Mass Media in a Changing World

George Rodman is professor and chair of the Department of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where he has taught for 30 years. His research interests include the role of humor in human communication and the effect of communication technology on psychological well-being. Rodman is the author, coauthor, and editor of several books, including ten editions of Understanding Human Communication (with Ron Adler, Oxford University Press), four editions of Mass Media Issues (Science Research Associates and Kendall/Hunt), Making Sense of Media (Allyn & Bacon, 2001, and four books on public speaking, including The New Public Speaker (Harcourt Brace, 1997), a book that features the role of public speaking in the media-information age. He has written for newspapers, magazines, journals, film, television, radio, and multimedia programs. He has appeared as both host and guest on local television programs. While in graduate school, he was a winner on The Dating Game on ABC. Rodman has been listed i Who's Who in Entertainment and Who's Who in Education. He serves as the faculty adviser to The Excelsior, one of a pair of competing campus newspapers that were named third in the nation by the 2005 Princeton Review of America's Best Colleges. In 2005 he was nmaed the Bernard H. Stern Professor of Humor and was awarded the Brooklyn College Award for Excellence in College Citizenship. He has been voted "Favorite Teacher" by graduating seniors several times, most recently in 2008. In a way, Rodman is genetically predisposed to an interest in mass media. His grandmother was a first cousin to, and grew up with, Hollywood mogul Cecil B. DeMille. His grandfather was a personal lab assistant to Thomas Edison, and was later president of the Radio Manufacturers Association. His father's start-up business ventures included importing European recording equipment, printing, and computer manufacturing. Rodman lives in Garden City, New York, with his wife Linda and three children: Jennifer, Alexandra, and Dean.