CV

PDF copy of my CV

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Senior Lecturer, Film and Media Studies Program, Washington University in St. Louis, 2023-Present

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication & Media Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, 2022-2023

Lecturer, Film and Media Studies Program, Washington University in St. Louis, 2019-2022

Adjunct Instructor, Department of English and Department of Communication & Film Studies, Le Moyne College, 2011-2021

Adjunct Instructor, Department of Cinema / TV, Los Angeles City College, 2017-2019

Teaching Assistant/Associate/Fellow, Department of Cinema and Media Studies and  English Composition Program, University of California, Los Angeles, 2014-2018

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Cinema and Media Studies, June 2019

  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • Dissertation: “Space Invaders: Warner Bros. and the History of Hollywood in the Video Game Industry”
  • Advisor: John T. Caldwell
  • Date of advancement to doctoral candidacy: October 2015

M.A., Cinema and Media Studies, June 2011 

  • University of California, Los Angeles

B.A., English, May 2009

  • Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY
  • Minors: Film and Adolescent Education (English, grades 7-12)
  • Summa Cum Laude
  • Studied abroad at University of Essex, Colchester, England

PUBLICATIONS

Books

[In process] Space Invaders: Rethinking Convergence Culture through Hollywood in the Video Game Industry. 

Edited Volumes

The Franchise Era: Managing Media in the Digital Economy (co-editor with Bryan Hikari Hartzheim and Stephen Mamber). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.

  • Review: Meikle, Kyle. “Franchises: Now More than Ever!” Adaptation, 1 November 2019. (PDF)

Journal Articles

  • [Abstract accepted] “The Afterlife of Tie-ins: Precarity and Preservation Across Licensed Video Games.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (2025).
  • “From Superman to Swordquest: Atari, Easter Eggs, and Early Video Game Labor Exploitation.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (2023).
  • “Playing in the Corporate Toybox: The Multiple Levels of Adaptation in Disney Infinity”. In South Atlantic Review 80, nos. 3-4 (2015).
  • “Studio Ghibli’s Video Game Play: The Media Convergence of Ni No Kuni”. In  Mediascape: UCLA’s Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (Fall 2015).
  • “Revenge of the (Angry Video Game) Nerd: James Rolfe and Web 2.0 Fandom”. In Mediascape: UCLA’s Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (Winter 2012). 

Book Chapters

  • [Abstract accepted] “Animating Hanna-Barbera’s Video Game History: From Pac-Man to
    MultiVersus.” In The Hanna-Barbera Anthology, edited by Kevin Sandler. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  • [Abstract accepted] “Intellivision Lives: Amico, Corporate Reboots, and Retro Video Game Culture.” Nostalgia in Video Games, edited by Aditya Deshbandhu, Neil Ewen, Shannon Lawlor, and A.R.E. Taylor. New York: Routledge.
  • “Amazon’s Prime Initiative: The Ecommerce Alignment of Amazon Studios and Twitch.” In Content Wars: Tech Empires vs. Media Empires, edited by Denise Mann, Berkeley: University of California Press, forthcoming.
  • “The Road to Arkham Asylum: Batman: Dark Tomorrow and Transitional Transmedia.” In Comics | Games: From Hybrid Medialities to Transmedia Expansions, edited by Andreas Rauscher, Daniel Stein, and Jan-Noël Thon. New York: Routledge, 2021.
  • “Worldbuilding, Retconning, and Legacy Rebooting: Alien and Contemporary Media Franchise Strategies.” In Worldbuilding, Retconning, and Legacy Rebooting: Alien and Contemporary Media Franchise Strategies, edited by Daniel Herbert and Constantine Verevis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
  • “Introduction: The Franchise Era” (co-author with Bryan Hikari Hartzheim and Stephen Mamber). In The Franchise Era: Managing Media in the Digital Economy, edited by James Fleury, Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, and Stephen Mamber, 1-28. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
  • “The (Im)Perfect Organism: Dissecting the Alien Media Franchise” (co-author with Stephen Mamber). In The Franchise Era: Managing Media in the Digital Economy, edited by James Fleury, Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, and Stephen Mamber, 31-51. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
  • “Hollywood’s VR Vision: New Frontier or Virtually the Same Thing?” In The Franchise Era: Managing Media in the Digital Economy, edited by James Fleury, Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, and Stephen Mamber, 277-299. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
  • “‘Sometimes the Old Ways Are the Best’: Ret-Conning in James Bond Video Games”. In James Bond and Popular Culture: Essays on the Influence of the Fictional Superspy, edited by Michele Brittany. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2014.

