Vanessa Domine
Chair, Program Committee

Vanessa Domine was born and raised in San Jose, California. Growing up with technology and a father who worked for IBM she became a scholar of communication within the California State University system—graduating from San Jose State University with bachelor and master degrees in Communication Studies. During this time she taught courses in public speaking, interpersonal communication and critical thinking and decision-making. Her masters thesis discursively analyzed from a critical perspective the Channel One controversy and subsequently received statewide honors for outstanding social science research.

Vanessa transplanted herself to the east coast in 1995 to earn a PhD. in Media Ecology from New York University. Vanessa's doctoral dissertation, Hacking Through the Billboard Jungle, explored commercial media literacy among adolescent students and received honors for Distinguished Research in the field of Mass Communications by the National Communication Association. While living in New York City, Vanessa she worked with Neil Postman, taught in the NYU Expository Writing Program and also worked as a media education and technology consultant for the Media Workshop New York, a not-for-profit professional development organization of the Bertelsmann Foundation in partnership with the Center for Children and Technology. Vanessa provided educators with hundreds of hours of professional development in the form of workshops, consulting, training and presentations and co-taught 7th and 8th grade Social Studies and Science classes at the Museum School. As Director of Special Projects, she managed the Brooklyn Principals Designing for Change Project to facilitate educational renewal through the critical and creative uses of new media and technology. Much of Dr. Domine’s doctoral and school-based work is reflected in her first book, Rethinking Technology in Schools (Peter Lang, 2009).

Dr. Domine is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Montclair State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in technology and pedagogy within Montclair’s nationally acclaimed teacher education program. She has designed more than 21 courses in the area of educational media and technology and authored numerous policy reports. Dr. Domine has written numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and web content on the subjects of critical pedagogy, media literacy education, educational technology and technology planning. Recent publications include A Social History of Media, Technology and Schooling; Commerce in Schools: Four US Perspectives; and Four Steps to Standards Integration. Much of her work is accessible through her professional website: Project Literacy Among Youth (PLAY) at www.kidsplay.org.