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FIlm Media Program

Faculty

Thomas Zorabedian, Ed.D.

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Email: zman@uri.edu
Phone: (401) 874-2853
Office: Chafee 257
Office hours: by appointment

Tom Zorabedian is Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Harrington School of Communication and Media, and adjunct assistant professor in Film/Media and Communication Studies.

Tom is interested in the history, meaning, messages and impact of film. He teaches film courses through the Honors Program, including:

  • FLM101H: Introduction to Film/Media
  • HPR324: Rebel Images in Films, which examines the depiction of rebels in cinema, especially those dealing with the 1960s/70s protest era.
  • HPR324: Images of Masculinity in Films, which explores the concept of masculinity as portrayed by men in films, from John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando to Woody Allen, Johnny Depp and beyond.
  • HPR401/402: Film-related Senior Honors Projects

Before coming to URI, Tom was Assistant Professor of Communications at Rhode Island College, where he taught film and television history, theory, and production courses, as well as writing and public speaking. Tom has also taught at Salve Regina University (Acting for the Camera) and at Boston University, and via a grant in association with Emory University in Atlanta, he created and wrote educational information for boys and men. He has also worked as a film critic for several publications and as an independent film and video producer, including directing and producing a documentary on the Armenian genocide, and writing and producing a live, cable TV series, Club Genius.

Tom has given numerous presentations on various film topics, such as, as Hollywood Armageddon; War in Many Mediums: Film, Press, and Propaganda; Eating in the Dark: The Meaning of Food in Film; Hollywood Leads the Way: Social Issues in Film; and Film Portrayal of the Cold War: In From the Cold, A Russian-American Dialogue. He also was co-coordinator of the University Honors Colloquium, Moving Images.

He has coordinated the URI Joyal film competition since 1998, and directed the first Master Class for the Rhode Island Film Festival (RIIFF), with director Robert Downey, Sr. He also sits on the RIIFF Board and is a finalist judge.

Tom earned his doctorate at Boston University, studying with the late renowned British film historian and scholar, Roger Manvell, first director of the British Film Academy.