Creative Expressions: Pop
Cultural Products - Impact and Influence
Thursday, May 28th, 5pm
The SUNY Empire community has a rich and varied artist
community. Come and meet our “artists in
residence” and learn a little about their creative expressions, their process,
and them! Our artists will also host a Q&A session following their
presentations/performances. If you missed our previous sessions or cannot make
it this week, all of the sessions are recorded and the videos can be found at
this link (https://bit.ly/CreativeExpressionsVideoChannel).
The sessions happen every Thursday at 5pm in Zoom at this link (https://bit.ly/CreativeExpressionSeries).
Featured this week will be Cindy Conaway, Diane Shichtman, Cindy
Bates, and alumna Diane Donato.
Host: Lisa D’Adamo-Weinstein
In this session, we will explore the influence of Seinfeld on
American television; the creative process and control of J.K. Rowlings and the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter; and the creative process of podcasting with a
look at iHeart radio's Upstate Unsolved.
Cindy Conaway (Seinfeld Project) is an Associate Professor of Media
Studies and Communication and the Coordinator for Interdisciplinary and
Multidisciplinary Studies at SUNY Empire State College. She holds a Ph.D. in
American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, an MS in Instructional
Systems Design from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s degree in English
from The University of Chicago. She is working with Diane Shichtman on a
digital humanities project called Seinfeld at the Nexus of the Universe. Her
work has been published in the books How Television Shapes our World View, Geek
Chic, edited by Sherrie Inness and in the journals Flow, Antenna, All About
Mentoring and the Mid Atlantic Almanack. She has presented her work at DH2018,
Popular Culture Association, International PCA, SCMS, the Sloane Consortium,
Console-Ing Passions, and the National Women’s Studies Association as well as
at Emory College and Skidmore College. For 12 years she coordinated the online
area in Communication and Media, teaching a number of online courses including
Television and Culture, Communication through New Media and Women, Girls and
the Media. As the coordinator of Interdisciplinary Studies she coordinates
development of new programs at the college as well as courses in Interdisciplinary
Studies.
Diane Shichtman (Seinfeld Project) holds a Ph.D. in Science and Technology
Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute along with an MBA from the
University at Albany and an MA in Technology and Society from The Program in
Media Studies at the New School for Social Research. Along with thee degrees,
she holds a PMP (Project Management Professional certification) from PMI. She
is an Associate Professor and Associate Department Chair at SUNY Empire State
College, having also worked as an information systems professional, doing
database design and development and project management, and her volunteer work
includes providing project management support in a not-for-profit
volunteer-based setting.
Cindy Bates (Wizarding World of Harry Potter) is an Associate Professor at
SUNY Empire State College where she teaches a range of theater and film
courses. She has been recognized for her mentoring and teaching with the SUNY
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2013), the Empire State College
Excellence in Mentoring Award (2013), and the Susan H. Turben Chair in
Mentoring (2014). Cindy is a Resident Director at Curtain Call Theatre (Albany,
NY) and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, MFA 2000 and DFA 2007.
Diane Donato (Upstate Unsolved) is an award-winning broadcaster and podcaster
with over 30 years of experience. She is
a familiar voice as a news anchor on northeastern radio stations in the iHeart
Radio network. She is also a weekly
television contributor to Empire State Weekly, which is broadcast on Nexstar
television stations throughout New York.
Diane’s recent podcast work
includes acting as Executive Director on Upstate Unsolved. The true-crime podcast has had hundreds of
thousands of downloads and is a winner of a New York State Broadcasters award. Most importantly Upstate Unsolved has
generated tips and has helped to keep victims’ stories alive.
Diane has also been recently
honored with a Department of Defense Seven Seals award for projects that have
told the stories of veterans and reservists.
That work has included a series of podcasts highlighting the personal
stories of veterans who have gone through the Boots to Business program and
have started businesses of their own.
