Vitae

Curriculum Vitae Tyler Solon Williams, PhD

Department of Communication Studies The University of Iowa tyler-s-williams@uiowa.edu Personal contact: 109 S. Lowell St. Iowa City, IA 52245 (319) 594-4452 https://www.tylersolonwilliams.com

EDUCATION

2021 PhD, Communication Studies, University of Iowa Dissertation: “Understanding the Early Television Cartoon” Directors: Timothy Havens (Iowa) and Thomas Lamarre (University of Chicago) Committee members: Kembrew McLeod, Christopher Goetz, Laura Rigal

2011 MA, Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University Thesis: “The Mediated Meme: Form and Change in Viral Media Culture”

2008-9 Graduate coursework, Media Studies, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2006-8 Undergraduate coursework, Film and Cultural Studies, University of Minnesota

2002 BA, Philosophy, Reed College Thesis: “Analyzing the Conscious-Physical Link: On Chalmers’ Theory”

PUBLICATIONS

Forthc. “United States Studio Animation after 1950 – TV.” Entry in Encyclopedia of Animation Studies. Edited by Eric Herhuth and Annabelle Honess Roe. Bloomsbury. Entry invited for forthcoming volume

Forthc. Hanna and Barbera: Conversations. Co-editing interview collection with Kevin Sandler. University Press of Mississippi. Securing permissions and preparing manuscript for forthcoming volume

Forthc. “Saturday Morning Trojan Mouse: The Origins of the Creative-Driven Television Cartoon.” With Lev Cantoral. In Animated Mischief: 30 years of Cartoon Subversion, edited by Brian Duchaney and David Silverman. McFarland & Company. Chapter revised for forthcoming volume, awaiting final comments

Forthc. “A Cultural History of the Digital Present,” book review of Kenneth Cmiel and John Durham Peters, Promiscuous Knowledge: Information, Image, and Other Truth Games in History (2020). Journal of Communication Inquiry. Passed peer review, copy editing in advance of publication in forthcoming issue

2019 “Children’s Television Programming.” Entry in The Sage International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society. Edited by Debra L. Merskin, Sage. Published

2010 “Cel Animation.” Online wiki article, New York University. Dead Media Archive

2010 “Textual Closure (Formal).” Online wiki article, New York University. Dead Media Archive

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2021 “Principles of the Television Cartoon, or Illustrated Radio,” Society for Animation Studies annual conference, New Orleans (accepted)

2017 “Comics Origin Stories: Histories of the Present,” International Communication Association annual conference, San Diego

2017 “The Origin of Adult Swim’s ‘Minimal’ Animation,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies annual conference, Chicago

2017 “Historically Innovative Techniques of Animation,” Popular Culture Association annual conference, San Diego. Organized and chaired panel of four papers

2017 “Quick and Dirty? The World Wide Web of Pornography,” Popular Culture Association annual conference, San Diego

2017 “Notes for a Text/Genre/Media Communication Model,” Midwest Winter Workshop graduate conference, University of Iowa

2016 “‘Space Ghost Coast to Coast’: Cable Television Animation’s Devolution or Evolution?” Society for Animation Studies annual conference, Singapore

2016 “The Film Short, Long Forgotten, Has in Fact Never Left,” Jakobsen Graduate Conference, University of Iowa

2015 “Digital Video Codecs: The New Suspension of Disbelief,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies annual conference, Montréal, Canada

2014 “Genre, Identity, and Culture: Cinema and Contemporary Sociality,” Midwest Winter Workshop graduate conference, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL

2010 “Selective Appropriation as Intertextual Innovation in The Simpsons,” Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies Graduate Conference, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2021 Associate Level Certification, CIRTL. Center for the Integration of Teaching and Learning, University of Iowa

Instructor, University of Iowa

2016 Television Criticism

2012-13 Media, Advertising, and Society (two terms)

