THOMAS CONNER
Courses designed & taught
Lecturer
University of California-San Diego, 2022-present
University of California-San Diego, 2022-present
COMM 10: Introduction to Communication Syllabus Our flagship Communication course is an introduction for both incoming majors and students from across campus taking the course to fulfill UC San Diego’s DEI requirement. In addition to surveying the basics of human communication (and this department’s particular approaches), COMM 10 is a valuable vehicle for equipping all students with perspectives on everyday engagements with mediating technologies as well as constructions and negotiations of social identity. |
COMM 109N: American News Media Syllabus This class surveys the history of the American news media — including perspectives on the origin of news, the professionalization of news gathering, and the situation of journalism amid literary styles, social forces, and national politics. We consider the evolving culture of journalism and its organization, the economics of news production, and the relationships between journalists and other social actors. We conclude by considering the existing state of economic and conceptual flux of contemporary journalism and still-emerging digital methods of its production. |
COMM 111P: Performance & Cultural Studies Syllabus I adapted this listed course to focus the primary inquires of both fields on the current historical moment, asking how the performance of individual and cultural identities had been reshaped by a greater usage of and reliance on digital communication platforms during the coronavirus pandemic. Mixing traditional theoretical readings with hot-off-the-presses scholarship about Zoom and ways social life had been increasingly digitized during lockdowns, the course resulted in deeply rich engagement and stellar student performance. |
Associate Instructor
University of California-San Diego, 2018-2021
University of California-San Diego, 2018-2021
COMM 190 (Junior Seminar): Arts Criticism in America Syllabus I designed this advanced-topic seminar to combine theory and history in a survey of the critique of popular arts in America. We examine foundational debates about criticism (Matthew Arnold vs. Oscar Wilde) and manifestos by contemporary working critics, before reading much criticism of music, movies, and more, leading to considerations of YouTube reaction videos and the migration of pop-culture critique to social media. Students both evaluated the concept of critique and practiced it in conceptual and practical assignments. |
COMM 190 (Junior Seminar): Music as Social Action COMM 113T (Intermediate Topics in Communication): Music as Social Action Syllabus I designed this popular course to study the contributions of popular music in the maintenance and circulation of social-movement discourses. Students first read the primary scholarship defining and analyzing protest songs, propaganda songs, and “socially conscious” music. This theory is then applied to a historical survey of pop genres from early 20th century folk music to contemporary hip-hop. Students write concept papers, annotate playlists, and have the option of writing their own song as a final project. |
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Instructor
University of California-San Diego, 2016-2017, 2019-2021 MCWP 40: Critical Writing I MCWP 50: Critical Writing II The Muir College Writing Program is a two-part, required course in basic academic argumentation within one of UCSD’s six colleges. I have taught both the first part, which uses a templated syllabus to introduce the elements of argument and analysis (syllabus), and the second part, in which individual instructors design their own research themes. My themes included "Cyborg Ecologies" (syllabus), “Ghosts in the Machine,” “Media & Materiality,” and “The Social Roles of Arts Criticism.” |
Teaching Assistant
University of California-San Diego, 2014 to 2016 COMM 10: Introduction to Communication COMM 100A: Situated Practices In COMM 100A, I was invited to deliver one main lecture of my own, titled “Creativity as a Spatial Practice.” COMM 106i: The Internet Industry For 106i (in which I also guest-lectured twice), I created a thorough online guide to preparing and conducting project interviews, which is still used in the course. |
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Adjunct Instructor
University of Illinois-Chicago, 2008 to 2009
University of Tulsa, 2000 to 2005
Tulsa Community College, 1995 to 2000
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Faculty adviser
University of Tulsa, 2004 to 2005 During part of my work as an adjunct instructor at TU, I also advised the annual staff of the student newspaper, The Collegian, by coaching student journalists’ daily practices and providing guidance through regular evaluation meetings and a weekly critique. |
Guest lectures
I have been asked to guest lecture in numerous courses, in context of both the extension of my scholarly research
and my professional journalism experience. Some samples:
I have been asked to guest lecture in numerous courses, in context of both the extension of my scholarly research
and my professional journalism experience. Some samples:
