LAURA COOK KENNA
Education
PhD, American Studies, George Washington University, Washington, DC
- Dissertation: “Dangerous Men, Dangerous Media: Constructing Ethnicity, Race, and Media’s Impacts through the Gangster Image, 1959-2007.”
- Co-directors: M. McAlister and T. Guglielmo. Committee: Gayle Wald, James Miller, Suleiman Osman, Chad Heap
BA, Political Science, highest distinction, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
- Certificate of Specialization: Macroeconomics
- University Scholars Program, Academic Excellence Scholarship
- Evan Pugh Scholar (top 0.5% of graduating class), Phi Beta Kappa
Fellowships and Grants
Gaming Research Fellowship (archival research), Center for Gaming Research, University of Nevada Las Vegas University Libraries, 2009-2010
Postdoctoral Fellow in American Studies, George Washington University, 2008-2009
Scholarly Travel Grant, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, GWU, 2006 and 2007
Excellence Fellowship in American Studies, George Washington University, 2006-2007
Graduate Research Award (for archival research at the Immigrant History Research Center, University of Minnesota), Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, GWU, 2006
Visiting Research Fellowship First Alternate (archival research), Balch Ethnic Studies Institute, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2005-2006
University Fellowship, George Washington University, 2002-2003
Jacob K. Javits Fellowship ( 4 years tuition and stipend, one of 60 fellows across the social sciences, arts, and humanities), US Department of Education, 2000-2005
Scholarly Publications
“Making Exploitation Black: How 70s ‘Blaxploitation’ Discourse Marginalized Industry History and Constructed Black Viewers’ Taste,” chapter in Beyond Blaxploitation. Gerald R. Butters, Jr. and Novotny Lawrence, eds., Wayne State University Press, 2016
“TV Gangsters and the History of the Italian American Anti-Defamation Movement,” (solicited) Italian American Review. special edition on Italian Americans and Television, Laura Ruberto and Jonathan Cavallero, eds,summer 2016
“The Promise of Gangster Glamour,” chapter 5 in Frontiers in Chance. David Schwartz, ed. UNLV Gaming Press, June 2013.
“The Promise of Gangster Glamour: Sinatra, the Strip, and Alluring, Ethnicized Excess.” Occasional Paper Series 6. Las Vegas: Center for Gaming Research, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2010.
“Exemplary Consumer-Citizens and Protective State-Stewards: How Reformers Shaped Censorship Outcomes Regarding The Untouchables.” The Velvet Light Trap. 63 (Spring 2009) pp. 34-44.
Review of Empire, by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. American Studies International40:1 (February 2002) pp. 83-4.
Invited Lectures
“Crabbers and Corporation Men: Pop Culture Negotiations of American Masculinity and American Capitalism.” American Studies Series, Western University, Ontario, January 2018
“The Promise of Gangster Glamour,” Gaming Research Colloquium Series, Center for Gaming Research, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, May 2010
“Competing Understandings of Media in the History of Anti-Defamation,” Philip V. Cannistraro Seminar Series in Italian American Studies, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College/City University of New York, October 2009
Academic Positions
Faculty, Trinity Forum Academy, August 2013 -2017
- Redesigned curriculum for thesis requirement, resulting in higher satisfaction of organizations’s Board of Directors and better reviews of experience from thesis writers
- Oversaw 40+ theses from topic choice to final draft, giving feedback on intermediate drafts
- Taught fellows to engaging culture appreciatively, critically, and conversationally through seminars, film discussions, and writing
Regular Guest Instructor, Foreign Service Institute,U. S. Dept. of State, March 2012 -2015
- “Americana and U.S. Cultural Values” session, part of the Foundations of Public Diplomacy Course
- Equipped 600 cultural attachés and press officers in-training with tools to analyze and explain American media culture and the forces shaping it
Professorial Lecturer, American Studies, George Washington University, Spring 2014
- “U. S. Media and Cultural history” lecture, Supervised two graduate students
Visiting Assistant Professor of American Studies, George Washington University, 2009-2010
- Taught :American Cinema, U.S. Media & Cultural History, Cultural Criticism (redesigned course)
- Supervised four graduate teaching assistants in leading discussions, managing classrooms, and grading assignments
Professorial Lecturer of Film Studies, George Washington University, Fall 2008
- Designed and taught Film Theory course
Visiting Assistant Professor of American Studies, George Washington University, Spring 2008
- Designed and taught: American Cinema lecture, Research in The 1970s, Senior Thesis Seminar
- Served as advisor on nine undergraduate senior thesis projects
- Supervised two graduate teaching assistants in leading discussions, managing classrooms, and grading assignments
Lecturer in American Studies, George Washington University, Spring 2007
- Designed and taught: “American Television” seminar
Freelance Consulting and Editorial Projects
Training and Development Projects:
Bellwether Communications, Washington DC, November 2018
Consulted with Content Director on developing a new, book concept to book proposal editorial service for the firm