Teaching Assistant, University of Iowa

2017 Media, Music, and Culture

2014-15 Core Concepts in Communication Studies (two terms)

2014-17 Communication Theory in Everyday Life (three terms)

2013-16 The Art of Persuading Others (two terms)

Adjunct Instructor, Mercy College (NY)

2011 Media in America

Guest Instructor and Grader, University of Iowa

2017 Social Media and Society

Grader, New York University

2010 Advertising and Society

Assistant Teacher, Public School 9, Brooklyn, NY

2009-10 Reading and math, first grade classroom, through federal America Reads / America Counts program

GUEST LECTURES

2021 “Understanding the Early Television Cartoon,” invited talk for department colloquium. Communication Studies and Cinematic Arts, University of Iowa

2016 “What Do Pictures Do? Implications for Visual Rhetoric,” in-class TA lecture. The Art of Persuading Others, University of Iowa

2015 “Living in an Online World: Teenage Culture on the Viral Internet,” in-class TA lecture. Core Concepts in Communication Studies, University of Iowa, two years

2014-8 “The Kardashians, the Robertsons, and Celebrity Family Cultures,” in-class TA lecture. Communication Theory in Everyday Life, University of Iowa, four years.

SERVICE

2020-pr. Organizer, Media Studies Publishing Pipeline. Graduate student journal article writing group, University of Iowa

2018-20 Board member, Journal of Communication Inquiry. Advisory Board, two years

2017-21 Academic writing tutor and editor, University of Iowa Writing Center. Worked individually with graduate students to improve their academic writing; edited four UI nursing dissertations in APA style (for Nadia Sabbagh, Rebecca Dickinson, Bootan Ahmed, and Miyeon Kim)

2017-18 Respondent, department job candidate talks, assistant professor and associate professor positions. Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa

2016-18 Graduate student representative, Graduate Student Advisory Committee. Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, two years

2016-17 Treasurer and board member, EPX Studio. Co-planned EPXCON video game and animation conference, coordinated payments, and balanced budget

2015-19 Mentor for four incoming Media Studies PhD students in Communication Studies. Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa (Gavin Feller, Bailey Kelley, Alexander Koch, Brandon McCasland)

2015 Chaperone for 7 UI undergraduate students on trip to tour animation and gaming studios. With animator Peter Chanthanakone. San Francisco, CA

2010 Participant, Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE). Surveyed homeless population at seasonally coldest time of year in an area of New York City

2009-10 Graduate student representative, Graduate Student Organization. Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University

PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT

2021 Enrolled graduate student, Topics in Teaching and Professional Development. Department of Rhetoric, University of Iowa

2020 Participant, Teaching as Research workshop series. Center for the Integration of Teaching and Learning, University of Iowa. Developed TAR project for next teaching position, “Structuring Classroom Learning Communities”

2020 Participant, Grant Writing Seminar for Graduate Students. Workshop series Graduate College, University of Iowa

2019 Participant, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course. Mindfulness Programs, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, University of Iowa

2019 Participant, Managing the Market – Job Docs. Workshop series for preparing job application documents, Graduate College, University of Iowa

2018 Enrolled graduate student, Writing for Learned Journals. Publication preparation seminar, Graduate College, University of Iowa

2017 Paper evaluator, Jakobsen Graduate Conference. University of Iowa

2016-pr. Participant, Critical Theory Reading Group, with graduate students. University of Iowa

2015 Student mentor and collaborator, University of Iowa. Was interviewed by Iowa student for his student film. Collaborated with him on this film, and mentored him

2015 Participant, Faculty Learning Community. Affiliated with Center for Teaching, University of Iowa

2014-16 Organizer, Philosophy Reading Group, with graduate students. University of Iowa

2013-pr. Participant, Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry, faculty pre-publication workshop series. Obermann Center, University of Iowa

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

2016-19 Proofreader, weekend office manager, and customer service representative, ProofreadingPal. As junior proofreader and senior proofreader, proofread over 300,000 words in over 200 documents in all major writing styles. As weekend office manager and customer service, facilitated communication between customers, remote proofreaders and management.

