EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 16, 2009) – John Fenn was selected as one of two UO Sony Faculty Scholars in a new academic technology program initiated this year.  Fenn, assistant professor in the Arts and Administration Program, will use the equipment and software grant to boost his investigation into music, digital media, and culture.  His specialization in new media and its effects on community and culture will come together with his new course, Media Management Praxis.  Fenn coordinates the media management concentration offered by the UO’s graduate program in arts and administration.

Recognition of scholars will take place on Monday, Oct. 19 at 4-5 p.m. in 151 McKenzie Hall, 1101 Kincaid St on the UO campus.

The award includes a technology package from Sony valued at $2,000 including a VAIO notebook computer, camcorder, reader, memory stick, and display monitor.  In addition, the UO Bookstore/Duck Store has donated a Microsoft Office software package.  Fenn envisions a mobile lab that will provide digital resources to students, community arts organizations and independent artists to create, record, and electronically distribute their work.  Investigating the relationship of the social and cultural side of technology, Fenn expects the expanding role of participatory culture to lead to new research and teaching in the arts and folklore studies.

“I am committed in both research and teaching to the idea that individuals and communities engage the world in creative and diverse ways,” says Fenn.  “Such creative diversity demands ethically grounded interpretation and representation.”

By drawing on his background in folklore and ethnomusicology (Ph.D., Indiana University, 2004), media studies, public cultural programming, and international fieldwork, Fenn brings an ethnographically-grounded perspective on cultural production to the Arts and Administration Program’s curricular and research agendas.  His teaching spans ethnomusicology theory and methods, popular music in the African Diasporas, rock and experimental music in China, public folklore and media studies.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Karen Johnson, AAA communications, 541-346-3603, karenjj@uoregon.edu

Source: John Fenn, assistant professor, 541-346-1774, jfenn@uoregon.edu; Helen Chu, director, academic technology, helenc@uoregon.edu

Links: http://aad.uoregon.edu