Hanson Hosein, Director

Hanson Hosein specializes in storytelling, social media strategies and business models of communication.  He has spent his professional life seeking out the technological changes that are now upending traditional media.

Hanson was one of the first contributors to a nascent MSNBC.com. He produced pioneering digital content as a globetrotting solo broadcaster in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

His film, Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom & Pop was an early exercise in the use of digital technology in storytelling and an ongoing interaction with an audience. Self-produced and self-financed, the award-winning documentary has been broadcast internationally, and airs regularly on the Sundance Channel in the United States. Perhaps more importantly, grassroots groups across America continue to screen the film as a tool to promote local economies.

Hanson’s latest film, Independent America: Rising from Ruins focuses on how small business helped resurrect New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, despite ruinous city policies favoring big box stores.

Through his company, HRH Media Inc., Hanson helps advise organizations and companies how to communicate effectively and directly by building relationships through storytelling and social media platforms.

In his previous career as a war correspondent, Hanson was embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq, reporting for NBC News. Often armed only with a laptop, satellite phone and camcorder, he filed ongoing live coverage from the Persian Gulf. He also covered the impact of the war from Beirut, Damascus, Amman and Jerusalem.

Hanson won Emmy and Overseas Press Club awards for his NBC News coverage “The Fall of Kosovo.” He was NBC’s Middle East Producer and MSNBC.com correspondent from 1997 to 2001. Prior to that served as an investigative producer at “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.”

He has an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and law degrees from Montreal’s McGill University and the University of Paris.

Scott Macklin, Associate Director

Scott Macklin serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the College of Education at the University of Washington. Scott seeks to create a rich infrastructure that supports innovation and collaboration through the exploration, development, assessment, and dissemination of next-generation technologies and strategies. In 2000, his co-authored article, The Catalyst Project: Supporting Faculty Uses of the Web...with the Web, won the EDUCAUSE contribution of the year award. Scott serves on the advisory board of the Head Start Center for Inclusion and on board of the South African NGO Saving our Schools and Community (SOSAC). In his copious amounts of spare time, Scott – along with his wife, Angelica and two children, Case (11) and Nikko (6) – makes award-winning documentary films, raises chickens and brews up bio-fuel. Scott uses social media as a powerful tool for learning and building meaningful relationships that create opportunities to engage in acts of social justice.You can get a glimpse of some of his work at: http://www.vimeo.com/openhandreel/videos

 

Kathy E. Gill, M.S., Senior Lecturer

An expert in the emerging social space known as the blogosophere, Gill's experience encompasses both business and academia, with a focus on information design and web site usability. She has been teaching digital media subjects at Seattle area colleges and universities since 1998, focusing on user experience and digital storytelling; she is also a universal access advocate.

She has consulted on web projects at Boeing, AT&T Wireless, Microsoft, and SAFECO. Prior to making the transition to digital media in 1994, she also worked in public affairs in the forest products and agricultural sectors in Washington, Oregon, and the Northeast.

She has a Master's degree in agricultural economics from Virginia Tech (1979) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Georgia (1977). She spends weekends teaching novices how to ride motorcycles.

Faculty website; Blog: WiredPen.

Corliss Harmer, M.A., Executive Advisor

Convinced that something was missing from her education, Corliss began combing the University of Washington campus in the early 70’s to find professors who used innovative teaching approaches. When she interviewed students from these classes—in physics, history, psychology, English and zoology— it was as though two wires connected, igniting a vision: that when a course is led by student interests and inquiry, learning can be transformative. Corliss went on earn her master’s at Goddard College in Vermont. Her thesis compared the inquiry approach that she had observed at the UW to approaches to teaching by Jesus, Socrates, and elders in several American Indian tribal settings. After doctoral work in adult education at Columbia University Teachers College, she joined the MCDM program part-time. She also teaches English composition at several colleges in the Seattle area.

Andrew Shinn, Outreach Manager

Andrew Shinn works with the MCDM community (students, alumni faculty and staff) to help build the brand name recognition of the program. MCDM's outreach strategy is based on community connections that create mutually beneficial partnerships in order to navigate digital media technologies and to promote digital media literacy. Andrew has a firm belief in the transformative potential of these decentralized narrative platforms. When not working for MCDM, Andrew can most often be found training in one of four martial arts disciplines he follows (pencak silat, Chen shi taijiquan, northern praying mantis, and Toda-ha Buko-ryu). Recently he has started trying to learn Flamenco guitar. Andrew is also an official photographer and videographer for Flamenco Arts Northwest and an occasional blogger on martial arts.

Summer Dela Cruz, Associate Outreach Manager

Summer Dela Cruz collaborates with both the Department of Communication and MCDM program on alumni relations, event planning, and grants and contracts. In addition, Summer manages the MCDM financials and marketing strategies. 

Other Faculty

Other Communication Department faculty with research and teaching interests in digital media include Kirsten Foot, Phil Howard and Gina Neff.

The members of the faculty advisory committee include Tony Chan, Kathleen Fearnbanks and Doug Underwood.

In addition, the program has adjunct faculty with expertise in law, marketing and project management.