Meet the Newest Members of the Newhouse School Faculty
We welcome 10 talented faculty members joining the Newhouse community in fall 2024.
Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship
Emily Sydnor
Associate Professor
Sydnor joins the Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship in the Washington, D.C. She will lead multidisciplinary research efforts to analyze the forces that damage trust in journalism and democracy, to strengthen the ability of journalists and others to rebuild credibility, along with teaching classes in these areas.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Sydnor was an associate professor at Southwestern University from 2022-24 where she taught political science. In addition, she served as both an assistant professor and visiting assistant professor at Southwestern from 2015-22.
Sydnor’s research focuses on incivility in the media, its interaction with individual psychological traits and its influence on political behavior. She has authored a book “Disrespectful Democracy: The Psychology of Political Incivility” (Columbia University Press, 2019), numerous peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters.
Her research has been supported by the American Political Science Association Centennial Center Research Grant (2021-22); the American Political Science Association Special Projects Grant: Civically Engaged Research in Political Science (2020-22); and the National Institute for Civil Discourse Seed Grant (2017).
Professor Sydnor received the 2020 Craig L. Brians Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research & Mentorship from the American Political Science Association. She also won the Jesse E. Purdy Award for Excellence in Scholarly & Creative Works in 2020 and the Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2019, both from Southwestern University.
Sydnor earned a Ph.D. in 2015 and an M.A. in 2011 from the University of Virginia; she also earned a B.A. in 2008 from George Washington University.
Advanced Media Management
Michael Clarke
Professor of Practice
Clarke will join Newhouse as a professor of practice in the advanced media management program. He is set to teach Content Management, Development, and Innovation; AI for Media Professionals; and the advanced media management capstone.
Clarke has been an integral part of the Syracuse University academic community since 2009, initially serving as an adjunct professor at the School of Information Studies. There, he played a key role in shaping and implementing key learning objectives across various courses, such as Digital Strategy and Web Analytics; Design and Management of Internet Services; and Effective Collaboration in the Global Enterprise. Clarke’s professional experience includes his current role as chief operating officer at SIDEARM Sports, a Learfield Company. Additionally, Clarke holds the position of co-founder and partner at AppHammer, a digital consultancy and software development firm. His tenure at Syracuse University also includes positions as executive director of digital from 2019 to 2020, and director of digital from 2008 to 2019. Additionally, he contributed as a faculty liaison for the Syracuse University Project Advance from 2009 to 2018.
Clarke’s academic and professional endeavors focus on the convergence of digital strategy, emerging technology and media; particularly sports media. His work is characterized by leveraging industry experience to pioneer innovative approaches that enhance fan engagement in sports media.
His notable recognitions include the 2020 Learfield Eddy Award, the 2013 Part-Time Professor of the Year Award from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies and the 2001 Videographer’s Award for advanced multimedia design.
Clarke holds a master of science in information management (2016) and a bachelor of fine arts in computer graphics (2001), both from Syracuse University. He completed the Syracuse University Advanced Leadership Training Program in 2017 and serves on the board of advisors for the Madden School of Business at LeMoyne College.
Broadcast and Digital Journalism
Colleen McEdwards
Assistant Professor
A veteran journalist, McEdwards will join Newhouse as a tenure-track assistant professor and teach courses on broadcast and digital storytelling.
Prior to joining Syracuse, McEdwards was a visiting lecturer of digital journalism at the University of North Alabama. She has also taught courses for the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications and Georgia State University.
Before entering academia, McEdwards was an anchor and correspondent for CNN International for 16 years. She joined CNN International during the 1997 Asian financial crisis and covered major global events. McEdwards reported from Moscow during Vladimir Putin’s first term, covered the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia and developed expertise in Eastern European affairs. Her international assignments also include the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and the global SARS outbreak. A Canadian American, McEdwards also reported for CBC News for a decade.
McEdwards is a Fulbright Specialist, having completed digital media training projects in Trinidad and Tobago. She is a published author of poetry, short stories and academic papers. McEdwards earned a Ph.D. in education and technology management from Northcentral University, an M.A. in instructional design and learning technology from Western Governors University and a B.A. in English literature from the University of Waterloo (Canada).
