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/

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

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

Prof. Alice Y. L. Lee is a Professor Emeritus at the School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). Specializing in media and information literacy (MIL), Net Generation, and news sites, Prof. Lee is a devoted advocate in promoting MIL in Hong Kong. She has been participating in teacher training and conducting student and parent seminars for two decades. She is the co-editor of two books: International Handbook of Media Literacy Education and Multidisciplinary Approaches to Media Literacy: Research and Practice. Her academic works were published in Journalism Studies, Comunicar, Global Media and China, Chinese Journal of Communication, and Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. Currently, she is teaching an MIL general education course at HKBU and is a member of the MIL Program Taskforce of the Hong Kong News Expo and the 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.

Grace Msauki

Grace Msauki is the co-founder and Programs Manager at the Zimbabwe Information and Technology Empowerment Trust (ZITET) a nonprofit organization that promotes digital equity. She is a US Department of State, Community Solutions Program Alumni. With over a decade of experience working at the intersection of information, technology and sustainable development, Grace promotes the digital inclusion of underserved communities through developing and implementing digital and media literacy capacity building initiatives that enhance communities’ capacities and skills to leverage digital technologies for civic engagement, life – long learning and entrepreneurship. She leads youth empowerment programs on digital branding, digital safety and digital activism, with her recent work focusing on building and nurturing the resilience of communities against disinformation by equipping emerging leaders with the necessary skills to navigate the digital landscape responsibly. Grace is also drawn to how information and technologies empower youths, organizations and communities to make informed decisions towards sustainable development.

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.

Theresa Redmond

Theresa Redmond is an independent scholar, teacher, and artist with expertise in media literacy, instructional technology, curriculum design, ecomedia literacy, and the arts. She has taught early elementary school through university students, published widely on innovative methods in teaching and learning, and received awards for teaching, service, and creative scholarship.

Remzie Shahini-Hoxhaj

Remzie Shahini-Hoxhaj is the vice dean of the Faculty of Philology and professor of communication at the Journalism Department of the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”. She was the founder and director of the Media Institute at the University of Prishtina. She was a lecturer at the University of Applied Science Salzburg in Austria (2019-2021) and was a visiting fellow at Dartmouth University (2017). She completed her Ph.D. in Communication and Journalism at the University of Vienna, Austria (2014), and holds a dual master’s degree in Intercultural Communication from Europa-Viadrina University, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, and St. Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria (2004) and a bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature from the University of Prishtina (2001). Her research is published in multiple peer-reviewed journals in the fields of television and communication culture in transitional societies, media literacy, and public relations. She has played a pivotal role in international projects related to education and human rights in Kosovo. She is the current president of the Austrian-Kosovar Society (OEKG), board member of the European Communication and Culture Society (ESEC) and of Oral History Institute Kosovo. She is fluent in Albanian, English, German and Serbo-Croatian.

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

Madelyn Garcia

Madelyn Garcia is currently a PhD Researcher at the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Education. She was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños. She holds a Master’s degree in Communication from the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication. Her research interests include media education, digital participation, and participatory and practice-focused studies in the field of media and information literacy.