SFTV Welcomes Associate Dean Miranda Banks

MBanksPhoto 226x300 - SFTV Welcomes Associate Dean Miranda Banks
Miranda Banks, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for SFTV

LMU SCHOOL OF FILM AND TELEVISION | Film and television scholar Miranda Banks, Ph.D., has joined LMU School of Film and Television as associate dean of academic affairs, with a tenured associate professor appointment in the Film, TV, and Media Studies Department. She began on Aug. 1, 2019, and comes to LMU from Emerson College in Boston, where she was an associate professor of visual and media arts.

“Dr. Banks’ scholarly work and her demonstrated leadership in her field make her well-suited for working with our talented faculty,” said SFTV Dean Peggy Rajski. “Her hiring underscores our commitment to continually evolving our curriculum, and to improving representation and equity within our own ranks as well as in the broader media and entertainment industry.” Associate Dean Banks’ book “The Writers” (Rutgers University Press, 2015) explores the history of writers and screenwriting in the film and TV industry, and her two co-edited collections, “Production Studies” (2009 and 2015), have been formative works in the field of media studies.

Associate Dean Banks has held leadership positions in numerous academic and professional organizations. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and is a founding member of EDIT Media (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Teaching Media). She’s also the designer and co-writer of “Room at the Top,” a multiplayer game about creativity, collaboration, and implicit bias.

At Emerson, among other scholarly and leadership roles, she was faculty fellow and principal investigator in the college’s Engagement Lab, which creates media and technology to reduce disparities in civic participation, and co-chaired the Educational Equity and Justice Committee, a faculty group formed to examine and improve equity and inclusion in education across the campus.

A third-generation Angeleno, Associate Dean Banks has been a visiting assistant professor at several Los Angeles universities, including USC’s School of Cinematic Arts; UCLA’s School of Film, TV and Digital Media; and Otis College of Art and Design. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A in film, television, and digital media from UCLA, and her B.A. in English from Stanford University.

“I’m very excited to join the SFTV community,” said Associate Dean Banks. “And I’m relieved to be back in my sunny hometown, among the palm trees.”

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