Professor/Department Chair
(Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1980)
The State University Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1986
Dr. Schwalbe has been teaching at Fredonia since 1980; he chaired the department from 1989 to 1998 and from 2003 to present. His teaching and research areas of interest include communication and computer technologies, mass media law, media management, and international media. In the last ten years he has been very active in the area of international media development and has headed four major U.S. State Department projects in various countries in Eastern Europe and Africa. He is a fanatic bowler (at one time had his professional card) and also enjoys sports (playing, watching, and coaching). He loves to travel to places most people don't want to go to. Dr. Schwalbe has received four Fulbright Awards to teach at the American University in Bulgaria in Fall 1997, the University of Swaziland during the summer of 2002, the University of Pecs in Hungary in fall 2004, and the Polytechnic University in Namibia in summer 2007.
Professor Emeritus
Following a 27-year tenure at SUNY Fredonia, Professor Dan Berggren left the faculty in 2004 to pursue his music career full time. He now resides in Ballston Spa, N.Y. Visit his Web site at www.berggrenfolk.com.
Associate Professor
(Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1999)
Dr. Brigance joined the communication faculty in 1998. She teaches Communication Studies courses such as Gender and Communication, Communication Theory, and Persuasion. She also teaches Rhetoric and Criticism, a department core course. Her teaching and research interests revolve around a curiosity about everyday public persuasion, such as political rhetoric, product advertising and entertainment venues like film, television, and public spaces like Disneyland and historical sites. Her most recent presentations and publications have focused on the representation of gender by women’s history museums and historical sites. Before teaching college, Dr. Brigance worked in corporate communications and marketing for heath care and arts organizations. In her spare time, Dr. Brigance enjoys traveling, reading, practicing Tai Chi, and watching independent and foreign films.
Ann Carden
Associate Professor
(M.S., Buffalo State College, 1997)
Ann R. Carden is an associate professor of communication at the SUNY Fredonia, where she teaches public relations. She has 21 years experience managing public relations and 11 years experience in broadcast journalism. She is the co-author of Public Relations Worktext: A Writing and Planning Resource (2nd ed.) and has written chapters for two other books -- Leaning to Teach: What You Need to Know to Develop a Successful Career as a Public Relations Educator (3rd ed.), which was released in November 2003, and Public Relations Theory, scheduled for release in 2005. Ann’s research interest focuses on the use of public relations in the travel and tourism industry. Her research on the industry’s use of persuasion and public relations after 9/11 has received national attention. She is the recipient of 15 Excalibur Awards for excellence in public relations programming presented by the Buffalo/Niagara chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. She was named the chapter’s Public Relations Practitioner of the Year in 2001 and is one of 30 public relations practitioners in Western New York Accredited in Public Relations by PRSA. Ann received a master’s degree in public relations management from Buffalo State College and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from West Virginia University.
(Ph.D., Ohio University, 1979)
Dr. Chilberg came to Fredonia in 1987. He teaches several courses including Fundamentals of Communication, Communication Research and Survey Methods, Group Communication and Organizational Communication. His teaching philosophy and practices emphasize applied learning as a way to develop students' abilities to use course knowledge through work-related projects. Numerous communication projects serving the communication needs of the department and campus community have been produced under his supervision. He is also the advisor to the Applied Communication Association, a student organization that has produced many of the communication service projects. He believes that you just don't learn about communication -- you use it to make a difference. He conducts research in the area of group communication and is an expert in the art and science of conducting meetings. His present research interests are in facilitating dialogical conversation for group and organizational learning. He has served as a meeting facilitator, trainer, and consultant on effective meeting communication practices for corporate and public organizations. He is presently working on the development and assessment of student oral communication competencies as part of the college’s general education program and conducting research on the efficacy of speaking across the curriculum programs. He spends his leisure time making wine, gardening, cooking, horseback riding, and discovering the wonders of life with his wife, Janet, and son, Jackson.
Joseph Chilberg's Personal Page
Assistant Professor
(M.F.A., University of North Texas)
Nefin Dinc has a master's in fine arts in documentary film production from the University of North Texas. Among the films she has directed, produced, and edited is the recent documentary about Greek refugees and their music entitled "Rebetiko: The Song of Two Cities." The film was screened in May at the Flying Broom Women's Film Festival in Ankara as well as the Dallas Video Festival in August. Her thesis film on Whirling Dervishes will be screened on Dallas' PBS channel, KERA, in September. Ms. Dinc was born in Turkey and directed her first documentary, "The Republic Train," for Turkish Radio and Television in 2000.
