Faculty for Marketing Communication

Cheryl Casey

Biography

Cheryl Casey joined the Communication & Creative Media faculty in 2013. She teaches introductory courses in media, communication, and culture. Cheryl advises Communication students and also serves as faculty adviser to the CCM chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honor society.

Cheryl’s research areas include media literacy, critical media studies, language and culture, media history, and communication ethics. She is most recently a co-author of two textbooks, Navigating Your Information Landscape: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Media and Information Literacy (2023, Cognella) and New Media, Communication, & Society (2019, Peter Lang). Cheryl has contributed to such publications as the International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy (2016, John Wiley & Sons) and the international journal, Explorations in Media Ecology. Her work has been accepted for presentation in both international and national forums and has received several conference Top Paper awards.

On the other side of life, Cheryl is active in community organizations, serving as president of the Waterbury Historical Society and on the board of Stowe Theatre Guild, as well as supporting local journalism as a correspondent for the Waterbury Roundabout. She also loves running, reading dark crime thrillers, hiking, camping, knitting, gardening, dancing, and hanging out with her dog, Daisy.

Cheryl holds a B.A. in Media Studies from Sacred Heart University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Media Ecology from New York University.

Distinctions & Awards

Award of Excellence, League of Local Historical Societies & Museums, Vermont Historical Society (2020) for producing the video series, Waterbury Women: Stories and Inspiration, for the Waterbury (VT) Historical Society. (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNp4A6tdVDFE5uzwKpsg2q-rX-Ng3ETQm)

Finalist, Media Ecology Association Book of the Year (2020), for New Media, Communication & Society.

John LaVallee Innovation Award, Champlain College, (2017) for implementation of a new curriculum management system (Curriculog).

Neil Postman Mentor Award, New York State Communication Association (2013), in recognition of “the degree of intellectual and personal leadership, enthusiasm for learning, and generous spirit required to cultivate future generations of scholars.”

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• National Communication Association
• Eastern Communication Association
• Media Ecology Association

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Department Q detective series by Jussi Adler-Olsen
• NPR podcast, Throughline
• NPR podcast, Code Switch
• WNYC podcast, On the Media
• CrashCourse: Black American History, with Clint Smith (https://youtu.be/xPx5aRuWCtc)

Favorite Quote

“At its best, schooling can be about how to make a life, which is quite different from how to make a living.”

—Neil Postman, The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School

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Nancy Kerr

Biography

Kerr brings a wealth of industry experience to her classroom setting. She spent 13 years as the division chair of Communication and the Arts at Dean College and seven years as a Communications faculty member at SUNY Plattsburgh. She’s had a variety of industry experience, including having worked as an on-air personality and news director in radio. She worked at several local television stations, directing and producing shows. Several of her documentaries have aired on PBS. Her credentials also include working in public relations for the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce and the I Love New York campaign. She holds a Ph.D. from Boston College and two Masters degrees from Syracuse University.

Her focus is seeing students be successful in their chosen fields. She loves helping students find and explore their areas of interest and aptitude, and help them gain skills, experience and insight to become successful in their professional lives.

Distinctions & Awards

Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship – 2014

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

Public Relations Society of America

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Keith Oppenheim

Biography

Keith Oppenheim is a former correspondent for CNN who has been teaching college since 2009, at Champlain since 2014. He is the program director for Broadcast Media Production and a content creator as well. His most recent documentary, Will It Live On; Growing Up in A Small-Town Jewish Community will air on public television stations and other venues.
At Champlain, Keith helps his students develop as non-fiction storytellers and producers. His students create award-winning documentaries, which have received recognition at the regional and national level. They shoot, write and edit content to succeed as journalists, social media managers and content creators for companies and non-profits. They develop show-creation skills, learning techniques in radio, podcasting and multi-camera studio production. (The college’s internet-radio station, sound studio and Sonic Arts programs enhance give students additional opportunities.) And they get internships and media employment during college, helping them bridge the gap to a marketplace seeking their talent.
Keith is also President of the Board of The Media Factory, a community media center that collaborates with Champlain College in broadcast courses and documentary production.

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Barrie Silver

Biography

Barrie is an innovative, mission-driven marketing and communications professional who is passionate about social justice and social change and has been helping organizations share their stories for more than two decades.

