Stephen Stifano
Lecturer of Media Studies
CONTACT
Office: 404 Davis Hall
Phone:401-874-4723
E-mail: sstifano@mail.uri.edu
http://www.stephenstifano.com
- Ph.D., Communication Processes. Emotional
- Communication and Media.
- University of Connecticut, 2011
- M.A., Communication Processes.
Communication in Film Media
University of Connecticut, 2008
B.A., Communication Studies
University of Rhode Island, 2006
COURSES RECENTLY TAUGHT
COM440: Telecommunication Processes & Audience Behavior
COM381: Research Methods in Communication
COM340: Electronic Media Programming
Senior Seminar Film, Communication & Emotion
Nonverbal Communication
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Stifano, S.C. (2011). Bad Angles: Testing the Effects of Cinematographic Framing in Film Communication. Presentation at the Conference of the International Communication Association, Boston, MA. May, 2011.
Stifano, S.C. (2010). Breaking the Illusion: The Effect of Synchrony Disruption in Film Communication. Presentation at the 96th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, San Francisco, CA. November 16, 2010.
Stifano, S.C. (2010). Once More, With Feeling: Facial Lateralization in the Fictitious Display of Emotional Expression. Presentation at the 96th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, San Francisco, CA. November 15, 2010.
Stifano, S.C. (2010). Cinematic Marketing: A Developmental-Interactionist Approach to Television Advertising. Presentation at the Conference of the Eastern Communication Association, Baltimore, MD. April 23, 2010.
Stifano, S.C. (2009). Movies, Meaning, and Social Influence: A Developmental-Interactionist Theory of Film Communication. Presentation at the Conference of the International Communication Association, Chicago, IL. May 22, 2009.
LINKS and ATTACHMENTS
Curriculum Vitae
Digital Portfolio
BELIEF Feature Film Site
BIO
Dr. Stifano joined the Department of Communication Studies in 2012. His scholarship is predominantly in the realm of media studies, where he teaches a variety of courses and maintains an active research program that investigates the role of emotional communication in media. A highly interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Stifano incorporates works from cognitive psychology, the dramatic arts, media effects research, and film theory into his mixed-methods approach to the study of communication. Particularly, Dr. Stifano has used his background as an independent filmmaker and multimedia designer to conduct detailed research on how creators and audiences interact through media, taking advantage of his unique access to all parts of the process. As a result, his doctoral dissertation, Make Belief: The interaction of reason and emotion in Film Communication, was nominated for the National Communication Association's 2012 G.R. Miller Dissertation Award.
In the classroom, Dr. Stifano focuses on highly interactive, collaborative learning experiences that take advantage of the creative potential of student and teacher working together. His recent classes have collaborated to conceptualize and produce a short independent film, design an active portrait of the future of human communication in the year 2051, and build a new social media campaign about the growing public need to study communication. He devotes the remainder of his time to his work as an independent filmmaker, with his latest feature film Belief set for submission to major festivals in 2012.
Dr. Stifano's current interests concern the future interplay of interactive media with traditional forms of academic research and publication, and how this collision stands to impact both media education and the discourse of scholarship.
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