Creative Expressions: Pop Cultural Products - Impact and Influence

Thursday, May 28th, 5pm

The SUNY Empire community has a rich and varied artist community.  Come and meet our “artists in residence” and learn a little about their creative expressions, their process, and them! Our artists will also host a Q&A session following their presentations/performances. If you missed our previous sessions or cannot make it this week, all of the sessions are recorded and the videos can be found at this link (https://bit.ly/CreativeExpressionsVideoChannel).

The sessions happen every Thursday at 5pm in Zoom at this link (https://bit.ly/CreativeExpressionSeries).

Featured this week will be Cindy Conaway, Diane Shichtman, Cindy Bates, and alumna Diane Donato.

Host: Lisa D’Adamo-Weinstein

In this session, we will explore the influence of Seinfeld on American television; the creative process and control of J.K. Rowlings and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter; and the creative process of podcasting with a look at iHeart radio's Upstate Unsolved.

Cindy Conaway (Seinfeld Project) is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and Communication and the Coordinator for Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies at SUNY Empire State College. She holds a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, an MS in Instructional Systems Design from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from The University of Chicago. She is working with Diane Shichtman on a digital humanities project called Seinfeld at the Nexus of the Universe. Her work has been published in the books How Television Shapes our World View, Geek Chic, edited by Sherrie Inness and in the journals Flow, Antenna, All About Mentoring and the Mid Atlantic Almanack. She has presented her work at DH2018, Popular Culture Association, International PCA, SCMS, the Sloane Consortium, Console-Ing Passions, and the National Women’s Studies Association as well as at Emory College and Skidmore College. For 12 years she coordinated the online area in Communication and Media, teaching a number of online courses including Television and Culture, Communication through New Media and Women, Girls and the Media. As the coordinator of Interdisciplinary Studies she coordinates development of new programs at the college as well as courses in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Diane Shichtman (Seinfeld Project) holds a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute along with an MBA from the University at Albany and an MA in Technology and Society from The Program in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research. Along with thee degrees, she holds a PMP (Project Management Professional certification) from PMI. She is an Associate Professor and Associate Department Chair at SUNY Empire State College, having also worked as an information systems professional, doing database design and development and project management, and her volunteer work includes providing project management support in a not-for-profit volunteer-based setting.

Cindy Bates (Wizarding World of Harry Potter) is an Associate Professor at SUNY Empire State College where she teaches a range of theater and film courses. She has been recognized for her mentoring and teaching with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2013), the Empire State College Excellence in Mentoring Award (2013), and the Susan H. Turben Chair in Mentoring (2014). Cindy is a Resident Director at Curtain Call Theatre (Albany, NY) and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, MFA 2000 and DFA 2007.

Diane Donato (Upstate Unsolved) is an award-winning broadcaster and podcaster with over 30 years of experience.  She is a familiar voice as a news anchor on northeastern radio stations in the iHeart Radio network.  She is also a weekly television contributor to Empire State Weekly, which is broadcast on Nexstar television stations throughout New York.

Diane’s recent podcast work includes acting as Executive Director on Upstate Unsolved.  The true-crime podcast has had hundreds of thousands of downloads and is a winner of a New York State Broadcasters award.  Most importantly Upstate Unsolved has generated tips and has helped to keep victims’ stories alive.

Diane has also been recently honored with a Department of Defense Seven Seals award for projects that have told the stories of veterans and reservists.  That work has included a series of podcasts highlighting the personal stories of veterans who have gone through the Boots to Business program and have started businesses of their own.