I'm delighted to be granted a faculty development leave (FDL) for 2019-2020 by Texas A&M University. An FDL allows faculty to make significant progress on research and learn new skills relating to various aspects of scholarship. It is a great opportunity to complete a big research project, work for a corporation, start a nonprofit, or attend intensive workshops to retool oneself.
For the upcoming FDL, I will complete several writing projects, including a new book that I am working on with Dr. Erica Scharrer from University of Massachusetts, Amherst called "Power of numbers: Quantitative methods for social justice research in communication" and is under contract with the Univ. of California Press. I plan to collaborate with Dr. Dana Mastro at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and also give talks at various places during my FDL.
During my previous FDL in 2013-2014, I spent one semester at The London School of Economics and another at the National University of Singapore. It was a fantastic learning experience in two world-class institutions where I got to hang out with and work with some amazing colleagues. This was also when I co-founded Media Rise, a nonprofit for meaningful media. The FDL allowed me to complete six publications and give talks in The Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, U.K., India, and Australia -- an unforgettable and incredibly rewarding experience, for which I am grateful.
Images below (from left to right): (1) Some of the most creative ideas come from a space of reflection (2) From my previous FDL at the National University of Singapore in 2014 and (3) Media Rise, a nonprofit I co-founded during my previous FDL.
