HRCC Featured Faculty-January
January 17, 2022 - Ireland Ingram
Happy New Year from the HRCC! With the new year, comes another Faculty Feature! This month’s faculty feature is Geri Alumit Zeldes, Ph.D. She is a tenured Professor in MSU’s School of Journalism and serves as ComArtSci’s Faculty Excellence Advocate, helping recruit and retain staff and faculty and tries to move the needle of awesome-ness in the building.
About her work:
Dr. Zeldes doubles as an academic and practitioner. She has a dozen best paper awards from international communication associations and 100+ honors and screenings for her documentary films and other creative scholarship that include the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Award for coverage of social justice issues from the Asian American Journalists Association, Edward R. Murrow and Unity awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, two national Best of Festival Awards from the Broadcast Education Association, Top 25 Public Vote recognition for an exhibit in ArtPrize, four regional Emmys ®, two Tellys, and a handful of awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Michigan Association of Broadcasters and Michigan Associated Press Editors’ Association awards.
In October 2017, the Filipina Women's Network recognized her with a "100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World Award" in the category Innovator and Thought Leader. She was named on the Diversity Champion Honor Roll by the Race Relations & Diversity Taskforce in Birmingham, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.
She is writing her first book, "Flow & Flint Town," which looks at musical and psychological flow experienced by rap artists in the city since the 1980s. Zeldes' film "Breed & Bootleg: Legends of Flint Rap Music" debuted in December at the Detroit Free Press Film Festival. A short doc film "The Documented: Oral Histories of Spartan Students" will debut in fall 2021. Zeldes' film "Breed & Bootleg: Legends of Flint Rap Music" screened at 25 venues in 2021 and was covered by nearly as many media outlets. Her new film, "Brenda's Story," will air in May 2022 on WKAR-TV.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING
News coverage of race, ethnicity and religion; documentary filmmaking
Thematic Research Areas:
Research Centers and Labs:
Trailers for upcoming events:
Jan. 20 & 21: At MSU's Social Justice Art Festival, students will present work that will be published in the book "Flow & Flint Town," which is an outgrowth of the film, "Breed & Bootleg." Trailer: https://vimeo.com/482420068
Feb. 16: Will screen "That Strange Summer" at a UM American Culture course. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/154054352
May: WKAR-TV will broadcast "Brenda's Story." See website for more info: https://www.thedocumentedstories.com/