PRESENTATIONS

Invited Talks

  • “The Road to Arkham: Batman: Dark Tomorrow and Transitional Transmedia.” Oral presentation at Comics/Games: Aesthetic, Ludic, and Narrative Strategies symposium, Hanover, Germany, November 5-7, 2018.

Conference Presentations

  • “Pre-Gaming: How Licensed Tie-Ins Led to Netflix Games.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Boston, Massachusetts; March 14-17, 2024.
    • Panel Chair (with Emmelle Israel): “​​Netflix Beyond Film and Television: Video Games, Virtual Reality, and Merchandising”
  • “Adaptation Studies in the Franchise Era: Lessons from Teaching.” Joint Literature / Film Association and Association for Adaptation Studies Conference; virtual conference; February 22-24.
  • “Legacyquels and Multiverses: Contemporary Approaches to Franchising.” To Be Continued 3: Defining, Producing, Performing, Consuming, and Theorizing Serials and Adaptations; virtual conference; September 14-15, 2023.
  • “Intellivision Lives: Amico, Corporate Reboots, and Retro Video Game Culture.” Video Games: Time and Nostalgia Symposium; Exeter, England; May 12, 2023.
  • “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Spider-Man and Shifts in Licensed Video Game Production.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Denver, Colorado; April 12-15, 2023.
    • Panel Chair (with Colin Burnett): “Play for Pay: When Media Franchises and the Gaming Industry Collide”
  • “‘F— the Oscars!’: Josef Fares, Video Game Authorship, and Legitimacy.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference; Albuquerque, New Mexico; February 22-25, 2023.
  • “From Superman to Swordquest: Atari, Easter Eggs, and Early Video Game Labor Exploitation.” Canadian Game Studies Association Conference; virtual conference; May 31-June 4, 2022.
  • “Graded Video Games: Retrogaming Culture and the Pandemic Nostalgia Economy.” Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association National Conference; virtual conference; April 13-16, 2022.
  • “Who Adapts the Watchmen? : Hyperfidelity, Legacyquel, and Elevated Genre Approaches.” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference; Baltimore, Maryland; March 10-13, 2022.
  • “Physical Media Forever: DVD and Blu-ray Collecting in the Age of Streaming.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference; Atlanta, Georgia; November 4-6, 2021.
  • “Priming Amazon: Twitch and the Streaming Wars.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; virtual conference; March 17-21, 2021.
  • “Gambling with Licensing: Loot Boxes, Electronic Arts, and Star Wars Battlefront II.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference; virtual conference; February 22-25, 2021.
  • “Legacy Storytelling in Video Game Tie-Ins: Industrial and Cultural Dimensions.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference; virtual conference; November 13-15, 2020.
  • “Low-Budget Franchise, Low-Budget Game: Friday the 13th and Film-to-Video Game Adaptations in the Networked Era.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference; Atlanta, Georgia; November 15-17, 2019.
    • Panel Chair (with Daniel Singleton): “Video Game Adaptations”
  • “The (Im)Perfect Organism: Dissecting the Alien Franchise.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Seattle, Washington; March 13-17, 2019. 
  • “Building a New Type of Video Game Tie-In: The Adaptation Strategies of LEGO Dimensions.” Association of Adaptation Studies Conference; Amsterdam, Netherlands; September 27-28, 2018.
  • “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s the Birth of the Tie-In Video Game Genre: Atari’s Superman.”  Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Toronto, Canada; March 14-18, 2018. 
    • Panel Chair (with Oscar Moralde): “Ways of Play: Histories and Futures of Genre in Video Game Studies”
  • “Back in the USSR: Paratextual Reframing and the From Russia With Love Video Game.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Chicago, Illinois; March 13-17, 2017. 
  • “New Frontier or Virtually the Same Thing? : Hollywood’s VR Vision.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Atlanta, Georgia; March 30-April 3, 2016.
  • “A Winner Is Warner Bros.: How a Movie Studio Came to Rule the Video Game Industry.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 10-13, 2016.
  • “Playing with Reflexivity: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and the Transmedia Production of Batman: Arkham Origins.” Presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Montreal, Canada; March 25-29, 2015.
  • “Rebooting the Movie-Game: The Effects of Transmedia Storytelling and the Mobile Market.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference; Albuquerque, New Mexico; February 11-14, 2015.
  • “Infinite Change: Disney Infinity and the Licensed Video Game.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico; February 19-22, 2014.
  • “Seeing Double(07): Franchise Rewriting in James Bond Video Games.” Popular Culture Association and American Culture Associations Conference; Albuquerque, New Mexico; February 2013.
  • “Negotiating Nostalgia and Contradictions in Epic Mickey.” Conference of the National Popular Culture & American Culture Association; Boston, Massachusetts; April 11-14, 2012.
    • Panel Chair: “Issues in Animation: Offshoring, Games, and MMORPGs”
  • “Getting Committed: Inside The Asylum.” Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference; Albuquerque, New Mexico; February 8-11, 2012.
  • “Revenge of the (Angry Video Game) Nerd: James Rolfe and Web 2.0 Fandom.” Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture & American Culture Association and the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture & American Culture Association; San Antonio, Texas; April 20-23, 2011.

