board as Managing Director for the Foundation. Rosemary’s passion for making things better for everyone she meets and the environment she loves provides the Foundation a perfect fit.  Her research, writing, networking and communication skills are assets used to drive it’s latest project,Trust Me, a feature documentary film, forward.

For more information: https://www.gettingbetterfoundation.org/

Vitor Tomé, Ph.D. 

International expert (e.g.: Digital Citizenship Education – Council of Europe; Dialogues EU-Brazil on Human Rights), researcher at CIES-ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon (Media Literacy and Journalism), assistant professor at Autonoma University of Lisbon (Communication Sciences), and journalist Currently coordinating/co-coordinating projects such as: PICCLE-Ministry of Education, Portugal; Digital Citizenship Academy, funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Media Literacy and Journalism – Portuguese Journalists Union). Tomé is a trainer of in-service teachers (Ministry of Education) and journalists (CENJOR). Concluded a degree in Education, post-graduations in ICT and in Journalism, a PhD in Education (Media Literacy), and a 6-year post-doctorate in Communication Sciences.

For more information: https://ciac.pt/en/about-us/research-team/vitor-tome

Jeff Share

Jeff Share’s research and practice focuses on preparing educators and university students to teach critical media literacy in K-12 education, for the goals of social and environmental justice. An updated second edition of his book, Media Literacy is Elementary: Teaching Youth to Critically Read and Create Media, was published in 2015. Two years later Routledge published the book he co-wrote with Richard Beach and Allen Webb titled, Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference. Collaborating with Douglas Kellner in 2019, they published, The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education.

For more information: https://jshare.wixsite.com/jeffshare

Melda Yildiz

Yildiz is a global scholar, media educator, instructional designer, and author. She teaches at the College of Arts and Sciences, NYIT. Melda served as a Fulbright Scholar in Turkmenistan (2009) and Azerbaijan (2016) teaching and conducting research integrating media education in P16 classrooms. Yildiz co-authored, published, and presented on topics including media and information literacy, instructional technology, and multicultural and global education. She received an EdD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in math and science and instructional technology, and an MS from Southern Connecticut State University in instructional technology. She majored in teaching English as a foreign language at Bogazici University, in Turkey.

For more information: https://www.nyit.edu/bio/myildiz