Associate Professor
(M.A., Humboldt State University, 1974)
After 25 years of professional work in the film and television industry, Ms. Jackson returned to teaching with the same enthusiasm that drove her success in the field. Ms. Jackson's background in production offers students knowledge beyond the academic tradition. Her work included corporate television, educational films, broadcast video and feature films, managing Francis Ford Coppola's studio in San Francisco. Recently, she has produced and directed several documentary programs for Public Television. Her series of video poems toured throughout the states, showcased in galleries and museums. Her other production activities include "The Quiet Sound," an award winning documentary about Western New York Native American artists, which was adopted for the Dean Schwartz French/American Cultural Emersion program. She recently completed "Windows," an experimental drama about personal loss, which will be submitted to festivals.
Assistant Professor
(Ph.D., University of Florida)
Dr. Johnson's career in broadcasting began in 1981 at WHIL-FM in Mobile, Ala. During her broadcasting career, she was an announcer, music programmer, producer, music director, and station manager at public radio stations in Alabama, Arkansas, and Florida. Her past radio productions include programs about American popular song, the music of Scandinavia, classical music, folk music, the blues, public affairs, and a college sports network. She produced and/or hosted programming that featured a number of prominent individuals including President Clinton, Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Sen. Dale Bumpers, Phillip Glass, Roberta Peters, Fred Waring, Robert Moog, Alvin Poussaint, Paolo Soleri, John Harbison, Aprile Millo, and many others. Her research interests include the history and regulation of noncommercial and religious broadcasting, the regulation of electronic media, and media history. She holds an master's degree in business administration from the University of West Florida and a bachelor's degree in music from Florida State University.
Professor Emeritus
Professor Bill Jungels has been producing documentaries since he left the faculty in 2003. His latest work, "Crossing the Line," follows the struggle of workers in Mexico, the United States and Canada against the negative results of free trade.
Assistant Professor
(M.F.A., University of Miami)
Originally from New Jersey, Mr. Kiyak earned a bachelor's degree in film production from the University of Miami in 1981 before embarking on a career in broadcasting at WLRN, a Miami public broadcasting station. He then worked at NBC in New York City for more than 20 years and, in the process, won two EMMY awards for his technical work during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Kiyak eventually left NBC and returned to the University of Miami, where he completed his master's degree in fine arts in 2003. He taught at Valdosta State University in Georgia before joining SUNY Fredonia's video production faculty. His research interests revolve around his fascination with the psychology/ecology of media systems and the media reform movement. He also has directed an experimental dance video and a video production of an original stage play for the state of Georgia’s “Education: Go Get It” initiative, which was later shown on public television. When not in the classroom, he and his wife, Stephanie, love to travel and search for treasure in antique stores and “junque” shops, where he is always trying to add to his collections of baseball memorabilia and rare records.
Professor Emeritus
Although "officially" retired, Professor Malcolm still occasionally teaches communication courses. In his spare time, he is helping to build a hiking trail, which, he says, has taken him from Newhouse, where he received his degree, to the outhouse.
Assistant Professor
(Ph.D., University of Utah)
Tracy Marafiote joined the department in 2007. She teaches in the communication studies area, including classes in intercultural, interpersonal, and organizational communication, and conflict and negotiation. Dr. Marafiote earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of South Florida, and received her doctorate from the University of Utah, where she taught courses in communication and gender studies, and in the university's David Eccles School of Business. Motivated to bridge her environmental activism and academic work, her current research focuses on the impact of cultural forces and identities on social change in general and, specifically, on the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. As a scholar of critical/cultural studies and environmental communication, her future goals include examining the intersections of gender, race, class, and nature with sustainability and environmental justice. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoor activities of backpacking, mountain biking, and hiking, and the indoor pastimes of cooking-and eating!-diverse foods.
Associate Professor
(M.F.A., San Francisco State University, 1997)
Kathleen.McDonough@fredonia.edu
Joining the communication faculty in fall 2000, Ms. McDonough teaches Rhetoric of Vision and Sound, Multimedia Integration, Documentary Production, supervises the Sheldon Multimedia Lab and is the production coordinator. Before coming to Fredonia, she taught at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore. She has also lived in Italy and Denmark. As both an historian and documentary producer, Ms. McDonough is interested in making documentaries which explore the commonalities in human experience that cross temporal and cultural boundaries. Her research interests focus on historical films and what they reveal about the society that made them. Ms. McDonough enjoys hiking, travel, foreign films, and Medieval/Renaissance music.
Assistant Professor
(M.A., University at Buffalo, 2006)
Professor Ploetz is joining the department this fall after 28 years in the newspaper business and is helping start the journalism major. He has worked as a reporter and editor (the past 23 at The Buffalo News), but has also been involved in radio, Web development and video documentary. One of his current projects is finishing off a video/Web documentary on the early years of the Buffalo punk rock scene. Convergence of the traditional and digital media is one of Professor Ploetz's goals, both in his own work and as he helps prepare students for a new era in journalism.