Dr. Greenwood (formerly Domine) is a full professor in the School of Communication and Media and the founder of the C+MRC. Her research intersects the fields of communication, education and technology with an emphasis on media literacy. She is the author of Rethinking Technology in Schools (Peter Lang, 2009) and Healthy Teens, Healthy Schools: How Media Literacy Education Can Renew Education in the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015). She is the 2013 recipient of the Meritorious Service award from the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) for her service as vice president of the Board of Directors and as co-editor of the Journal of Media Literacy Education. Prior to joining SCM in 2016, she was a faculty member and department chairperson in the Department of Secondary and Special Education in the College of Education and Human Services.
Dr. Conley is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Media and the 2021-2022 Race and Technology Practitioner Fellow at Stanford University. She teaches courses and conducts research on race, feminism, digital cultures, and storytelling. Dr. Conley has published research on hashtag feminism (www.hashtagfeminism.org) and activism, and produced interactive media projects, including Brackish, a documentary about hurricane Katrina. Dr. Conley is also the founder of MEDIA MAKE CHANGE, a media production and consulting company established in 2009. Dr. Conley’s research and multimedia production engage scholarship and methods across multiple fields including communication and media studies, digital humanities, art and design, science and technology studies, and archival studies.
Dr. Curnutt is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Media, specializing in reality TV and the redefinition of television’s performers and institutions caused by the influx of media content that sought to blur the boundaries between amateur and professional. He is interested in examining how the same types of questions—issues dealing with celebrity, identity, labor, and production—relate to the proliferation of evolving media technologies, such as mobile phones and computers, and the various performative regimes, and types of capital, they foster and modify. This research topic is situated within larger academic discussions concerned with the rise of what Jodi Dean (2002, 2008) calls “communicative capitalism,” and aims to contribute to the growing body of research studying the decline of symbolic efficiency (Žižek 1999) in an era that is often characterized by information overload (Andrejevic 2013). He employs a mixed-methodology that draws on cultural theory, ethnography, institutional and technological historiography, political-economic critique, and textual analysis.
Dr. McKinley is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Media. He specializes in health communication and media effects. In particular, he examines the role that messages play in shaping individual’s health perceptions and behaviors. Dr. McKinley’s research addresses important public health issues, including, but not limited to, binge drinking, childhood obesity, disordered eating habits, and mental health concerns. His research has been published in Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, and Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. Dr. McKinley is currently involved in multiple projects, including, a) research assessing the relationship between news coverage, presidential rhetoric, and public support for health care reform, and b) an examination of the nature and prevalence of mental health messages provided on U.S. and U.K. college counseling center websites.
Dr. Naumoff is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, the Coordinator of the Fundamentals of Speech Program, and overseer of the Public Speaking Resource Center. Her methodological approach is rhetorical studies informed by cultural and feminist theories. Her research agenda focuses on understanding constructions of American identity by looking to popular culture as a primary site of creation and negotiation. In her work, Dr. Naumoff explores the role that race and gender play in our understanding of national identity, citizenship, and the rhetorical function/effectivity of longstanding American narratives.
Dr. Haines is the former Chair of Communication Studies and headed a Task Force responsible for organizing the new School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. His research includes the critical analysis of Vietnam War literature, memorials, films, and television programs. His teaching assignments include the Department’s introductory course, as well as courses on gender and a variety of theoretical issues. He has worked in news and public affairs programming at public and commercial broadcast stations.
Dr. Penney is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Media, specializing in new media, critical/cultural studies, and political communication and theory. His research focuses on the uses of participatory and digital media for social and political advocacy as well as the construction of collective identities. Dr. Penney is the author of The Citizen Marketer (Oxford University Press, 2017) which explores how citizens participate in political marketing campaigns in the age of social media.
Dr. Benton is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Media. His research focuses extensively on the global and cultural dimensions of public communication and the processes institutions use to build relationships with diverse international audiences. Dr. Benton’s published works range from an analysis of how human trafficking has been explored in superhero comic books to antisemitic tropes in professional wrestling to an examination of Japanese environmental perspectives in Godzilla films. Dr. Benton has also published applied pieces including the process of building public relations teams in post genocide Rwanda, constituency-building tactics in hate groups, and recruitment and retention strategies employed by international terrorist organizations. He is the author of The Challenge of Working for Americans: Perspectives of an International Workforce (2014) and is currently researching reputation repair strategies for consumer brands hijacked by alt right and Neo Nazi extremist groups.
Dr. Kelshaw is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Media. His scholarly expertise is in organizational communication, with an emphasis on democratic environments in which members may share leadership, collaboratively create and problem-solve, and foster healthy relationships across cultural, moral, and attitudinal differences. Through his scholarship he interrogates and celebrates notions of relational stakeholdership, and aims to develop and apply dialogic and deliberative communication competencies toward people’s mutual empowerment and organizational well-being.
COMM+MEDIA RESEARCH COLLABORATORY 