Renowned Media Scholar Henry Jenkins to Join APOC Faculty

Henry Jenkins has accepted a position at USC, where he will be a Provost's Professor of Communication (at the Annenberg Program on Online Communities), Journalism, and Cinema. Jenkins has emerged as a torchbearer for media studies, helping to define new fields such as media ethnography and game studies through his astute and timely examinations of transmedia storytelling, popular culture, fan culture, gaming, and media convergence.

His research and many publications are also uniquely relevant to many disciplines, and unite media professionals, academics, and the public in an ongoing discussion that is unquestionably of its time. Stemming from his work on fan culture and fiction, Jenkins was prescient in his understanding of how user-generated culture would take flight on the Internet, and has advocated for a more user-centric perspective on media. His work has revealed central truths as well as many nuances of how people integrate media production, trading, and consumption in their digital lives. Jenkins’ perception and depth of knowledge are evident in his many books, including Convergence Culture, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age. APOC welcomes Dr. Jenkins, and we anticipate his thoughtful and provocative examinations of media and consumer culture will prove to be a boon to USC and expand our understanding of the power of online communities.