Catherine Loper
Assistant Teaching Professor
Loper joins the broadcast and digital journalism department as an assistant teaching professor. She will teach classes in cross-media news writing, journalism business and ethics, and broadcast and digital journalism.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Loper was a visiting assistant professor at SUNY Oswego since 2017. There, she taught courses in broadcast journalism, political reporting and media literacy. Loper was previously an adjunct instructor at the Newhouse School, where she co-taught broadcast journalism and political reporting to graduate and undergraduate students.
Loper focuses on experiential learning for journalism students and has presented to other educators at the New York State Journalism Association and the Eastern Communications Association.
Loper has local and national journalism experience. She was the news director at NPR affiliate WRVO from 2012 to 2017. From 2003 to 2011, Loper worked at Fox News, first as a producer and later as director of White House coverage and director of news in the Washington Bureau.
Professor Loper won SUNY Oswego’s Best Advisor award in 2023 for her leadership of the student newspaper, “The Oswegonian.” She received a professor recognition award from the SUNY Oswego Resident Hall Association in 2019.
Loper earned an M.A. from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 1992 and a B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1990.
Tim Mirabito
Assistant Professor
Mirabito is an assistant professor in the broadcast and digital journalism department where he will teach multimedia journalism courses.
Before joining Syracuse University, Mirabito was the chair of the Department of Journalism and an associate professor of journalism and sports media at Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications. He also taught as an assistant professor at Marist College and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami (Fla). Before entering academia, Mirabito worked in television, radio, print and online media, as well as minor league baseball and college athletics.
Mirabito’s research focuses on contemporary television newsroom dynamics, including newsgathering routines, burnout, mentorship and leadership. His dissertation examined the The New York Times sports section’s response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His scholarship has been published in noteworthy journals like the International Journal of Sport Communication, Communication & Sport, Journal of Sport Media and Sport in Society.
Mirabito is a member of the National Communication Association and the International Association for Communication and Sport. He also serves on the editorial board for the Sport Management Education Journal. In 2013, he was awarded the ESPN Doctoral Fellowship Award, the American Kinesiology Association Writing Award and a Chancellor Citation for Extraordinary Professional Promise at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Mirabito earned his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2013. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Miami (Fla.) and his bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College.
Public Relations
Joshua Foust
Assistant Professor
Foust will join Newhouse as a tenure-track assistant professor to teach classes in public relations practice and theory. Foust will arrive at Syracuse from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has taught social media strategy and public relations practice since 2020. He was also the communications and marketing director from 2019-22 for the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians, a health advocacy nonprofit, and served as the insights and content lead for the Karrikins Group, a Denver-based executive consulting agency.
Foust’s research focuses on the use of video games for strategic communication in the U.S. military, with an emphasis on public sphere theory and gender theory. He has published articles about gender and military gaming in the Journal of Communication; gender-based work practices in the games industry in Media, Culture & Society; public sphere theory in the Journal of Communication Inquiry; and executive communication practices in Public Relations Inquiry.
His research into video games and strategic communication has been supported by a University of Colorado Boulder Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship, as well as a College of Media, Communication and Information research grant.
A member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Foust won a top paper award at the 2023 AEJMC conference. He is also a member of the International Communication Association and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
Foust earned a Ph.D. in 2024 at the University of Colorado Boulder, an M.A. in 2019 at Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in 2006 at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Arien Rozelle
Assistant Teaching Professor
Rozelle joins the public relations department as an assistant teaching professor. She will initially teach courses in public relations campaigns and public relations ethics, and advise students who compete in the Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) Bateman Case Study Competition.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Rozelle was an assistant professor in St. John Fisher University’s Department of Media and Communication, where she taught a variety of public relations courses, was program advisor for the M.S. program in strategic communication and served as advisor to the college’s PRSSA Chapter and student-run PR agency. Prior to joining St. John Fisher in 2014, she was a professional lecturer of communication at Marist College, and she previously served on the adjunct faculty for New York University’s master’s degree program in public relations and corporate communication.
Rozelle’s research, writing and professional presentations have focused on subjects including PR’s role in social movements; communicating diversity, equity and inclusion; activism in the public relations classroom; PR ethics; and social media best practices.
Rozelle is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, and an active member of AEJMC’s Public Relations Division and Media Management Economics and Entrepreneurship Division. As a public relations practitioner, she founded and operated a boutique PR firm, FeelingAnxious PR & Marketing, in New York City, and is now a consultant to a variety of clients.
