Thom Gencarelli, PHD

Thom Gencarelli, PHD

Associate Professor

Department : Communications

Email : thom.gencarelli@manhattan.edu

Phone : 718-862-7490

Office : LEO 207A

Education

PHD, New York University
MA, CUNY Queens College
BFA, New York Inst. of Tech.

About

Thom Gencarelli, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and the founding Chair of Manhattan College's "Next Generation" Communication program, which was established in August 2007.  He is the current President of the Media Ecology Association, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics, and a Past President of both the New York State Communication Association and the New Jersey Communication Association (twice).

Research

Media and Popular Culture Theory and Criticism (with a particular emphasis on popular music), Media Education/Media Literacy, and Media Ecology

Publications & Professional Activities

  • “Transmedia Storytelling and the Possible Futures for Popular Cultural Entertainment.”  In D. Renó (Ed.), Transmedia Journalism.  Bogotá, Columbia: University of Rosario Press.  (In press).

  • “General Semantics for a Digital Age.” Anekaant: A Journal of Polysemic Thought, 1, 71-82.
  • Ralon, L.  (2012, April 12).  Figure/Ground Communication - http://figureground.ca/interviews/.  [Interview as part of a series with academics and public intellectuals that includes, among others, Noam Chomsky, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Eric McLuhan, Douglas Rushkoff, and Denise Schmandt-Besserat.]
  • “Broadcast Media.” (2011). In D. Southerton (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture (pp. 123-127). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • “At the Margins: A Remembrance.” (An introduction). (2010). In L. G. Elson, Paradox Lost: A Cross Contextual Definition of Levels of Abstraction (pp. vii-xiii). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
  • "The Missing Years: Neil Postman and The New English Book Series." (2006). Explorations in Media Ecology, 5 (1), 47-61.
  • "Neil Postman and the Rise of Media Ecology." (2005). In C. M. K. Lum (Ed.), Perspectives on Culture, Technology, and Communication: The Media Ecology Tradition (pp. 201-253). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
  • Schumer, F. (2004, April 11). "Next, a Course on Dressing the Couch Potato." The New York Times (New Jersey Section), p. NJ1. [Interview]
  • Karaoke Around the World: Global Technology, Local Singing. Mitsui, T., & Hosokawa, S. (Eds.). (2003). London and New York: Routledge. In Ethnomusicology. 47 (2), 261-262. [Book review]
  • "Media Ecology and Media Education in the United States." Media Education: The Electronic Journal of the Media Ecology Institute - http://www.franko.lviv.ua/mediaeco/zurnal/index.htm.
  • "Composing an Academic Life." Co-authored with Deborah Borisoff, James W. Chesebro, Susan Drucker, Dan F. Hahn, and Neil Postman. (2001). The Speech Communication Annual, 15, 115-137.
  • Guest Editor, "Special Issue: Media Education." (1998). The New Jersey Journal of Communication, 6 (2).

Conference Papers:

  • "Presidential Address: Media Ecology and Artistic Practice/Media Ecology as Artistic Practice."  Media Ecology Association, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2013.
  • "The Mechanical and the Ethereal: The Bias of Digital Music."  Media Ecology Association Convention, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2013.
  • "New York City Soundscape: A Cage-ian Analysis."  International Communication Association Conference, London, United Kingdom, June 2013.
  • "Music as Environment and Anti-environment."  Eastern Communicaion Association Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2013.

  • “General Semantics and Media Theory.”  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, New York, NY, October 2012.  (Available on the Institute’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sMo4cTZTgQ).

  • “Be Careful What You Wish for: Popular Music in an Age in which ‘Information Wants to be Free’.”  New York State Communication Association Conference, Ellenville, NY, October 2012.

