Title: Teaching to an interdisciplinary student body

Speaker: Associate Professor Titus Levi and Tenured Professor Geoffrey Alan Rhodes,

Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry (ICCI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU)

Abstract:

The Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry (ICCI) recruits high-performing students from a wide range of academic backgrounds: business, marketing, design, art, languages, even nuclear engineering. Our faculty teach to this diverse group a set of core concepts and skills that we have decided are essential to educating professionals in the culture sector. These classes move between a range of disciplines, cultivating creative production, as well as management, and communication.

Professors Rhodes and Levi will discuss the challenges of teaching to an interdisciplinary student audience, and the relevant analogues and demands within industry and culture. Over the past 3 years, Rhodes has developed the curriculum for ICCI's MFA research group in 'Digital Curation', while Levi has authored and taught a number of classes within ICCI's Masters of Journalism Communication, including an international remote collaboration class with the University of Southern California. They will share anecdotes, lessons learned, and will attempt to inspire a critical discussion of the importance of interdisciplinary education at SJTU.

Biography：

Titus Levi/李 台 is an Associate Professor at the USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry. Prior to this appointment, he held various academic positions, including Visiting Scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University, Visiting Scholar at Shih Chien University’s Graduate Institute of Cultural Industries, Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Associate Professor at United International College in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

While at HKBU, Dr. Levi taught in Master of Arts in Communication, Master of Social Sciences in Media Management and Master of Arts in Comparative Literary Studies (MALCS) programs. Since leaving the US in 2009, Dr. Levi has been hired by programs in search of a teaching generalist. He earned a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Irvine, in 1997.

Geoffrey Alan Rhodes/路高安 is a tenured professor at USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry. He is the director of the Future Museum Media Innovation Studio, a new center for research in augmented and virtual reality and their application in museum futures. Previously, he led the development of new media design curriculum at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s department of Visual Communication Design, and new media at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Film and Animation. Rhodes has worked as a practicing artist, filmmaker, and media designer. His award-winning project, Chicago00, was a partnership with the Chicago History Museum to produce virtual reality experiences of photographic history.

Over the course of his career at multiple universities, Rhodes has invented, written, and taught over 20 new courses within the disciplines of film, video, art, design, and new media. Since joining SJTU in 2020, Rhodes has helped guide and design the Master of Fine Arts program at ICCI, as well as its new MDCCM Master’s degree program begun this year. Since 2021 he has served as the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and has written and taught multiple new courses within the Digital Curation research concentration.

Date and Time:

November 23 (Thursday), 2023, 11:50-13:20

Venue:

504 Chen Ruiqiu Building

Organizers:

Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry (ICCI), SJTU

Center for Teaching and Learning Development (CTLD), SJTU

Please sign up for this talk by 2pm on November 22, 2023.