MEA @ ECA 2025

116th Eastern Communication Association Annual Convention

Here is the schedule of MEA-sponsored panels/roundtables…

Thursday, March 29

1:00–2:15 PM
Hyatt Regency Franklin

Urban Design and Memorable City Experiences
Sponsor: Media Ecology (Affiliate Organization)

Everything in a city has been designed with a plan and a purpose in mind. These designs are meant to communicate all sorts of messages on the part of planners, designers, and architects. Yet, the intersection of design and communication, or architecture and rhetoric are too often unexplored. This panel intends to delve into the interdisciplinary site of urban spaces to explore the communicative meanings that are often taken for granted in our built spaces of the urban landscape.

Chair: Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

Presenters:

Robert Foschia, Kutztown University - “Millvale’s Ecodistrict: Examining Sustainable Development through the Lens of Lewis Mumford”
Lewis Freeman, Fordham University - “Sidewalks in the City: Affordances and Meanings”
Austin D. Hestdalen, Purdue University Northwest - “Storied Places: Urban Design Ethics for a Complex World”
Erik Garrett, Duquesne University - “The City as Home”
Susan Drucker, Hofstra University - “The Concert Hall and the City: The Problems and Solutions of Modern Symphony Spaces”

2:30–3:45 PM
Hyatt Regency Ellicott

Creative Solutions Grounded in Media Ecology: A Discussion of Neil Postman’s Scholarship
Sponsor: Media Ecology (Affiliate Organization)

Many of our contemporary communication, language, and education problems result from shifting media environments and emerging media systems. Media ecology, specifically Neil Postman’s media ecology, helps communication scholars and educators understand and articulate these problems with clarity and prescience. Moreover, one can find within Neil Postman’s scholarship the creative resources to help us move through these media environments. The individuals on this panel discuss the creative solutions offered within Neil Postman’s writings to help scholars and students rationally and humanely navigate our complex environment in this historical moment.

Chair: Ryan P. McCullough, West Liberty University

Presenters:

Ryan Eisenhuth, Ohio University
Gerald Erion, Daemen University
Salvatore Fallica, New York University
Thom Gencarelli, Manhattan University
Noura Hajjaj, Duquesne University
Tim Michaels, Penn State University
Lance Strate, Fordham University

Friday, March 28

8:30–9:45 AM
Hyatt Regency Franklin

Media Ecology Business Meeting
Sponsor: Media Ecology (Affiliate Organization)

Chair: Ryan P. McCullough, West Liberty University

The Media Ecology Business Meeting is open to all ECA members and individuals with an interest in media ecology. The meeting will provide a collaborative space for members to reflect on the past year’s activities, share insights, and plan for future initiatives. The agenda includes officer reports, highlighting key accomplishments and updates from the past year, and a review of old business. Members will also discuss new business and upcoming opportunities. This meeting aims to foster community and strategic planning, ensuring the group continues to advance scholarly and practical contributions to media ecology.

4:00–5:15 PM
Hyatt Regency Ellicott

Remembering Gary Gumpert: A Force of Nature

Chair: Peter Haratonik, School of The Art Institute of Chicago

Presenters:

Peter Haratonik, School of The Art Institute of Chicago
Susan Drucker, Hofstra University
Lance Strate, Fordham University
Lewis Freeman, Fordham University
Thom Gencarelli, Manhattan University
Mary L. Kahl, The Pennsylvania State University, the Behrend College
Erik Garrett, Duquesne University
Thomas Richard Flynn, Slippery Rock University
Donald A. Fishman, Boston College

This panel honors the life and work of Gary Gumpert, of Great Neck, NY and Cotignac, France, who passed away at the age of 91 in November 2024. Gary was a valued member of the Communication discipline for nearly seven decades. He was a respected member of the Department of Communication Arts and Science at Queens College of the City University of New York, retiring from the university at a young age. In retirement he continued teaching and mentoring, often in more informal ways and through his consistent participation at many conferences around the world, rarely missing ECA.

A Holocaust survivor, Gary emigrated to the United States at the age of 6, settling with his parents and sister in Philadelphia. He earned his undergraduate degree from Temple University and his MA degree from Michigan State University, with majors in Speech. Following a two-year tour of duty in the United States Army, Gary began doctoral work at the University of Iowa and completed his Ph.D. degree at Wayne State University. His early television directing career included serving as the Producer/Director of “The Gutenberg Galaxy” with Marshall McLuhan: thus began a long-standing relationship with McLuhan.

A prolific author, Gary published several significant works that informed media studies within the discipline including Inter/Media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World (with Robert S. Cathcart), which enjoyed three printings with Oxford University Press and Talking Tombstones and Other Tales of the Media Age, with Oxford (1987). He also co-edited an impressive series of books with Susan Drucker under the imprints of Hampton Press and Peter Lang including Voices in the Streets: Gender, Media and Public Space (1997); The Huddled Masses: Immigration and Communication (1998); Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Communicating Baseball (2002); Urban Communication (2007), and Regulating Social Media: Legal and Ethical Considerations (2013, 2019). Gary was also a frequent contributor to academic journals both inside and outside the discipline, publishing over 200 articles. He never stopped writing with multiple projects still in progress.

Gary founded the Urban Communication Foundation in 2006, serving as its President from its inception until 2021, when he became President Emeritus and remained on the board. His vision and work on behalf of the UCF established an entirely new area of study within the Communication discipline, bringing together disparate foci and fields to promote more nuanced explorations of urban populations, spaces, and traditions. Gary was a passionate traveler, photographer, sports fan, and cook. Throughout, Gary promoted his vision of our discipline based on the centrality of communication to the human condition. His work, mentorship, and friendship influenced many generations.

Saturday, March 29

8:30–9:45 AM
Hyatt Regency Franklin

Exploring the Past and Future from a Media Ecology Approach
Sponsor: Media Ecology (Affiliate Organization)

The competitively selected papers of this panel explore how media environments inform the contours of the past, present, and future. Understanding contemporary problems and creative solutions demands the exploration of media environments. The papers on this panel consider how our theories the social world and approaches to media ecology scholarship shape the way in which we frame problems and solutions.

Chair: Ryan Eisenhuth, Ohio University
Respondent: Lance Strate, Fordham University

Ryan P. McCullough, West Liberty University - “A Balanced Approach to Studying Artificial Intelligence: Ruminations on Walter Ong and Neil Postman”
Sheldon Richmond, Independent Scholar - “Critique of the Theory of Social Design”