Curriculum Vitae
Meredith Carroll Ward
Film and Media Studies Program
90 Gilman Hall, The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21218
(410) 516-5048
EMPLOYMENT
The Johns Hopkins University Film and Media Studies Program
Lecturer, 2008-present
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Screen Cultures Ph.D. Program, Northwestern University, 2015
Dissertation: “Chatter, Reverberation, and the Static in the System: Noise in American Cinema Culture.”
Abstract: This work investigates the role of noise in American motion picture culture from the early stages of film exhibition in the late nineteenth century up through the twenty-first century, with modes of mobile viewing.
Advisor: M. Scott Curtis
M.A. in Radio/TV/Film Department, Northwestern University, 2004
B.A. in The Writing Seminars Department/Film and Media Studies Program, The Johns Hopkins University, 2003
ACADEMIC HONORS
Dissertation Award, Society for Cinema and Media Studies. A competitive award given annually for outstanding dissertation submitted to the predominant international organization of film and media scholars. Awarded at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference in Atlanta, GA. April 2016.
Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Advising Award Finalist, 2016.
Award recognizes a faculty member in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences who has demonstrated a dedication to undergraduates and their education though excellence in advising.
Johns Hopkins University Excellence in Teaching Award Finalist, 2012 and 2013.
Award recognizes excellence in teaching. Nominees are honored for “their enthusiasm in the classroom, interest in their students, and ability to teach complex and difficult information."
Alice B. Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Mellon Research Grant ($2,000), 2006-2007
Mellon-funded research grant enabled original archival research in the Research Council Special Collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, California
Northwestern University Graduate Research Grant ($1,500), 2006-2007
Enabled original research in the Research Council Special Collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, California
Northwestern University Graduate Fellowship, 2003-2007
Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Maryland Chapter, inducted 2003
PUBLICATIONS
“The Soundscape of the Theater: Acoustical Design and Cinema Theaters as Vehicles for Aesthetic Absorption,” Sound, Music and the Moving Image 10, no. 1 (Forthcoming, Fall 2016).
“Songs of the Sonic Body: Noise, the Audience, and Early Moving Pictures,” in Rethinking American Studies, Ed. Jan Olsson and Kingsley Bolton, 101-124. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2010.
"Gilles Deleuze: Cinema and Philosophy (review)." Modern Language Notes 123, no. 5 (2008): 1213-1218.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
As Presenter
“The Sounds of Breath: Creating Silence and Experiencing Unexpected Noise at Cinemas,” SCMS 2016. Atlanta, Georgia. March 2016.
“The Sound Industry and the Golden Egg: Noise, Electro-acoustical Research, and the Adjustment to Film Sound.” SCMS 2015. Montreal, Canada. March 2015.
“Black Boxes and Rich, Repressed Sounds: Architecting Listening in the Cinema House.” SCMS 2014. Seattle, Washington. March 2014.
“Haunting Echoes in the Cinema: The Spectator’s Body and the Repression of a History of Sound.” Screen Journal Conference 2011. Glasgow, Scotland. July 2011.
“One Move Can Save a Generation: Politics, Spectacle, and the Step Up Series.” Popular Culture Association Conference 2011. San Antonio, Texas. April 2011.
“The Studios Battle the Shamans of Sound: Early Sonic Negotiations and the Personnel in Hollywood.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2010. Los Angeles. March 2010.
“Silent Spectators and Sexual Difference: Art Cinema Spectatorship Then and Now.” Screen Journal Conference 2009. Glasgow, Scotland. July 2009.
“Longings Cinematic and Carnal: Goodbye, Dragon Inn and the Erotics of Movie Theatre Sound.” Screen Journal Conference 2008. Glasgow, Scotland. July 2008.
“Insurgent Sound and Rumpled Suits: Art Versus Engineering in Early Sound Pictures.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2008. Philadelphia. March 2008.
“Songs of the Sonic Body: Noise, the Audience, and Early Moving Pictures.” Presented at the Chicago Film Seminar as a graduate student speaker in a season of lectures by nationally and internationally known film scholars. February 2008.
“The Prostitute’s Laughter: Promiscuous Sound and the Rhetoric of Self-Control in Early Moving Pictures.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2007. Chicago. March 2007.
“The Prostitute’s Laughter: Promiscuous Sound and the Rhetoric of Self-Control in Early Moving Pictures.” Studies in Sound: Listening in the Age of Visual Culture. Iowa City, Iowa. February 2007.
“Home(s) of the Seventh Art: Social Spectatorship and the Home Theater.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2006. Vancouver, Canada. March 2006.
“Songs of the Sonic Body.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2005. London, England. March 2005.
As Organizer and Presenter
“Pedagogy Beyond the Podium: Teaching With 21st Century Technologies,” (organizer and chair). Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2016. Atlanta, Georgia. March 2016.
SYMPOSIA AND COLLOQUIA
Organizer
Created, designed, organized and executed the event “Listening In: A Sound Symposium” – a two-day symposium on sound organized for the JHU Center for Advanced Media Studies. Secured top sound studies scholars Dr. Jonathan Sterne (McGill University), Dr. Jacob Smith (Northwestern University), Dr. Andrew Daniel (The Johns Hopkins University), and Dr. Mara Mills (New York University) as speakers. Featured a performance by influential experimental sound artists Matmos. The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. May 5-6th, 2016. https://listeninginsoundstudies.squarespace.com
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Undergraduate level
Lecturer, Film and Media Studies Program, The Johns Hopkins University, 2008-present, with experience teaching Introduction to Cinema, Film Theory, Film History, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, Television and Internet Studies, Gender Theory and the Study of Sexuality, Film and Philosophy, and Film Production.
Advisor to undergraduate students. Mentored students in applications for grants, fellowships, internships, and graduate school programs. Aided students in pursuing publication. Established connections with program’s alumni to better place students in internship and jobs. Organized events connecting undergraduates with film professionals. Supervised independent studies to enable undergraduates to pursue their academic interests. PURA grant project advisor, 2013-2014. Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Mentor, Fall 2011-present. Senior Humanities thesis advisor, Fall 2010-present. JHU Film Society Faculty Advisor, 2009-Present.
Graduate level
Affiliated faculty for the Johns Hopkins Graduate Center for Advanced Media Studies, designed to educate and enable media-based research among Ph.D. students at JHU. Currently teaching for CAMS.
Previous positions
Lecturer, Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies, 2007-2008.
Teaching Assistant, Northwestern University, 2004-2006.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Created film culture on campus through the development and, at times, creation of film groups on campus. Innovator of and Faculty Advisor to student-run film production company and film studio Studio North, a grant-giving organization enabling student filmmaking at JHU. Supervised their ongoing efforts to build film culture, and oversaw their operations. 2014-present.
Open house invited lecturer, SOHOP (Spring Open House Overnight Program), invitation based upon current student votes for outstanding lecturers.
WORK IN FILM PRODUCTION & SCREENWRITING
Writer and co-producer. Ruthie. Short film. Dir. Brian Cagle. Qualified for final round of consideration for Cannes International Film Festival. 2006.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Film Programmer, Johns Hopkins/MICA Film Centre, with the Maryland Film Festival, 2015-present
Technology and Teaching consultant, Parkway Theater Project, Baltimore, MD, 2015-present
Submission Review Committee, Maryland Film Festival, 2010-2012
Block Cinema Film Programming Committee, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston IL, 2004-2008
35mm Film Projectionist, Block Cinema, 2005-2008
Researcher, Alfred Hitchcock Film Exhibit at the Block Museum of Art, 200