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Meet Dennis Conway
Dennis Conway considers himself a “Happy Hybrid” between the video production and history/theory areas of academia. He currently works as an Associate Professor in the Mass Media program at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia.   A New Jersey native, Dennis graduated from Cornell University as a Government (Political Theory) major.   He later graduated from New York University’s Film & Television Production Graduate School.

After years of working in corporate media, public TV, video production houses and independent film, Dennis wrote, directed, edited and produced a feature film “Garden,” a screwball comedy which played at film festivals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Afterward he took his first college teaching job, at Sam Houston State University near Houston, Texas.   Since then Dennis has taught 23 different college classes, including writing, performance, audio, studio, and field production, as well as history, theory, research and graduate school courses.

Dennis has written 14 screenplays.   His script, “Her Gentle Touch” won Honors, and was the only screenplay selected for the BEA’s (Broadcast Education Association) Journal of Media Education “Creative” issue in October, 2017.   His script, “Multicultural,” won First Place in the Short Story category from the UFVA (University Film and Video Association) Writing Division in 2012.   Conway’s script, “Second Look,” won an Award of Excellence from the BEA Writing Division in 2011.   His feature script, “Violent Nature,” won another Award of Excellence from the BEA in 2008.   It also won a Chesterfield Contest award as a Semi-Finalist.

Dennis’s other films include “Good Country People,” an adaptation of a famous American comedic short story, “Advised,” a short comedy about an ambitious student, and two documentaries, “Undertones: Music from the New York City Subways,” a piece about diversity among N.Y.C. subway performers, and “New York City Christmas Windows,” a music video about department store displays.   A new documentary in progress, “Time Machine,” will profile the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome living airplane museum and air show in Rhinebeck, New York.

Dennis has also been published ten times in BEA academic journals, three of which researched film festivals, and one of which researched U.S. State Film Board incentives.   That last piece, “Are Incentives from U.S. State Film Offices to Media Productions Worth the Money?” won Honors from the BEA (Broadcast Education Association), and was included in their 2013 “Scholar-to-Scholar” poster board session by the PAC (Production, Aesthetics, and Criticism) Division.

Another publication included an essay on the film, “School of Rock,” in the book, “Screen Lessons: What We Have Learned from Teachers on Television and in the Movies,” edited by Dr. Mary Dalton and Dr. Laura Linder. (Peter Lang Publishing, 2017)

Conway has served as past Chair of the BEA Writing Division, and Chair of the BEA PAC Division Faculty Video Production contest.   He is a regular moderator and panelist at the national yearly conferences of the Broadcast Education Association, and University Film and Video Association. Conway also serves as a contributor and respondent for creative pieces at the UFVA’s yearly conference.   He has also served as writing reviewer for the BEA’s Journal of Media Education, and as a faculty portfolio consultant for the UFVA.   (Updated August, 2018)

"I feel lucky to live in the Digital Age, in which students and teachers can create dramatic films on modest budgets, and make their characters come alive.
"  Dennis Conway