FACULTY NEWS
Faculty News and Awards
HELLO
Welcome new faculty members
COLISTRA AND BRITTEN RECEIVE FACULTY AWARDS
Rita Colistra, Ph.D., was recognized with the College of Media’s Faculty Research Award, and Bob Britten, Ph.D., received the Outstanding Teaching Award for the 2018-19 academic year. Colistra was honored for her research and work as the principal investigator and project director for BrandJRNY, a community branding initiative launched by the College of Media in 2015 to create strategic communications campaigns for communities in West Virginia. Britten led a class that partnered with PolitiFact, a Pulitzer-Prize winning news organization, and taught student journalists how to properly fact-check politicians.
HEATHER COLE is a new teaching assistant professor in the Interactive Design for Media program. Previously, Cole was an assistant teaching professor of digital arts at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania, as well as the program chair of the Game Minor. She earned her MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College in Plainsfield, Vermont.
NICE WORK
W VU MEDIA MAG AZIN E 201 9
Promotions
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JOEL BEESON was promoted to professor. Beeson is currently leading a collaborative initiative with Morgan State University’s School of Global Communication and Journalism, a historically black urban institution, to develop a Social Justice Media Project. He is also an invited beta partner, storyteller and producer with the Google Cultural Institute and the College’s Media Innovation Center. His virtual exhibit, “Soldiers of the Coalfields: The Hidden stories of Black Appalachians in WWI,” was one of 100 stories highlighted by the Google Cultural Institute. He also produced a virtual reality project for Google Expeditions, “WWI Through the Eyes of the Chicago Defender,” which takes viewers on a tour of WWI-era United States as seen through the eyes of the nation’s most influential black weekly newspaper at that time. Beeson earned his doctorate in American Studies at the Union Institute and University investigating how Critical Race and Feminist Standpoint theories can inform counter narratives in social documentary projects using oral history methods.
GINA DAHLIA has been promoted to teaching professor. Dahlia currently serves as chair of the Journalism program, managing director of the Media Innovation Center and the general manager of “100 Days in Appalachia.” She is the executive producer of the award-winning “WVU News” program, a student-produced newscast that airs statewide on PBS and cable. The show has garnered more than 75 regional, national and international awards in the last several years. Dahlia also established a relationship with ESPNU for a program called “Campus Connection,” which allows young journalists to work with sports broadcast news professionals and showcase their work on various platforms associated with ESPNU. Prior to joining the College faculty, Dahlia had a career in television news as an anchor, reporter and producer at WDTV News Channel Five in Bridgeport, West Virginia. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at West Virginia University.