  • “Social Media and the Arab Spring.”  Media Ecology Association Convention, Riverdale, New York, June 2012.
  • “Will the Revolution be Televised? Media Ecology as the Center of Media Studies.” International Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2011.
  • "General Semantics for a Digital Age." (“Public Lecture,” invited). National Workshop on
  • General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 2011.
  • “On the Question of a Digital Revolution." (Invited). National Workshop on General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 2011.
  • "General Semantics, Media Ecology, Media Education, and the Study of Human Language: A Synthesis." (Invited). National Workshop on General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 2011.
  • “The City as Counter-environment in an Age of Sprawl.” International Communication Association Conference, Singapore, June 2010.
  • "Mobility and the 'Fourth Screen': Some Considerations Regarding the Question of a Fifth Communications Revolution." Media Ecology Association Convention, Orono, ME, June 2010.
  • "'iFi,' or the Near Future for Music Consumption." Media Ecology Association Convention, St. Louis, MO, June 2009.
  • “Mapping the Media? But They Keep Changing the Borders!” Media Conversations VI 2009: An International Conference of Youth, Media, and Education, New York, NY, June 2009.
  • “Understanding Gumpert: The Metro-polis is the Message.” Eastern Communication Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 2009.
  • “The End of Intellectual Property.” Institute for General Semantics Symposium, “Creating the Future: Conscious time-binding for a Better Tomorrow,” New York, NY, November 2008.
  • “The Bias of Digital Communication.” Media Ecology Association Convention, Santa Clara, CA, June 2008, and the International Communication Association Conference, Montreal, QC, Canada, May 2008.
  • "Models for Analysis of Broadband/Wi-Fi Adoption." Media Ecology Association Convention, Mexico City, México, June 2007.
  • "Music in the Age of Digital Reproduction: What is the Dissenting Response?" New York State Communication Association Conference, Kerhonkson, NY, October 2006.
  • "Jean Piaget, Cognitive Development, and Language Acquisition." New York Society for General Semantics Symposium, "World in Quandaries: Coping with Controversial Communication in the Global Village - Personal, Social, National and Cultural," New York, NY, September 2006.
  • "Neil Postman and the New English." The Neil Postman Symposium, New York, NY, April 2006.
  • "The Role of the Discipline in the Implementation of Educational Media Initiatives." National Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA, November 2005.
  • "Bruce Springsteen, Heroism, and Celebrity." Glory Days: A Bruce Springsteen Symposium (organized by Penn State University), Monmouth, NJ, September 2005.
  • "Theory Before Praxis: Or, 'What is an Educator For?'" Eastern Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA, April 2004.
  • "Six (or 7, or 8, or 9...) Lessons from the Work and Thought of Neil Postman." National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, IL, November 2004.
  • "The New York School of Media Ecology in the History of Media Education." National Communication Association Conference, Miami, FL, November 2003.
  • "Music, Authorship, Ownership, and Identity: The Case for 'Mash-ups.'" New York State Communication Association Conference, Tarrytown, NY, October 2002.
  • "Media Ecology and Media Education in the United States." [Invited]. Media Education as Part of Civic Education Conference, Institute of Media Ecology, Ivan Franko L’viv National University, L’viv, Ukraine, September 2002.
  • "Toward a Media Ecology of Music." Media Ecology Association Convention, New York, NY, June 2002. And the New York State Communication Association Conference, Monticello, NY, October 2001.
  • "Media, Money, and Music: The Case of Digital Music." New York State Communication Association Conference, Monticello, NY, October 2001.
  • "Telecommunications as Savior or Enslaver? The Contemporary Case of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan." New York State Communication Association Conference, Monticello, NY, September 2000.
  • "From Tin Pan Alley to Absolute Nonsense: One Take on the Evolution of Pop Music Lyrics." Eastern Communication Association Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2000. Also presented as "In Defense of Lyrical Nonsense." New Jersey Communication Association Conference, Glassboro, NJ, April 2000.

Special Lectures:

  • “Building a Bridge to Education: Media Ecology and/as Media Education,” Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, December 11, 2009.
  • “Cognitive Development and Language Acquisition.” The New York Society for General Semantics, New York, NY, December 3, 2009. And the Bayonne Jewish Community Center, Bayonne, NJ, April 17, 2007.
  • "Understanding the Effects of Media in Everyday Life." Bayonne Jewish Community Center, Bayonne, NJ, October 11, 2005. And St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Irvington, NY, November 16, 2003.

Honors & Awards

  • The Christine L. Nystrom Award for Career Achievement in Service to the Field of Media Ecology, 2013.
  • 2012 Apex Award for Publication Excellence – Award of Excellence, YouTube Publications, for Merry Christmas from Manhattan College’s Communication Students.  Producer.  [With Michael Grabowski, Director.]

Professional Memberships

  • President (and former Vice President and Treasurer), Media Ecology Association
  • Member, Board of Trustees, Institute of General Semantics
  • Past President, New York State Communication Association
  • Past President, New Jersey Communication Association
  • Member, International Communication Association, National Communication Association, Eastern Communication Association

Grants

  • $150,000 from the George I. Alden Trust to Manhattan College toward the purchase of equipment for media laboratory complex.  (Co-authored with former Provost Weldon Jackson and former Dean of the School of Arts Mary Ann O'Donnell.)

Other

  • Coordinator, the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, Riverdale, New York, June 7-10, 2012.
  • Producer, “The Academic Minute,” WAMC Northeast Public Radio, with Dr. Margaret Groarke, November 2012, and Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, March 2012.
  • Co-coordinator (English-language program), the Eighth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, Mexico City, México, June 6-10, 2007.
  • Program planner, chair, respondent, and/or presenter for over 100 conference panels since 2000
  • Associate Editor, The Atlantic Journal of Communication
  • Taught “Seminar on Media, Society and Research.” [Invited]. For the “Media Literacy in Post-Communist Countries” project, offered through the Open Society Institute – Higher Education Support Program, Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching. At Ivan Franko L’viv National University, L’viv, Ukraine, July 2007. (For junior faculty from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern Europe.)
  • Participant in a Pre-conference, “Media Ecology: Theory, Publication, Pedagogy,” at the National Communication Association Conference, San Diego, CA, November 2008

Courses Taught/Teaching

COMM 101      Introduction to Mass Communication
COMM 201      Ethics in Mass Communication
COMM 308      Studio Television Production
COMM 340      Media Criticism
COMM 375      Internship for Juniors
COMM 419      Advanced TV Production
COMM 461      Independent Study in Communication
COMM 475      Internship for Seniors

LinkedIn Profile

Thom Gencarelli