Our faculty have a range of research specialties in the literature, film, and media of Asia, Europe, and the Americas. They have published award-winning books on literary theory, silent film, South Asian visual culture, Mexican literature, globalization and cinema, documentary, disability studies, comic books, Chinese cinema, psychoanalytic theory, East European cinema and literature, as well as articles in leading journals in their respective fields.
Faculty Spotlights
We are excited to announce a new addition to the CMS faculty, Leah Gunter!Leah Gunter discovered a love for creative storytelling through student journalism, which led to their winning a Rocky Mountain Emmy in Student Production for Multimedia Journalism. From there, Gunter homed in on the filmmaking aspect of that process, graduating from Northern Arizona University’s Create Media & Film Department with a B.S. in Independent Filmmaking and a minor in Art History. After working as a… Read more
What is your favorite movie-theater snack? I’m not sure I should admit it, but I bring my own food into the theater – nothing like a homemade sandwich with a favorite cheese, especially when surviving multiple screenings on the same day! What brought you to the University of Washington? They gave me a job! And in one of the most beautiful cities in the States to boot! Actually, I had a job already, at the University of Georgia, teaching… Read more
What brought you to want to teach at UW Seattle? I mean, I've been teaching for a long time. I've been friends with Sean Wong, Professor Wong, for a long time and made guest appearances in his classes over the years. He went on sabbatical one year, and he asked if I would cover his classes, and I did, and I think the very first class was right before COVID. And I loved the class. It seemed to do well. There was a demand for screenwriting, and I was asked back to teach… Read more
1. What brought you to UW Seattle?
The Cinema and Media Studies department brought me here. I was applying for film studies jobs throughout the country, and really loved that our department is equally committed to both research and teaching. I also felt that our faculty were people that I could work well with, and get along with. Thankfully, they felt the same about me!
2. What got you interested in media studies and analysis?
I’ve… Read more
We are very excited to have Professor Diana Flores Ruíz joining us this fall as our new Assistant Professor in Cinema and Media Studies.
Professor Flores Ruíz comes to us from the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned her PhD in film and media studies. Her current book project explores the visual technologies (from cartography to biometrics) that have been used to draw and redraw the US-Mexican border, how they work to maintain settler colonial power… Read more
The latest episode of Sound Bite, a podcast network from The Daily of the UW features Professor Eric Ames. Listen to the January episode of "How Do I Get Your Job" segment featuring Professor Ames here: Cinema Studies with Eric Ames,… Read more
Professor Shawn Wong was featured in Sound Bite, a podcast network from The Daily of the UW. You can listen to the "How Do I Get Your Job" segment featuring Professor Wong from autumn quarter 2020 here: Screenwriting with Shawn Wong (Americanese)
Professor Wong will be teaching CMS 370… Read more
LeiLani Nishime was recently appointed adjunct professor of Cinema & Media Studies, and for so many reasons.
Professor Nishime’s research focuses on racial representation with particular focus on visual culture and Asian American cultural production. Her monograph, Undercover Asians: Multiracial Asian Americans in Visual Culture (Illinois, 2014) asks the question “Why do we see race?” and answers it through case studies in film, television, advertising, museum display, and fine… Read more
Jennifer Bean was featured as the latest Faculty Friday Spotlight on The Whole U, a UW publication for the university's faculty and staff.
Read the feature about her work preserving silent films on The Whole U website.
Stephen Groening has been promoted to associate professor with tenure. Congratulations, Steve! We recently caught up with him to ask about his research and teaching, and how he came to cinema and media studies.
Where did you grow up?
My mother joined the U.S. foreign service when I was a child. When I was seven we moved to London. After a year in London we got transferred to Poznan, Poland, where my school was in the basement of our apartment building and had only four students… Read more
Professor James Tweedie was named 2017 Academy Film Scholar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
James Tweedie was named one of two Academy Film Scholars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 2017. He will recieve a $25,000 Film Scholars grant to work on his book project. The Academy Film Scholars program was established in 1999 to support significant new works on film scholarship. According to Tweedie, the project will… Read more