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TEACHING

At Rochester Institute of Technology I teach a full variety of courses to students in all four years in the Photojournalism sequence within the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences. In addition to courses specific to the photojournalism majors, I have taught courses open to all students in the school and developed two new courses. In addition, I have led 1-credit pop-up courses that allow our students the opportunity to study a narrow topic or cover an event under the intensity of a short time frame.

SENIOR PROJECT
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Brittainy Newman
This senior-level capstone course requires students to work on a semester-long documentary project to produce a visual media presentation, such as a book, film, interactive project or editing portfolio.
ADV NONFICTION MULTIMEDIA
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Sam Oughton

This upper-level course provides students with advanced multimedia techniques and allows them to work independently and in small teams. I taught this course in the Spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic which cut many of the students projects short. We reacted by building a collaborative web project covering how the virus affected students, faculty and staff at RIT.

DC PHOTOJOURNALISM TRIP
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Josh Meltzer
This professional development course for seniors focuses on identifying and exploring career paths in the Washington, D.C. region, networking and preparing to capitalize on future opportunities. The juniors take a similar course to NYC the year before taking this course.
CLIMATE CHANGE STORYTELLING
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Noah Winslow

In this course that I created, students will use a variety of storytelling tools to explain how climate change is affecting, changing and being debated in Upstate New York in this special topics course. Students will work in regional communities, using a variety of traditional research and field-gathering techniques to collect data, images, video and other content that will tell the complex data- and human-driven stories to broad audiences.
NONFICTION MULTIMEDIA
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Cheyenne Boone & Nicholas Cornish
This upper-level course gives students the skills necessary to gather and edit audio, still pictures and video to produce compelling online narratives. In addition to basic technical skills, the course will explore contemporary concepts for effective multimedia storytelling.
INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE STORYTELLING
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Brittainy Newman
This course, which I created, enables students to develop a strong foundation in elements of web production including learning basic mark-up and programming languages commonly used in web development, UI/UX design, typography and content editing. Students complete the course by working collaboratively with students in other courses to develop effective and innovative ways to display and narrate content in digital environments.
ELEMENTS OF PHOTOJOURNSLISM
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Erin Gallagher
This course is an introduction to visual story telling in professional photojournalism. It provides relevant practice in basic technical, compositional and interpersonal skills necessary in all aspects of modern documentary photography. The course emphasizes research and ideation as an important step in the image-making process.
SPECIAL OLYMPICS
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Alex Iglesias

Co-taught and co-developed with my colleague Jenn Poggi, this 1-credit course is immersive and project-based giving students real-world experience in partnership with Special Olympics New York to cover the State Winter Games. Students assigned into teams in preferred roles as documentary sports photographers, picture editors, team leaders, social media producers, print workflow managers, writers, copy editors or portraitists.
PHOTO ARTS II
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Cuauhtemoc Paz

This course will reinforce and build upon the skills learned in the first semester of Photographic Arts I. It will emphasize aesthetics, craft, visual problem solving and critical thinking skills - the foundations of the Photographic Arts curriculum. In this semester, the studio will be introduced as a space that can be used to create and control light. This course’s curriculum will continue to emphasize both craft and visual problem solving required in high-level photographic imaging.
PHOTO ARTS I
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Ashley Crichton

This first-year course provides an immersive introduction to the field of the Photographic Arts. It will emphasize both craft and visual problem solving. The course will explore: seeing and appreciating the quality of light, image capture, photographic vision, historical and contemporary genres of photography, best practices and workflow as well as an introduction to the critique forum and its practices.
FIGHT THE FEAR
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Josh Meltzer

I was the instructor of record and facilitator of this 1-credit course which was taught by Eric Maierson. This course explores how to foster creativity, sustain productive work habits, and continue to evolve as craftspeople. This is a practical class that deals with the everyday obstacles of working professionals like finding time alone and dealing with fear as well as ideas on how to stay inspired with the help of meditation and journaling.
STORYTELLING OF ADDICTION
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Josh Meltzer

This course examines how storytellers have addressed addiction and recovery and how those narratives can be presented in a more balanced and nuanced way by addressing how those struggling with addiction, like other marginalized communities, have historically been stigmatized and misrepresented. Students will engage with medical professionals and community leaders working in treatment and harm reduction as well as people who have personal experience with addiction and recovery. Together, they will seek ways to generate a more complex set of stories about addiction and recovery that help break down stigma, question stereotypes, and change how we treat people who need help.