College of Media to hold three-part webinar series, 'Bridging Divides: Conversations on Media and Disagreement'
Update 11/13/24: Read excerpts from the Q&As.
- Reaching Across the Aisle: Advertising and Messaging in an Age of Polarization
- What Does it Mean to Be an Informed Critic?
- Engaging with People, Perspectives, and Policies When You Don’t Agree: Lessons from Journalism
How are we teaching students, and the broader community, to disagree? It’s a question the College of Media hopes to address in a new three-part series, “Bridging Divides: Conversations on Media and Disagreement.”
Faculty from the Departments of Advertising, Journalism, and Media & Cinema Studies will host free webinars exploring how productive discussions occur across lines of disagreement and difference. All take place on Fridays at noon via Zoom, on October 18, October 25, and November 1.
“The College of Media’s ‘Bridging Divides’ series is an opportunity to foster civic preparedness through expert-led dialogues,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin. “We look forward to welcoming students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to these important conversations.”
The talk topics and panelists include:
Reaching Across the Aisle: Advertising and Messaging in an Age of Polarization
October 18, 12-12:45 p.m.
Register to join via Zoom.
Jason P. Chambers, 
Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Professor, Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising; author of Advertising Revolutionary: The Life and Work of Tom Burrell
Michael Strautmanis (BS ’91, advertising; JD ’94, law), Executive Vice President for External Affairs, Obama Foundation
What Does it Mean to Be an Informed Critic?
October 25, 12-12:45 p.m.
Register to join via Zoom.
Learn how to give criticism a good name. During this session, the panelists will share a how-to for every kind of writer.
Jenny Oyallon-Koloski, Assistant Professor, Department of Media & Cinema Studies; author of Storytelling in Motion: Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune Film Critic; College of Media Ebert Fellows Mentor
Engaging with People, Perspectives, and Policies When You Don’t Agree: Lessons from Journalism
November 1, 12-12:45 p.m.
Register to join via Zoom.
Leon Dash, Professor and Swanlund Chair, Department of Journalism; 1995 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Explanatory Reporting
Colleen King, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism; Director of the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media; former Executive Producer for MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Brian Williams