Workshops

  • “Roundtable: Adaptation and Newer Media.” Association of Adaptation Studies; online; October 1, 2020.
  • “Movies and Memos.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Seattle, Washington; March 13-17, 2019.
  • “The Nuts and Bolts of Lesson Planning.” University of California, Los Angeles; Teaching Assistant Conference; Los Angeles, California; September 25-26, 2017.
  • “Hacking the Industry: Studying Hollywood Digitally.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Atlanta, Georgia; March 30-April 3, 2016.

Departmental Talks

  • “Machinima’s Two Masters: A Multiplatform Network’s Struggle to Straddle Hollywood and Digital Culture.” Cinema and Media Studies Colloquium; University of California, Los Angeles; November 29, 2017.
  • “ClipNotes in the Classroom.” Cinema and Media Studies Colloquium; University of California, Los Angeles; November 9, 2016.

AWARDS, GRANTS, AND HONORS

External

  • Graduate Student Travel Bursary, Association of Adaptation Studies, 2018
  • Student Travel Grant, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, 2017
  • Strong Research Fellowship, The Strong National Museum of Play, 2016

Washington University in St. Louis

  • Teaching Innovation Grant, Literacies for Life and Career initiative ($1,000)

University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate Division

  • Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, 2015
  • Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, 2014

University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Film, Television and Digital Media 

  • Plitt Southern Theater Employees Trust Fellowship, 2018
  • Moving Image Archive Studies Travel Award, 2016
  • Plitt Southern Theater Employees Trust Fellowship, 2016
  • Plitt Southern Theater Employees Trust Fellowship, 2015

Le Moyne College

  • The Monsignor Charles F. McEvoy Medal in Sophomore Liberal Arts, 2009
  • The Eugene J. Fitzmartin Medal in English, 2009
  • Outstanding Student Teacher Award, 2009
  • Newhouse Award for Critical Essay for “The Breakdown of Good and Evil in M,” 2007
  • Dean Scholarship, 2005

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Researcher and Programmer, January 2016-May 2021

  • ClipNotes, instructional video annotation app for iPad and PC, 2016-Present

Research Fellow, September 2014-August 2019

  • UCLA Havas Digital Incubator and Think Tank
    • Author of white papers and blog posts on topics involving connections between Silicon Valley and Hollywood (e.g., virtual reality, Amazon’s digital ecosystem, and artificial intelligence) on behalf of Havas Media Group and University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Film, Television and Digital Media

Research Assistant, October 2018-June 2019

  • John T. Caldwell, Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, University of California, Los Angeles
    • Background research and copy-editing

Research Assistant, October 2009-June 2011, September 2013-June 2019

  • Denise Mann, Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, University of California, Los Angeles
    • Background research, transcribing, and copy-editing

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Washington University in St. Louis (Instructor of Record)

  • “American Film Genres” (Fall 2019; Fall 2020, online; Fall 2024)
  • “Global Games Industries” (Spring 2024)
  • “History of American Cinema” (Spring 2020)
  • “Horror Across Media” (Fall 2024)
  • “Introduction to Film Studies” (Spring 2024; Summer 2024)
  • “Introduction to Video Game Studies” (Spring 2020; Fall 2020, online; Spring 2021, online; Fall 2021; Spring 2022; Fall 2023)
  • “Major Film Directors: Spike Lee” (Fall 2019; Spring 2021, hybrid)
  • “Media Cultures” (Fall 2021)
  • “The New Hollywood Cinema” (Fall 2019)
  • “Superhero Media” (Fall 2020, online; Fall 2023)
  • “Television Culture and Cult TV: Critical Approaches to Fandom” (Fall 2021)
  • “Transmedia Franchises” (Spring 2021, hybrid; Spring 2022; Spring 2024)

