Here in our Kean University community we have many amazing faculty and staff who are dedicated to developing their students and changing their community.

Kean is privileged to have many important women that have and can shape the course of this campus, one of which is Professor Kristine Mirrer. 

Mirrer's titles at Kean University and elsewhere include:

• Associate Professor and Assistant Chairperson of the School of Communication, Media and Journalism
• Immediate Past President of Phi Kappa Phi, Kean University Chapter – national honor society for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty of all majors
• Member University Film and Video Association, International Radio and Television Society, National Association of Television Program Executives, International Association of Intercultural Communication Studies, Alliance for Women in Media, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences New York Chapter

"I have been working with our executive director, Dr. Jack Sargent and our faculty in a project to revise and update our courses and our requirements for all of our programs. Recently, our school has been tasked by the president to create a new program in strategic communication and advertising," said Mirrer. "Additionally, we have added more student-produced streaming video and audio. We are also excited about the prospect of a summer boot camp for high school journalists, our high school video contest, and other outreach to New Jersey schools." 

In this current semester she teaches social media and international film, but she also teaches media journalism, graduate topics in communication, sight sound motion, film festival, TravelLearn, media performance, mass media, TV studio, film history, film theory, and field production.

Mirrer believes that every month is Women's History Month at Kean, and that this community is fortunate to have influential women developing other influential people.

"We are fortunate to have amazing guests and speakers on campus regularly, such as [a] distinguished lecture by Soledad O’Brien and the women filmmakers invited by the human rights institute to discuss their documentary No Monsters in Berlin about refuge life," said Mirrer. "Gifted young women at Kean will soon be sharing their student research projects in all disciplines at the Office of Research and Support Programs (ORSP) Research Days. Current events such as The March for Our Lives against gun violence, the Women’s March, and the #MeToo movement have demonstrated that women of all ages and classes can come together to create change."

In order to have received these titles and positions, she obtained her bachelor's of science (B.S) in radio, television and film from Northwestern University. She also managed a doctorate degree and a Masters of Arts in radio, television, film from the University of Michigan.

"Critical thinking skills and strong writing programs were highly stressed at both institutions.  Also, the importance of an awareness of current events and professional standards were emphasized. This background prepared me both for industry and academic work," said Mirrer.

After that milestone, she was immersed into the nation's largest broadcast research and consulting firm as a consultant, where she worked for clients such as: 

• United States and Australian television
• National Football League (NFL)
• National Basketball Association (NBA)
• The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)

"My Ph.D. in communication was beneficial since our responsibility was to translate the information we learned about how viewers felt about individual television personalities and work one-on-one with the on-air talent to make them more effective communicators. The experience at a firm gives me real world examples to share with students," said Mirrer.

Some of her accomplishments include: 

• She was recently asked by University Relations to write an Op-Ed piece on the Net Neutrality Repeal, where it was published in The Record.
• She served as the president of Phi Kappa Phi, Kean University Chapter. 
• She served on the committee to hire lecturers in communication for Wenzhou-Kean (WKU)
• She attended the International Conference of Technology, Knowledge and Society in India, where she discussed media issues involving reality programming, politics and the media and broadcasts aired by C-Span and Comcast.
• She has also received a faculty fellowship from the International Radio and Television Society where she served as an educational panelist for the National Association of Broadcasters.
• She also is a member of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) and the International Communication Association (ICA).

"I am extremely proud to have been selected as the recipient of several competitive faculty fellowships in my field, including the television academy foundation (The Emmy's) in 2017, the International Radio and Television Society in 2014 and 2017, Emmy Awards judge and the National Association of Television Program Executives in 2015," Mirrer explained.

Here are some fun facts about Professor Mirrer:

• Throughout the United States, she presented at University of California Berkeley and California State Los Angeles.
• She has traveled abroad to India, Germany and Taiwan.
• She recently traveled to the RapidLion 2018 Film Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa for the screening of her documentary film.

Lastly, her goal is to just be there for her students and to help them graduate on time.