Rozelle earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from the State University of New York at Fredonia, and a master’s degree in public relations and corporate communication from New York University.
Television, Radio and Film
Jordan Kligerman
Assistant Professor
Kligerman joins the television, radio and film department as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Newhouse Sports Media Center. He will teach the courses Sports Documentary and Sports Content for Social Platforms.
Kligerman has been a faculty member at the Newhouse School since 2021 as a visiting assistant teaching professor, teaching courses he developed called Sports Documentary and Sports Social Content while leading the award-winning student production group, 44 Films. Before joining the Newhouse faculty, Kligerman spent five years as part of the athletics department at Syracuse University. Starting in the department as a creative media specialist, Kligerman was promoted to assistant athletics director for creative services in 2017. In his role as creative director, Kligerman led all video and graphic design for social media, commercials, development, in arena productions, special events and contributed to broadcasts for the ACC Network.
Kligerman produced events, commercials and other content for Syracuse University Athletics as the principal owner and operator of fireKmedia. Kligerman managed his own firm for 10 years with a client base that included NFL Films, the National Basketball Players Association and Aspen Dental. Prior to running his own firm, Kligerman spent eight years with NFL Films as a production manager, coordinator and assistant. During that time, Kligerman helped produce content for ABC, FOX, NBC, ESPN and NFL Network.
Kligerman’s research and creative work sits at the intersection of art and sport. He seeks a deeper exploration into how sport is portrayed in artistic formats through documentary film, sports graphic design, cinematic video and motion graphics on conventional platforms such as linear cable, streaming and in arena. The exploration continues into how fans and stakeholders interact with similar content within the digital platforms of social media and web based video.
Kligerman’s work has been shown as part of talks and screenings at Yale University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Ithaca College, Syracuse University and the Broadcast Educators Association Conference. Kligerman’s films have been screened at the Cityvisions Film Festival in New York and the Lake Tahoe International Festival and distributed on Time Warner Cable Sports.
Molle DeBartolo
Professor of Practice
DeBartolo joins the television, radio and film department as a professor of practice.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, DeBartolo was an adjunct professor at Newhouse teaching courses in editing and color correction.
In addition to teaching, DeBartolo brings over 15 years of industry experience, from post-production to production, currently working as a line producer and production manager.
DeBartolo began her career in post-production at Deluxe NY, spearheading film-to-digital workflows. Joining American High in 2017, she developed a production-to-post pipeline in Syracuse, New York, working on over 15 feature films in roles like production supervisor, unit production manager and producer. Notable recent works include the Hulu features “Plan B,” “It’s a Wonderful Binge,” “Miguel Wants to Fight” and the upcoming film “Prom Dates.”
In 2024, the short film “Marshall Man” she produced with American High and Make-A-Wish Central New York was invited to screen at SXSW EDU in Austin, Texas.
DeBartolo holds a B.S. in television and radio from Ithaca College. She is a proud member of the Director’s Guild of America and IATSE.
Visual Communications
MaryAnne Golon
Professor of Practice
Golon will join the Newhouse School to teach classes in visual editing following a decade-plus tenure at The Washington Post as director of photography. Golon has been a key member of the senior newsroom management team, overseeing all aspects of photography for the Post across all platforms. She managed 17 staff photojournalists and 25 photography editors, and her team assigned scores of freelance photojournalists worldwide.
Under her leadership, the Post has won a Pulitzer Prize for photography and several other Pulitzers that named the photo staff. Golon was previously Time’s director of photography and co-managed the international news magazine’s photography department for more than 15 years. Golon has received numerous individual and team picture-editing awards from Pictures of the Year International (POYi) and the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA) Best of Photojournalism competitions. Communication Arts, Society of News Design, Society of Publication Designers, American Society of News Editors and American Photography have all recognized her work. She was 2013 Picture Editor of the Year at the Lucie Awards, an International Photography Award foundation.
Golon serves as chair of the executive board for the Eddie Adams Workshop; as a faculty member at the Missouri Photo Workshop; as a juror for the International Photojournalism Festival Visa Pour L’Image, Perpignan; and as a lecturer and portfolio reviewer for multiple photography organizations around the world. Golon received a B.S. in journalism and communications from the University of Florida, where she is a distinguished alumna. She completed a fellowship in public policy and media studies at Duke University.
A version of this story was initially posted in January 2024.