2012 Technical support supervisor, New York University. Information Technology, New York, NY. Supervised and directed student employees and provided direct support to students.

2006-07 Level 2 support technician, UnitedHealth Group. Plymouth, MN. Provided escalated, project-specific computer support to company employees nationwide, in a wide range of applications.

2005 Commissions coordinator, ING Group. Minneapolis, MN. Worked with a team to complete administrative financial procedures for company insurance agents.

2003-04 Level 1 customer service representative, level 3 customer service representative, Vesta Corporation. Portland, OR. As level 1, assisted customers to complete transactions for refilling prepaid phone cards. As level 3 CSR, supported employees in this role.

INTERVIEWS

2021 Email interviewer and organizer, for forthcoming edited volume. Wrote questions for email interviews with former Hanna-Barbera animators, in collaboration with Kevin Sandler. For Hanna and Barbera: Conversations, volume under contract with University Press of Mississippi

2018 Interviewee, public radio program Studio 360, Public Radio International. Interviewed by producer Evan Chung as production research for episode “Digging into Doug,” January 10, 2019

2017 Interviewer and organizer, interview research study, Los Angeles, CA. With IRB approval, spoke with 29 animation industry professionals and animation scholars as primary sources for my dissertation research

2015 Interviewee and collaborator, student film, University of Iowa. Was interviewed by Iowa student Lev Cantoral for his student film, “Mighty Mouse: Hero to TV Animation”

MEDIA PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE

2020-pr. Website producer. tylersolonwilliams.com. Completed professional web site with an information technology industry professional

2018-19 Video producer, video editor. Delivered “The Kardashians, the Robertsons, and Celebrity Family Cultures,” University of Iowa course guest lecture. Produced recording with assistance of media professional Peder Goodman.

2015-pr. Animator, filmmaker, graphic designer, drawing sketch artist. Completed Introduction to Animation at Iowa, creating and editing animated/live action student film, “Good Vibrations: Metamorphosis.” Completed prerequisite coursework in Basic Drawing and Design Fundamentals

2011 Computer programmer. Completed Interactive Telecommunications Program Summer Camp, New York University. In language C++, created a custom computer program that accepted an integer input and output a random number between it and zero

2008 Live-action film director and producer. Completed Filmmaking International, CREA cultural organization, Universiteit van Amsterdam, filming multiple live action student films

1999 Actor. Acted in comic student theater production, Reed College

1998-99 Radio DJ. Hosted a radio show on college radio station KRRC, Reed College. Primarily played jazz and hip hop on CD and vinyl

LANGUAGES

French, professional working proficiency

German, limited working proficiency

Chinese, elementary proficiency

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2020 Society for Animation Studies COVID-19 Stimulus Fund Award, with Kevin Sandler, Society for Animation Studies. $300

2020 Graduate College Summer Fellowship, Graduate College, University of Iowa. $5,000

2016-17 Department of Communication Studies Dissertation Award, University of Iowa. $800

2016-17 Graduate Student Senate travel award, University of Iowa. $1,110 over two years

2016 Communication Studies Graduate Student Association conference travel award. $165

2013-17 Department of Communication Studies Harshbarger conference presentation travel award, University of Iowa. $3,000 over five years

2010 Informal recognition of teaching (glass apple), Ingrid Marshall, PS 9, Brooklyn, NY

REFERENCES

Timothy Havens Dissertation Co-Chair, Professor Department of Communication Studies University of Iowa

Thomas Lamarre Dissertation Co-Chair, Professor Department of Cinema and Media Studies University of Chicago

Kembrew McLeod Professor, Department Chair Department of Communication Studies University of Iowa

Christopher Goetz Assistant Professor Department of Cinematic Arts University of Iowa