Having spent the majority of her career working in the nonprofit sector (for large organizations like Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and hyperlocal ones like CCTV Center for Media & Democracy) she says she “specializes in performing miracles on shoestring budgets.” She is also a consummate volunteer and has been on the board of Slow Food Vermont since 2015.

A lifelong learner, Barrie likes to collect and archive information, craves to know more, and is energized by other people, new ideas, and, of course, her students.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Van Dora Williams

Biography

Dr. Van Dora Williams brings over 30 years of industry experience as a journalist, documentary producer and researcher to the classroom and is dedicated to teaching the next generation of journalists, writers, audio and documentary producers. She currently serves as Assistant Dean of Administration for the CCM Division and holds the rank of full professor as well. She co-created the Game Sound Design program by combining sound design and audio production courses with Game Studio courses and is currently its program director. She has earned multiple Emmy and Telly awards along with having her work seen on the PBS network and through multiple film festivals that include Sundance. She created content for the print, radio, video and web platforms for several years before moving into teaching at the higher education level. Her multiplatform storytelling experience provides her the flexibility to teach the tenets of journalism and storytelling through several mediums.
She believes in bringing real world experience to students within the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. As faculty, Williams co-led two international service-learning trips to The Gambia in West Africa and to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where students worked with local journalists and filmmakers to create two short films and three short documentaries. A few of those productions earned regional Student Production Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and were broadcast statewide on Vermont Public. In coordination with the College’s Special Collections and community organizations, she worked with her colleagues to gain funding from the Council of Independent Colleges’ Humanities for the Public Good. The grants allowed her to work with students on two documentaries titled Forget Me Not Vermont (2020), Outside the Fence (2023) and a website, Green Mountain Melodies, all examining the historical impact of culture on music and urban planning.
As a researcher Dr. Williams most recent work included serving as an archival researcher for the documentary, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2017). She served as an associate producer on Banished (2008) as well as many local documentaries and news programs as a senior producer at WHRO, the PBS station in Norfolk, Virginia where she earned multiple Emmy and Telly awards. Some of her research and producing work include Church Street: Harlem of the South (1997, WHRO), Common Ground: Legacy of Race in Religion (1999, WHRO), Noble Desire (2001, WHRO), Century: 100 Years of Life in Hampton Roads (2001, WHRO), Matters of Race (2003, ROJA Productions), Citizen King (2004, ROJA Productions). In between working on historical documentaries, Dr. Williams earned her PhD in Communication in 2017. Her dissertation focused on the impact Birth of a Nation (1915) had on three Virginia communities. She published a chapter in two international peer reviewed edited books focusing on the film’s 100th anniversary as a controversial and groundbreaking film.
She continues to conduct archival research and produce compelling documentaries on the national and regional events of the Progressive Era that continue to have an impact on American culture and society.

Publications & Abstracts

Resisting The Birth of a Nation in Virginia

Standing their ground: A southern community’s response to The Birth of a Nation

The Growing Resistance: Virginia’s Response to The Birth of a Nation, 1915 – 1925

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Leslie Wright

Biography

Leslie Wright is an adjunct professor and course author with dual careers and degrees–a bachelors in Music Business from Berklee College of Music and a master of science in Digital Marketing from Southern New Hampshire University. She lives in a small town in the northwest corner of Arkansas, but her clients span four countries.

She started in the music business at age 6, working nightly in a music theater and touring in the winter months. She started her own business in digital marketing when she was 16 years old, and it’s still her main line of work today. Her daily tasks include developing/designing websites, graphic design, branding, marketing research, demographics and buyer persona development, content writing, content marketing, and social media management. She’s extremely passionate about marketing and music, and she enjoys applying shared principles to both careers!

She is an “outside the box” thinker and believes that learning happens when a person is engaged, interested, and applying principles. She seeks to build confidence and excitement in students, and is always willing to offer grace to students who need support in order to succeed. She’s optimistic, ambitious, and is continually on a quest for more knowledge every day.

What are your hobbies?

Singing, songwriting, playing piano, spending time on my boat and in my pool, sports, sports card collecting, VR

Tell us about your favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

I’ve never been to Vermont! 🙂

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