Openfields Consulting, Greenville, SC, February-April 2018
Developed outline of custom learning experience for corporate leaders to develop and polish op-ed writing skills
Freelance Substantive Editing, 2010-
Created project timelines, enforced deadlines, identified gaps in reasoning or research, suggested revisions to organization, gave challenging feedback diplomatically, advocated for reader-friendliness, edited for voice and style consistency
- “It’s Personal: Technology and the Public Good,” Stephanie Ricker Schulte, manuscript
- On the Threshold of Manifest Destiny: Gender and National Expansion in Florida.Laurel Clark Shire, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016
- “Feminists Against Facts, Fairness, and the Rule of Law,” Ch. 9 in The Silencing. Kirsten Powers, Regnery, 2015
- Chronic Youth: Disability, Sexuality, and Rehabilitation in American Culture. Julie Passanante Elman, NYU Press, 2014
- Cached: Decoding the Internet in Global Popular Culture. Stephanie Ricker Schulte, NYU Press, 2013
Conference Papers
“Contingency Plans: The Horizon for PhDs Beyond the Academic Marketplace,” Console-ing Passions Conference, Columbia, MO, April 2014
“An Ironic and (or?) Intimate Interface with Otherness: Grand Theft Auto IV’s Offers of Affective Engagement with Ethnic and Racial Difference,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Boston, MA, March 2012
“Out Italian-ing the Italians: Gangsterism as Ethnic Emulation and Racial Rivalry in Black Caesar,” American Studies Association, San Antonio, TX, November 2010
“Governmentality and Grand Theft Auto: Interacting with and Policing Racialized Criminality,” American Studies Association, Washington, DC, November 2009
Commentator, “9/11 Vernaculars Panel,” American Studies Association, Albuquerque, NM, October 2008
“‘I Can’t Turn the Other Cheek on This. … My Father Was a Knight of Columbus’: ‘Christopher’ and the Contested Construction of Italian-American Identity,” “The Sopranos: A Wake” Conference, Fordham University, New York, NY, May 2008
“The ‘New Ethnicity’ and the Auteur: The Discursive Rendering of Martin Scorsese,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Philadelphia, PA, March 2008
Session Organizer/Presenter. Panel: “The Emergence of Las Vegas Culture at Mid-Century: Glamour, Organized Crime, and Performance,”
Paper: “Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack and the ‘Gangster Glamour’ of the Strip,” American Studies Association, Philadelphia, PA, October 2007
Chair/Presenter. Panel: “Constructing the Television Viewer: Government Hearings, Viewer Characterizations, and the Public Good,”
Paper: “The TV Viewer and the Juvenile Delinquent: The Senate Judiciary Committee Subpoenas The Untouchables,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Vancouver, BC, March 2006
Professional Development
- “Section 508: What It Is and Why It’s Important” GSA course, certificate of completion
- “Writing a Proposal,” Lynda.com, 3.85 CPE credits
- “Writing a Business Report,” Lynda.com, 1.75 PDUs
- Project Management Foundations,” Lynda.com, 3.25 PDUs
- “Intro to HTML/CSS: Build Your Own Website,” Thinkful code school
- “Copyediting,”University of California Berkeley Extension, 2 CEUs
- “Grammar, Mechanics, & Usage for Editors” University of California Berkeley Ext., 2 CEUs
General Interest Publications (as Laura Kenna)
“Charles Dickens Still Haunts Christmas.” ChristianityToday.com. December 17, 2017. https://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/december/charles-dickens-still-haunts-christmas.html
“The Moral Truths of Suburbicon.” ChristianityToday.com. November 3, 2017. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/november-web-only/suburbicon-review.html
“Atomic Blond Delivers Female Action without a Hero.” ChristianityToday.com. August 4, 2017. https://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/august/atomic-blonde-delivers-female-action-without-action-hero.html
“The Beguiled Reveals the Cracks in Our Imagined Selves.” ChristianityToday.com. July 11, 2017. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/july-web-only/beguiled-reveals-cracks-in-our-imagined-selves.html
“Farewell to TV’s Most Powerful Ladies.” ChristianityToday.com. February 9, 2017. https://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/february/farewell-tvs-most-powerful-single-ladies.html
“Big Little Lies Tells the Truth.” ChristianityToday.com. March 10, 2017. https://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/march/big-little-lies-tells-truth.html
“The Crown: Balancing Family and Calling is a Royal Pain.” ChristianityToday.com. December 2, 2016. https://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2016/december/crown-balancing-family-and-calling-is-royal-pain.html
“The Good Place Imagines an Eternity of Ethics Lessons.” ChristianityToday.com. October 27, 2016. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/october-web-only/good-place-imagines-eternity-of-ethics-lessons.html
“Tom Clancy Wrote America Well.” USAToday. October 8, 2013. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/10/08/tom-clancy-cold-war-jack-ryan-column/2948299/
“What The Americans Can Teach Us About Marriage.” Rare May 10, 2013
“Lost at Sea.” Rare April 23, 2013.
“The History of Gin.” Book Review. The Washington Times. December 13, 2012. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/13/the-history-of-gin/?page=all
Laura Cook Kenna 