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UCLA's GSE&IS + Sudikoff Family Institute for Education & New Media Taps Douglas Kellner As Fellow for 2003 - 04

The Sudikoff Family Institute For Education & New Media, as part of UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS), has announced it has awarded its fellowship for 2003 - 04 to Douglas Kellner, who holds the distinguished George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education. The Sudikoff Family Institute, founded by philanthropists Jeffrey and Joyce Sudikoff, was established to create a public forum for the research and scholarship of GSE&IS faculty whose expertise can contribute meaningfully to the awareness and understanding of important issues in education and new media.

A cultural critic and scholar, Dr. Kellner's work focuses on the disciplines of cultural studies and philosophy of education and on the relationships among technology, education, and society. Dr. Kellner's work calls for a reconstruction of education and its teaching methods in order to respond constructively and progressively to the technological and social changes of the new millennium. By developing new literacies as response to the technological revolution of the 21^st century, Professor Kellner looks to empower individuals and groups traditionally excluded and extend the scope of education beyond the classroom to include new media environments.

Dr. Kellner has created several popular websites, of which his principle site, www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner, receives an estimated 1,000 visitors a day. His high profile Internet weblog (blog), "BlogLeft: Critical Interventions," explores the current U.S. political climate. He uses his websites in seminars and lectures to further work that explores how the Internet and new instructional and multimedia technologies can advance education.

The author of many books on social theory, politics, history, and culture, Dr. Kellner's most recent work includes Media Spectacle (Routledge, 2003) and From 9/11 to Terror War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). Other books and articles include Media Culture (Routledge, 1995), Television and the Crisis of Democracy (Westview Press, 1990), and "Critical Perspectives on Visual Literacy," (The Journal of Visual Literacy, Spring 2002). Dr. Kellner also hosted a public access television program, "Alternative Views," for 18 years and produced over 600 programs; the show won the George F. Stoney Award for excellence in public affairs broadcasting.

Dr. Kellner joined the faculty of UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies in 1997, after having served as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin from 1985 to 1997. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Columbia University.

Jeffrey and Joyce Sudikoff are long-standing supporters of UCLA and the GSE&IS, and have contributed over $2.3 million to foster its work, including an endowment of $1.5 million in support of The Sudikoff Family Institute for Education and New Media.