College of Communication - Radio, Television & Film
RTF Faculty & Staff
The Radio, Television and Film faculty and staff are dedicated to the academic and vocational success of their students. The faculty do what they teach. They are highly dedicated and talented individuals with national reputations in their fields. The faculty includes award-winning film and video makers, documentarians, media industry specialists, scriptwriters, published authors and internationally recognized scholars. Because they draw on many years of experience in their fields, they bring the real world into the classroom with them every day.
The faculty's professional connections open up outstanding opportunities for internships in radio and TV stations, media networks, production facilities, corporate media departments, and the local, regional and national film and video industry.
Joseph Bierman, Department Chair
B.A. Rowan University
M.F.A. New York University
Ph.D. Regent University
Dr. Bierman teaches Film Production 1, 2 and Advanced Filmmaking, Screenwriting, and Contemporary International Cinema.
His research interests are in film production theory and international film production practices, particularly in the former Soviet Union and Ireland. Dr. Bierman’s films have appeared in more than 40 film festivals and he has won the CINE award for two of his films "Araby" and "The Telltale Heart". His most recent film “The Open Window” had its premiere at the 2008 New Jersey International Film Festival at Rutgers University.
Sheri Chinen Biesen
B.A. University of Southern California
M.A. University of Southern California
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin
Professor Biesen is author of Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), described by American Historical Review as, "the most detailed and thoroughly researched interpretation of this era's American film noir." She has contributed to Film Noir Reader 4, Gangster Film Reader, Film and History, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Literature/Film Quarterly, Popular Culture Review, The Historian, Television and Television History, and edited The Velvet Light Trap.
She teaches American Film Directors, Film History II, Film Noir, Film Genres, Gangsters/NeoNoir, Film History I, and RTF Research & Criticism.
Keith Brand
B.F.A.. West Virginia University
M.Ed.. Temple University
Keith Brand is an Associate Professor of Radio TV Film at Rowan University. He teaches courses in Sound Communication and Radio Production. Mr. Brand has over 25 years of broadcast radio experience as host of Sleepy Hollow on WXPN FM in Philadelphia.
He is also a freelance journalist, producing features for NPR's 'All Things Considered', 'Weekend Edition Saturday', and 'Justice Talking'. Mr. Brand has also designed sound and music for Independence Seaport Museum exhibits and People's Light and Theater Company plays. In addition to his work as a creative artist, Mr. Brand is also a board member of the Association of Independents in Radio and PhillyCAM.
Mike Donovan
B.A. New Jersey City University
M.A. New York University
Professor Donovan teaches courses in the history and business of television. In 2002 he was appointed to the endowed professorial chair created by a $1 million gift to the Radio/TV/Film Department from the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation. In 2006 he received the Distinguished Education Service Award from the Broadcast Education Association (BEA). His research interests include TV history, regulation and programming and he is a regular contributor to the website TV Worth Watching and serves as educational consultant to the King Family Foundation.
Ned Eckhardt
B.A. Colgate University
M.A. Case Western Reserve University
Professor Eckhardt teaches Applied Media Aesthetics, Techniques of Documentary Filmmaking, Television Documentary Production, Advanced Television Production, and Television Program Packaging. He is an award-winning documentary maker. His latest documentary, "Seabrook Farms Remembered," was funded by the New Jersey Historical Commission. His book Documentary Production Handbook is published by McFarland Press. He is a founding member of the Documentary Working Group of the UFVA Association and a board member of the Downbeach Film Festival.
Carl Frandino
Grahm Jr. College
State University of New York at New Paltz
Carl Frandino has been practicing audio & video production for over 33 years. Serving at Rowan University for the past 31 years, Carl provides Rowan's College of Communication with engineering management, equipment repair and electronic maintenance. Carl continues to assists in the day-to-day operation of the video production studios and audio/video editing suites. Carl’s past accomplishments include supervising the design and installation of new TV studio sets, ETC studio lighting system, and upgraded digital effect and graphic systems in the Bozorth Hall Studios.
Ken Kaleta
B.A. Villanova University
M.A. Villanova University
Ph.D. New York University
Dr. Kaleta teaches Film History and Appreciation I and Movie Industry. He has written several books: David Lynch; Hanif Kureishi: Postcolonial Storyteller; Conversations with Hal Hartley; and With The Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia. He co-produces with Professor Mike Donovan the "Talking Pictures" series which brings working industry professionals to the College to speak to our students.
In addition, Dr. Kaleta continues to research independent film and video projects and installations.
Judith Lancioni
B.A. College of New Rochelle
M.A. Ohio University
Ph.D. Temple University
Dr. Lancioni teaches RTF Research and Criticism, Images of Women in Film, and Television Program Packaging. She has published articles on The Civil War, Billy Elliot, Desperate Housewives, Survivor, and Star Trek. She also edited Fix Me Up: Essays on Television Dating and Makeover Shows.
Her research interests include the films of Ken Burns, reality television, documentary theory, gender issues in film and television, the science fiction genre, and magical realism.
Jonathan Mason
B.A University of Miami
M.F.A Columbia University (NY)
Professor Mason teaches Film Production 1 and 2, as well as Screenwriting. He has produced several award-winning features and shorts, and has served as a creative executive, script consultant, and script translator/adaptor for companies such as Miramax/Dimension, Belladonna Productions, Pathé International, as well as cultural institutions such as the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA. in 2009, Mason co-founded Bullet Pictures, a New York-based production company whose films most recently screened at the Venice, Tribeca, Berlin, Toronto and New York Film Festivals.
Diana Nicolae
B.A. University of Bucharest
M.F.A.. University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Diana Nicolae is an accomplished documentary filmmaker with a diverse professional background. She has worked as a TV news reporter, a writer for BBC Radio, a creative director and writer, and as an advertising copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather. Her documentary films have been screened in festivals and museums around the world, and are focused on uncovering neglected stories. Professor Nicolae teaches TV Production I & II; Documentary Film Production.
Sean O’Leary
B.A. in Communications – Glassboro State College, 1992
M.A. in Writing – Rowan University, 2005
Sean O'Leary is an award-winning independent filmmaker and independent publisher. He occasionally provides character voices for the animated web series “The Adventures of Dr. Shroud” and “The Hyrde” produced by Earworm Media.
Jonathan Olshefski
B.A. Temple University
M.F.A. Temple University
Jonathan Olshefski is an artist, web/interactive designer, photographer and filmmaker whose work strives to give voice to issues and themes concerning marginalized urban communities. His work has screened internationally at various film festivals and has also been picked up for broadcast. He is currently working on a variety of linear and non-linear creative projects while researching the potential for interactive documentary practices and formats to empower subjects and engage audiences in unprecidented ways. Professor Olshefski teaches Introduction to New Media and New Media Production.
Christopher J. Winkler
B.A. Temple University
M.A. Syracuse University
Mr. Winkler is the Television Production Coordinator for the College of Communication and oversees scheduling and production in two television studios, several audio and video editing suites, and manages the operation and flow of field production equipment in and out of the RTF Equipment Room. He supervises student lab assistants and provides technical training for equipment operation. He also serves as advisor to the student-run Rowan Television Network. Mr. Winkler has worked in various technical roles for Philadelphia-area production companies, and continues to work professionally as a freelance camera operator, editor and associate director for productions by the Philadelphia Phillies and NFL Films.
