Five join Media School faculty
This fall, The Media School welcomes new faculty members to teach and conduct research in areas from sports media to game development to digital media.
The new faculty are:
Lecturer Nic Aguirre, who previously taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami. Aguirre earned a master’s in interactive media from University of Miami and a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Central Florida. He is a data scientist and web developer, and his work includes visualizing data, building interactive websites and designing games. Aguirre has produced data visualization for clients such as SAP and the United Nations. He will teach in the area of media arts and production.
Assistant professor Suzannah Evans, MA’07, who received her doctorate in journalism and mass communication from the University of North Carolina, where she was the Richard Cole and Roy H. Park doctoral fellow. Her research covers media and mass communication, including sociology and environmental communication. Evans has worked as a newspaper reporter and editor, and was editorial director of Oceana, an international organization dedicated to ocean conservation. She will teach environmental communication in the journalism program.
Professor Raiford Guins, former professor of technology and culture at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Guins earned his doctorate in cultural studies at the University of Leeds. He researches game history and examines the relationship between material culture studies, media studies, visual culture, and science and technology studies. He is currently at work on his third book. Guins will teach in the area of cinema and media studies.
Assistant professor Lauren Reichart Smith, former assistant professor at the School of Communication and Journalism at Auburn University. Smith earned a master’s in communication management from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a doctorate in communication and information sciences from the University of Alabama. For the past year, she has served as the associate director of Auburn’s public relations program. Her research focuses on gender, race and national identity within sports and mass media. She will teach sports communication in the journalism program.
Lecturer Rush Swope, game developer and artist for titles such as “PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale” and Telltales’ “Tales from the Borderlands.” Swope earned a bachelor’s in drawing from the University of Louisville and a master’s in interactive design and game development from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He also worked on motion capture for the new movie Warcraft. Swope has experience with concept art, character modelling and prototyping. He will teach media arts and production.