New article by Dr. Meredith Bak examines toys-to-life video game Disney Infinity

The article, entitled “Building Blocks of the Imagination: Children, Creativity, and the Limits of Disney Infinity,” appears in a special issue of The Velvet Light Trap on Kids’ Media. In it, Bak explores claims that the game offers children unlimited creative opportunities and critically considers commercial claims to kids creativity in contemporary media culture.  Source… continue reading

Samantha White wins Sport Literature Association Graduate Essay Contest

The Department of Childhood Studies would like to congratulate Ph.D. student Samantha White, winner of the Sport Literature Association Graduate Essay Contest for 2016.  Samantha unanimously won for her essay entitled “Negotiating Female Athletic Identity in Educational Spaces through the Works of R.R. Knudson.”  Samantha’s essay will be published in a forthcoming issue of Aethlon: The… continue reading

Congratulations to Ellen Malven and Abigail Todhunter-Reid winners of the David K. Sengstack Fellowship for 2016-17

Ellen Malven’s research which is tentatively titled “Adolescents, Media, and the Consumer-Environmental Connection”—has three primary goals:  1) to identify potential relationships between adolescents’ consumer and environmental attitudes and behaviors, 2) to explore adolescents’ perceptions of framing and persuasive tactics in media and advertisements focused on consumerism and environmentalism, and 3) to identify potential relationships between… continue reading

Congratulations to Eva Lupold the Marsh-Gillette Fellow for 2016-17

Eva Lupold’s dissertation adopts an interdisciplinary approach that bridges disability studies, girlhood studies, and media studies.  The project examines discourses surrounding disabled girlhoods that circulate in mass media which are constructed by adult “authorities,” as well as the way that disabled girls negotiate such discourses in online platforms.  Using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, Eva assesses the… continue reading

2015-2016 Outstanding Graduating Senior Winners!

The department of Childhood Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015-2016 Outstanding Graduating Senior award: Ndidiamaka Onwudinjo and Darnell Williams. Congratulations!”

The Department of Childhood Studies welcomes Dr. Wenhua Lu

The Department of Childhood Studies is delighted to welcome Dr. Wenhua Lu as a new assistant professor Childhood Studies beginning September 1, 2016.  Dr. Lu is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University.  She earned her Ph.D. in Health Education from Texas A&M University in 2014. … continue reading