Core Faculty
CLAIRE SISCO KING![](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/11/05162530/Claire-Crop-300x300.jpg)
Chair of Cinema & Media Arts
Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Cinema & Media Arts
Email: claire.s.king@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Buttrick 003B
Specializations:
- Critical Cultural Studies
- Rhetoric
- Intersectional Feminism
- Celebrity
- Trauma
JONATHAN WATERS
Associate Chair of Cinema & Media Arts
Curator of International Lens (iLens)
Principal Senior Lecturer of Cinema & Media Arts
Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education
Email: j.waters@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Buttrick 003E
Specializations:
- Production
- Film
- Cinematography
- Directing
- Screenwriting
JONATHAN RATTNER![](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/12/14155738/rattner-portrait.jpg)
Associate Professor of Cinema & Media Arts and Art
Director of Undergraduate Studies for Cinema & Media Arts
Email: jonathan.l.rattner@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Buttrick 003D
Specializations:
- Documentaries
- 16mm
- Art Cinema
- Cinematography
- Experimental Filmmaking
Jad Abumrad![Headshot of Prof Abumrad](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/04/22133828/CMA-Abumrad-Headshot-259x300.jpg)
Distinguished Research Professor of Cinema & Media Arts and Communication of Science and Technology
Email: jad.abumrad@vanderbilt.edu
Specializations:
- Creative writing
- Music composition
- Broadcast journalism
- Audio storytelling
- Podcasts
MICKEY CASAD
Senior Lecturer of Cinema & Media Arts
Executive Director of Vanderbilt’s Center for Digital Humanities
Email: m.casad@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Buttrick 003F
Specializations:
- Digital Humanities
- Race, Gender, and Technology
- Digital Archives
- Cultural Memory
- Posthumanism
JAY CLAYTON
William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Cinema & Media Arts
Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy
Email: jay.clayton@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Curb Center
Specializations:
- Game Studies
- Video Gaming
- Transmedia
- Remediation
- Communication of Science
CARMINE GRIMALDI![](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2021/08/22133900/carmine-headshot-300x225.jpg)
Assistant Professor of Cinema & Media Arts
Email: carmine.grimaldi@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Buttrick 003C
Specializations:
-
Film Production
-
Documentary and Hybrid Cinema
-
Critical Media Practice
-
History of Media, Technology, and Science
JENNIFER FAY![](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/08/22133815/Fay-Headshot-22-230x300.png)
Chair of of the Department of English
Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Cinema & Media Arts
Professor of English and German Studies
Coordinator of Film Theory and Visual Culture Seminar
Email: j.fay@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Benson 332
Specializations:
- Transatlantic Film and Media Theory
- Media Aesthetics and Politics
- Environmental Humanities
- Comparative Film Histories
KRISTA KNIGHT
Writer in Residence for Cinema & Media Arts and Theatre
Email: krista.knight@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Neely 206
Specializations:
- Playwriting and screenwriting
- Stage and Screen
- Storytelling
- Media for Young Audiences
-
Machinima
-
Libretto
-
Virtual Reality
LUTZ KOEPNICK
Max Kade Foundation Chair of German Studies
Professor of Cinema & Media Arts
Chair of the Department of German, Russian, and East European Studies
Director of the Program in Comparative Media Analysis and Practice (CMAP)
Email: lutz.koepnick@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Furman 121A
Specializations:
- Media Art
- Art Cinema
- Sound and Video Installation Art
- Aesthetic Theory
- Media Theory
- German Film History
MARIAH KRAMER![Headshot of Mariah Kramer](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/07/24180734/MariahKramer-200x300.jpg)
Senior Lecturer of Cinema & Media Arts
Email: mariah.kramer@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Buttrick 003A
Specializations
- Film Festivals
- Festival programming
- Documentaries
- Production
- Independent Film
James McFarland![headshot of James McFarland](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/11/05162939/Jim-Crop-300x300.jpg)
Associate Professor of German, Russian, and East European Studies
Director of Undergraduate Studies for German, Russian, and East European Studies
Email: james.mcfarland@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Furman 119
Specializations:
- Idealist philosophy
- Nietzsche
- Critical theory
- Film
- Modernism
ANDREA MIRABILE
Associate Professor of Italian and Cinema & Media Arts
Email: andrea.mirabile@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Furman 224
Specializations:
- Italian Cinema
- French Cinema
- Visual Theory
- Word and Image
- Ekphrasis
OLE MOLVIG![headshot of Ole Molvig](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cas/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2021/11/22133852/ole-molvig-225x300.jpg)
Assistant Professor of History, Communications of Science and Technology, and Physics
Founder of the emergent technology lab at the Wond’ry
Curator of the Garland Historical Scientific Instruments Collection
Email: ole.molvig@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Benson Hall 121
Specializations:
- History of science, with an emphasis on the physical sciences
- History of technology
- Intellectual & cultural history
- Communication of science and technology