Education:
Ph.D., New York University - 2008 (Media Ecology/Media Culture and Communication)
M.A., New York University - 1998 (Cinema Studies)
M.A., Loyola Marymount University - 1996 (English Literature)
B.A., Loyola Marymount University - 1991 (Communication Arts/Film Production)
B.A., Loyola Marymount University - 1990 (English Literature)
Areas of Expertise:
Convergent journalism and the transformation of journalism in the digital age.
Curatorial Culture
Parody news forms.
Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
Media platforming and new distribution/revenue models.
Political economy of media.
The television industry(ies).
Humor as a rhetorical strategy and revolutionary endeavor.
Political humor and satire in Weimar Germany, the Watergate years and the present administration.
Books and Publications
""No really, it was a joke!" The Humor Excuse and the Challenge of Political Satire in Contemporary America" forthcoming in Playing with What is There: Perspectives on the Practice,
Habit, or Need of Converting Reality into Theatre, Fiction or Illusion. Ed. Sidney Homan.
(Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2021
"An American Family" (with C.J. Debrovner). Television Milestones Series. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. Forthcoming 2021.) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2021
"Curatorial Culture's Challenge to the Television Critic as Public Intellectual." Popular Culture and the Intellectual: Media Trends and Social Change. Eds. W.P. Huddy and A. Marshall. New York: Waterhill Publishing, 2019.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
"To Optimize Festival Programming Chances Should Student Films be Ten Minutes Long, or Less?" (with co- authors Dennis Conway and Jason Brown) Journal of Media Education. January, 2019. Vol. 10(1) p.5-9. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
Robinson, MJ. Television on Demand: Curatorial Culture and the Transformation of TV. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences William Stewart Travel Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences William Stewart Travel Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences William Stewart Travel Award.
(Grants and Fellowships) 2016
Recipient - Tow Faculty Fellowship for Travel - to support travel for research in the Morris Novik papers to support the revision and writing of the manuscript for: 'Voice of the City' -- The Rise and Fall of WNYC-TV. (book project) (Grants and Fellowships) 2016
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Tony Schwartz - Audio and Political Media Pioneer." [Panelist] Media Ecology Association,
June, 2020, Garden City, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2020
"Means of Production and the Transformation of Humor in Television Comedy" Broadcast Education Association, April 6-9, 2019, Las Vegas, NV. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2019
"Seriality and the Transformation of Journalism in the Time of Trump." Popular Culture Association Conference, April 17-21, 2019, Washington, D.C.. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2019
"What's So Funny About the Metaverse?: Comedy and Humor in and Around Virtual Reality." International
Society for Humor Studies, June 24-29, 2019. Austin, TX.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2019
"Should Students create only short dramatic films to optimize them for festival competitions?" Panel/Roundtable
Participant -- Broadcast Education Association, April 4-10, 2018, Las Vegas, NV.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018
"Soap Opera, Serialized Storytelling and Curatorial Viewing." Popular Culture Association Conference, March
28-31, 2018, Indianapolis, IN.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018
"Weimar :: Watergate :: 2018 - Political Humor in Crisis?" International Society for Humor Studies, June 25-29, 2018. Talinn, Estonia.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018
"Where is the Television Critic in Television Criticism? Curatorial Culture's Challenge to the Television Critic
as Public Intellectual." Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies: Bridging Gaps: Where is the Critic in Television Journalism? CUNY Graduate School of Journalism August 31-September 1, 2017.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
"From BSBJ to JAMS: A Tale of Two Acronyms." Broadcast Education Association, April 22-25, 2017, Las
Vegas, NV.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
"Understanding and Teaching News in a Social Media World: Why News Literacy is Media Literacy."
National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), June 26-28, 2017, Chicago, Il.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Respondent - "Dark Nets and Disruptive Practices" a lecture by Thom Gencarelli. New York Society for General
Semantics - November 3, 2017, Players Club, NYC.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
"'But what do we do with it?' Using New Media Technologies to Imagine New Journalism." (Panel: "Imagining
the Future of Journalism Education.") New York State Communication Association, October 14-16,
2016, Callicoon, NY.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"Branding the Admen of Mad Men: New Media, the Post-Network Era and the Reinvention of American Television." Broadcast Educators Association (BEA), Management, Marketing and Programming Division, April 17-20,2016, Las Vegas, Nevada. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"Re-Branding the AdMen of Mad Men: The Re-reinvention of American Television in the Post-Post Network Age." -- Mad Men: The Conference -- Middle Tennessee State University, May 26-28, 2016, Nashville, Tennessee. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"Seriality and the Platform-Agnostic Narrative." Popular Culture Association (PCA), Soap Opera and Serialized Storytelling Area -- March 21-25, 2016, Seattle, Washington. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Chair and Respondent, "Imagining Arts and Humanities" (Interdisciplinary Panel.) New York State
Communication Association, October 14-16, 2016, Callicoon, NY.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Moderator -- "Serialized Storytelling Roundtable" -- Popular Culture Association (PCA), Soap Opera and Serialized Storytelling Area -- March 21-25, 2016, Seattle, Washington. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Professional Leadership
Area Chair of the "Serialized Storytelling and Soap Opera" Division - Popular Culture Association (PCA). 2017-present.
(Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2019
Selection Committee Member -- Leo/Heller Award for Achievement in LGBTQ Scholarship, Popular Culture Association (PCA) 2019-present. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2019
Selection Committee Member: The Harold A. Innis Award for Outstanding Thesis or Dissertation in the Field of Media Ecology, Media Ecology Association. 2015 - present. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2019
Guest speaker --International Visitor Leadership Program - U.S. State Department.
Met with eight visiting journalists from Khazakhstan to discuss the rights and responsibilities of a free press in a democracy, the standards, practices and institutions of broadcast journalism in the United States and journalism education in the United States. Prepared ninety-minute presentation with questions/answers/discussion period following.
(Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2018