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (Instructor of Record)

  • “Film and Culture” (Spring 2023; Summer 2023, online)
  • “Media and Society” (Fall 2022; Spring 2023)
  • “Media Forms” (Fall 2022)
  • “Video Game Studies (Spring 2023)

Le Moyne College (Instructor of Record)

  • “Critical Writing” (Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2018)
  • “Major Authors: Chuck Palahniuk” (Summer 2020, online; Summer 2021, online; Summer 2022)
  • “Mass Media and Society” (Summer 2013; Summer 2020, online; Summer 2021, online; Summer 2022)
  • “Studies in New Media” (Fall 2012)

Los Angeles City College (Instructor of Record)

  • “History of the Motion Picture” (Fall 2017; Spring 2019, online)

University of California, Los Angeles (Instructor of Record)

  • “English Composition, Rhetoric and Language” (Winter 2017)
  • “Practice of Teaching Film and Television Seminar” (Fall 2016; Fall 2017)

University of California, Los Angeles (Teaching Assistant Assistant/Associate/Fellow)

  • “American Television History” (Spring 2017)
  • “History of the American Motion Picture” (Spring 2014; Fall 2014; Winter 2015; Fall 2015; Winter 2016)
  • “Overview of Contemporary Film Industry” (Summer 2015, online; Summer 2016, online; Summer 2017, online; Summer 2018, online)

RELATED EMPLOYMENT

Submissions Reviewer, August 2015-Present

Film Program Director and Instructor, July 2012-July 2019

English Teacher, September 2012-June 2013

  • Liverpool Central School District, Liverpool, NY
  • Courses: English (Grades 9-10); Writing Workshop (Grade 12)

English Language Arts Teacher, July 2012-August 2012

  • Oswego County BOCES Summer School, Central Square, NY
  • Courses: English Language Arts (Grades 7-8)

Film Summer Instructor, July-August 2010

  • University of Southern California, South Central Upward Bound Program, Los Angeles, CA
  • Course: “Introduction to Film Studies” (Grades 10-12)

SERVICE

Professional

Institutional Service (Washington University in St. Louis)

  • Advisor for Film and Media Studies majors and minors, September 2019-Present
  • Advisor for Mentored Teaching Experience on behalf of the PhD program in
    French & Comparative Literature through the Department of Romance Languages
    and Literatures, January 2022-May 2022
  • Advisor for American Culture Studies senior capstone project, September 2021-May 2022
  • Coordinator and moderator, “Will Movies Survive? – Producing and Financing Content in an Ever-Changing Landscape,” Film and Media Studies Program guest-speaker event, November 2019
  • Bi-Annual Learning Assessment Committee, Film and Media Studies Program, September 2019

Institutional (Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi)

  • Chair, Communication & Media Events Committee, August 2022-May 2023
  • Member, Department of Communication & Media Search Committee (Assistant
    Professor of Media Production), September 2022-April 2023
  • Department Representative, Island Day, February 2023
  • Co-Organizer, Video Game Third Thursday at the Art Museum of South Texas, September-November 2022
  • Co-Organizer, International Games Week at Texas A&M University – Corpus
    Christi, September-November 2022
  • Department Representative, College of Liberal Arts Day, October 2022
  • Moderator, Film Club screening, October 2022
  • Department Representative, Island Day, October 2022

Institutional Service (University of California, Los Angeles)

CERTIFICATIONS

  • The Association of College and University Educators (ACUE): Effective Teaching Practices (2023)
  • Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi Online Course Design and Instruction
    (OCDI) Workshop (2022)
  • UCLA Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy (2018)
  • Online Network of Educators (@ONE): Introduction to Teaching with Canvas (2018)
  • Online Network of Educators (@ONE): Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning (2018)
  • New York State Teaching Certification in English Language Arts, Grades 7-12 (2011)
  • New York State Teaching Certification in Students With Disabilities, Grades 7-12 (2011)

ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

  • The Association of Adaptation Studies
  • Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education
  • Modern Language Association 
  • National Council for Teachers of English
  • Society for Cinema & Media Studies (Media Industries, Transmedia Studies, and Video Game Studies Scholarly Interest Groups)

TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

  • Coding: XML
  • eLearning: Blackboard, Canvas
  • Photo editing: Adobe Photoshop
  • Video editing: Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, iMovie
  • Web platforms: WordPress

LANGUAGES

  • English: Native
  • French: Intermediate
  • Spanish: Intermediate

CV last updated: March 2024