HumIn Focus

John Christman is Professor of Philosophy, Political Science, and Women’s Studies. He is the author of numerous articles and books in social and political philosophy, specializing in topics such as the social conception of the self, theories of justice and oppression, and the idea of freedom. His books include The Myth of Property: Toward an Egalitarian Theory of Ownership (Oxford), The Politics of Persons: Individual Autonomy and Socio-historical Selves (Cambridge), and Social and Political Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge). He is the editor of The Inner Citadel: Essays on Individual Autonomy (Oxford) and co-editor, with Joel Anderson, of Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism: New Essays (Cambridge).

Matt Jordan is Professor and Head of the Department of Film Production and Media Studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. In addition to serving as Executive Producer & Creative Consulting Producer for HumIn Focus, he teaches film and media studies and directs Penn State’s News Literacy Initiative. His academic writing explores how popular media forms and media technologies are used to constitute and reify aspects of personal identity and cultural ideology. In addition to dozens of articles and essays, he is the author of Le Jazz: Jazz and French Cultural Identity (Illinois) and Danger Sound Klaxon!: The Horn that Changed History (UVA).

Lauren Kooistra, Associate Research Professor of Humanities, earned a Ph.D. in Music Education from Penn State University with a dissertation entitled The Experiences of Two Young Children in Informal Piano Lesson Settings: Expressions of Meaning and Value. Holding previous degrees in both Piano Performance (B.M., Gordon College) and Piano Performance and Pedagogy (M.M., Westminster Choir College), Lauren is interested in the ways that young children express and develop their musicianship within the contexts of their lived experience, with implications for learning and teaching. Her research focuses on the application of these aspects within piano lesson settings, and her scholarship has been internationally published and presented.

Mark Stitzer has nearly twenty years of experience behind the camera as a cinematographer and editor for projects ranging from television spots to feature-length documentaries and narrative films. Some of his recent credits include the PBS documentary “Speaking Grief”, and the environmental film “Water Blues: Green Solutions” for which he was awarded an Emmy for his cinematography. Stitzer currently works as a videographer and editor at WPSU-TV.

Andy Grant is always exploring new ways to create and tell compelling stories. He has worked in television and video production for fifteen years, including long and short-form documentary work for both broadcast and digital media. Grant has worked for several production companies including Driftwood Productions in State College, PA, and WNED-TV Buffalo/Toronto. He is currently the Lead Producer of Digital Media at WPSU Penn State.