Media and Communications (B.A.)
Faculty
Gurdon Leete
Associate Professor of Art / Media and Communications
B.F.A., M.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute
Professor Leete has worked as a freelance artist in Web design, graphic design, and 3-D animation. He is also an award-winning graphics software engineer.
Stuart Tanner
Assistant Professor of Media and Communications
M.A., Balliol College, Oxford
Professor Tanner is an acclaimed producer and director of documentary films for the BBC, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, and others.
Isabelle Matzkin
Co-Director, Creative Musical Arts Program
Assistant Professor of Music and Maharishi Vedic Science
B.M. summa cum laude & special honors, University of Iowa
M.A., University of Iowa
Isabelle Matzkin has extensively studied the connections between sound, music, and consciousness. She teaches the theory of the music of the ancient Vedic civilization of India, called Gandharva Veda, and its correlation to Maharishi's Science and Technology of Consciousness. She was the head of the Institute of Maharishi Gandharva Veda at MUM for 12 years, and is now in heading up the development of the University’s new Creative Musical Arts Program.
Terry Fairchild
Professor of Literature
B.A., University of Nevada
M.A., University of Utah
Ph.D., University of Iowa
Dr. Fairchild teaches courses in the art and history of film. In addition to film history, his research interests include modern drama, twentieth-century literature, and media studies.
Jane Pitt
Co-Director, Creative Musical Arts Program
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music
Ph.D., Maharishi University of Enlightenment
M.A. Summa Cum Laude, Music Theory and Literature, Eastern Michigan University
B.A. Music Education, Oakland University
Jane Roman Pitt is an award-winning composer and singer-songwriter. She studied composition with William Albright in Ann Arbor and Anthony Iannoccone, and won the grand prize in the International Choral Competition of the Amadeus Choir of Toronto.
James Fairchild
Associate Professor of Literature and Writing
B.A., Brigham Young University
M.A., University of Utah
Ph.D., University of Iowa
Dr. Fairchild has extensive experience as a journalist, photographer, writer, and publications editor, and teaches courses in photojournalism and screenwriting.
Nynke Passi, M. A.
Assistant Professor of Literature and Writing
B.A., Maharishi International University
M.A., San Francisco State University
Nynke Passi is a distinguished writer and poet whose work has been published in numerous anthologies and literary magazines, including The Gulf Coast Review, The Anthology of New England Writers, Ink, and The Dryland Fish.
Kenneth West
Assistant Professor of Management
B.A., Maharishi International University
M.B.A., Maharishi International University
Professor West has extensive knowledge and experience of almost every aspect of commercial photography and printing. He worked for many years for Hallmark Cards, has previously been Director of the MUM Press, and is the photographer for many of the University's projects.
Jessica Keen
Instructor of Media and Communications
B.A., Queen’s University
M.A., Saint Mary’s University
Jessica Keen is passionate about socially-engaged media creation, especially narratives from the African continent, documentary film, social entrepreneurship and the innovative use of Information and Communication Technologies within the social sector. She teaches courses in video editing, as well as social entrepreneurship for media and communication.
Susan McGuire Romero
Instructor of Media and Communications
BFA, Virginia Commonwealth University
TESOL certificate, ITT Online
Susan Romero has over 15 years of visual communications experience specializing in print design. She has won multiple design awards for her magazine work.
Gabriel Romero
Instructor of Media and Communications
A.A., A.S., Santa Barbara City College
Gabriel Romero has worked as a graphic designer, product development manager, and marketing creative manager for a variety of publishing companies for the past 10 years. He has extensive experience developing effective marketing campaigns and producing visual communication designs for marketing teams.
Kaeli Ferguson
Instructor of Music
B.A., University of Alabama at Birmingham
Kaeli Ferguson has a special interest in world music. While attending college, her music studies centered around historical musicology and ethnomusicology. Her primary instrument is voice, but she also plays the trumpet, French horn, Native American flute, and piano in a variety of settings.
Cullen Thomas
Instructor of Media and Communications
B.A., Maharishi University of Management
Cullen Thomas has worked as a producer for David Lynch Foundation Television for more than two years, where he helped produce several documentaries, including Saving the Disposable Ones and Paul McCartney at Radio City. He has also worked on a variety of feature film productions for several production houses.
James Moore
Adjunct Instructor of Media and Communications
MBA, Maharishi University of Management
James Moore teaches radio production. He is general manager of KRUU-LP 100.1 FM, an independent, grassroots, solar-powered radio station. He has been music editor of the Iowa Source since 2002, is an accomplished musician, published poet, and former co-host of the Film for Thought Series.
Geoff Boothby
Adjunct Instructor of Media and Communications
B.F.A., Maharishi University of Management
Geoff Boothby received his B.F.A. in Film and Video. His films have received awards at film festivals across Iowa. He currently works for David Lynch foundation Television and his documentaries have been featured on Pitchfork.com, IFC.com, and NotCot.org among others.
Edward Sarath
Visiting Faculty
Professor of Music
Department of Jazz and Improvisation Studies
School of Music
University of Michigan
Edward Sarath has received fellowship grants for both jazz composition and performance from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the American Council of Learned Societies to design a course entitled "Creativity and Consciousness." His articles appear in the Journal of Music Theory, International Journal for Music Education, Jazz Research Papers, Jazz Educators Journal and Jazz Changes.
Kevin Thomas
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music
M.M., University of Miami’s Frost School of Music
B.A. cum laude, Berklee College of Music
B.A., University of San Francisco
Graduate, Musicians Institute
Kevin Thomas has written, arranged, performed, and recorded the music for half a dozen CDs, had international radio airplay, performed every style of music imaginable with music groups all over the U.S., toured in southern Europe, and composed and arranged orchestral compositions.
Paul Fauerso
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music
B.M., cum laude, Trinity University
Paul Fauerso is a singer/songwriter, composer/arranger, keyboardist and producer. He has composed and produced many award-winning radio and TV commercials, infomercials, and feature film scores. His jazz/rock group, The Loading Zone, shared the Fillmore stage in the 1960s with such legendary groups as Cream, The Who, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Sam and Dave, Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, and many more.
Donald Sosin
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music
M.A., Columbia University
B. Mus. with honors, University of Michigan
Donald Sosin has played on Broadway, taught songwriting nationwide, and lectured on film music. His work as a silent film composer/pianist includes major film archives and film festivals in NY, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Germany, Italy and China.
Patricia Saunders
Adjunct Instructor of Music
Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Music
Licenciate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Associate of the London College of Music
Patricia Saunders won a scholarship to study the piano in London, won several local piano competitions, and was a finalist in the piano section of the Croydon National Music Festival.