August 07, 2008

Five faculty members join communications college

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Five new faculty members will join the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts this fall.

Three of the new faculty members will join the Department of Cinema & Photography while the other two will join the School of Journalism.

Gary P. Kolb, dean of the college, said this “very exciting recruiting class” offers a great deal of diversity.

The new faculty members in cinema & photography are:

  • Angela J. Aguayo, assistant professor.

Aguayo will be teaching film studies and production classes. An accomplished documentarian and scholar, Aguayo is coming from Eastern Illinois University, where she has been an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies since 2005. She earned her doctorate in communication studies, with an emphasis in rhetoric and critical/cultural studies and documentary production, from the University of Texas-Austin in 2005. She holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from California State University-Long Beach, earned in 2000 and 1997, respectively.

She has received several fellowships and awards, and her documentary work focuses on contemporary social and political issues. One of her current documentaries, “NI UNA MAS (Not One More),” looks at the more than 430 women found raped, tortured and murdered in Chihuahua and Juarez, Mexico, since 1993, where more than 600 women remain missing.

  • Jordy Jones, assistant professor.

Jones completed his doctorate this year in visual studies with an emphasis in critical theory from the University of California-Irvine, and will teach visual and digital culture along with the history and theory of photography. He holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from San Francisco State University, earned in 2003 and 1997, respectively. He has received several fellowships and awards from both universities.

Jones describes himself on his Web site as a “scholar, curator, multimedia artist and community advocate.” His diverse interests include work for the San Francisco Art Institute, The GLBT Historical Society, The International Lesbian and Gay Association, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Intermedia Arts Minnesota and The Guggenheim Soho, New York.

  • Hong Zhou, assistant professor.

Zhou came to SIUC last year as a visiting assistant professor and coordinated the Big Muddy Film Festival. He will continue teaching cinema production. Zhou came to SIUC from Toronto, where he was a cinematographer/videographer/editor, with a teaching background at Ryerson University in Toronto and Webster University in St. Louis. Zhou earned his master’s degree in film and video production in 2000 at York University in Toronto. He has written, directed and served as cinematographer on several narrative and experimental films.

Deborah Tudor, cinema and photography department chair, said the department is thrilled that Aguayo, Jones, and Zhou are joining the department.

“All our new colleagues have great intellectual and artistic curiosity driving their work as artists, researchers and teachers. I look forward to having them here at SIUC,” she said.

The new members in the School of Journalism are:

  • Mark Dolan, assistant professor.

Dolan comes to SIUC to teach photojournalism and lead the program, Kolb said. Dolan has been working as a multi-media artist, combining still photography and sound documenting in “The Heart and Art of BBQ in America,” at bbqpilgrim.com. Dolan served as a senior associate professor within the Department of Visual and Interactive Communication in Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Journalism for eight years. His work also includes positions as photojournalist, photo director and photo editor at various newspapers, including The Providence Journal, The Anchorage Times, The Gainesville Sun, and Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Dolan earned a master’s degree in visual and interactive communication from Syracuse University in 1995, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida in 1985.

  • Uche Onyebadi, assistant professor.

Onyebadi comes to SIUC from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he earned his doctorate in journalism this year. He will work in news and editorial, focusing on teaching news writing, Kolb said. A native of Nigeria, Onyebadi spent time working in both Kenya and Nigeria in both newspapers and sports marketing. His research focuses on the Kenyan elections this year.

Onyebadi earned a master’s in journalism with an emphasis in media management from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2005. He earned a master’s degree in political science with an emphasis in international relations from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, in 1983, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Benin, Nigeria, in 1981.