Graduate Affiliates

Born and raised along the Texas border, Andrea moved to Austin to purse an M.A. in Media Studies. She received a B.A. in Communication with a minor in English at Texas A&M International University. At commencement, Andrea served as the Distinguished Student Scholar for the College of Arts and Sciences -- the university's largest academic unit. 

During her undergraduate years, Andrea took an interest in the concerns surrounding child influencers on social media. She composed a qualitative research proposal on this topic, examining monetary utilization, privacy, and exploitation. She plans to expand her research to provide comprehensive understand of the novel child influencers and to enable the development of policies protecting children's rights. 

Beyond academia, Andrea is an avid lover of film and art. If she is not at the theater, she is at a café practicing her calligraphy on a napkin. 

Morgan is a first-year MA student in RTF at UT Austin. She completed her Bachelor's Degree in Media Studies at Pacific University and Whitman College. Her undergraduate studies focused on various phenomena taking place on YouTube, including the influx of long-form nostalgic video essays and YouTuber-centered fanbases. She is especially interested in the various ways in which the same information can be conveyed to different results, and how communities develop through the use of the internet.

Christian Meola is a writer and director from Albany, New York. He graduated from Florida State University in 2016 and lived in Los Angeles for six years before enrolling in the University of Texas at Austin’s MFA Film production program. Christian works in a variety of mediums, ranging from narrative to video art and theater. He's particularly interested in how individuals form their identities based on larger societal constructs. Recently, he’s been exploring the relationship between between straight and gay men, as well as how masculinity and a need for vulnerability influence male behavior. He’s interested in meeting other UT students with an interest in researching and creatively exploring these topics. His work has been screened at Indie Memphis, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, Adirondack Film Festival, Buried Alive, Sick 'n' Wrong, Sydney Underground, Electric Forest Music Festival, and on PBS, NoBudge, and Beyond the Short. In 2020, he won Sick n' Wrong's "You're Special" award.

I am an impassioned writer and disability rights activist. My research focuses on media's aesthetic investments in warfare, carceral biopolitics, and affect at the intersections of identity, bodily autonomy, and ability. Born from this emphasis, I analyze how media frames the human as a rhetorical space of power. I love to read, cook, play the violin, and hang out with my cat.

Monika Jane Browatzki, aka MJ Watz, grew up between the saguaros of Arizona and the redwoods of Northern California. She tells stories using magical realism and horror.

Monika earned her Bachelor of Arts in Film Production with a concentration in Cinematography and a Theater minor from UCLA's School of Theater, Film & Television. She studied sketch writing at Upright Citizens Brigade, where she wrote the short films: "Nite Terrors" and "Zara Bagan's Ghost Experiences."

Her previous directing work includes the sketch comedy short "Datch" produced by Funny or Die, 12 music videos - ranging from folk to hip-hop, PSAs for organizations such as UCLA's Healthy Campus Initiative, and the surreal found-footage thriller "Devil's Claw". Monika has also directed theatrical productions of "The Vagina Monologues," a fundraiser; "Murder in the Key of G," a murder mystery dinner; and "Bloody Awful," a double feature for the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Her first feature "Leash Leader", which she wrote, produced, directed, and self-distributed, was selected for festivals including Straight Jacket Guerilla Filmmaking, Poor Life Choices Comedy Film Festival, and Tucson Terrorfest. In 2021, her documentary, "Hans Ulrich Browatzki Immigrates to America'', won Best Documentary in the LACC Cinema & Television Awards.

Cristina Pablos is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas. She is a senior majoring in Economics and minoring in Media and Entertainment Industries. She recently returned to Austin from Los Angeles after completing the UTLA program in the fall of 2022. Post-graduation, Cristina will pursue a law degree with the goal of specializing in music law to support musicians and their career objectives. In her free time, she enjoys exploring Austin’s vast live music scene and checking out local vinyl record shops.  

Experienced sport media professional passionate about brand management, marketing insights and leveraging sport as a catalyst to build communities and foster important values.

Current MBA Student, and most recent experience was at Back on My Feet, an organization that uses running, as well as health and wellness to aid house-less individuals.

Born and raised in Washington state, Annie Ward graduated from Western Washington University, with a BA in Literature and Philosophy in 2019. She has since shifted her study towards new media technologies, focusing specifically on the ways in which digital media changes how we tell stories and interact with our selves. She enjoys research and writing, and is interested in exploring the types of jobs that are available within different media industries.

Nandini is a marketing professional based out of Mumbai. Until recently she was heading the Brand and Marketing Department of Indian gourmet superfood start-up Pink Harvest Farms; having started work with the company while it was first making its shift to a B2C market, helping it grow from a hyperlocal business to a national brand. Before this she has been a brand strategy and design consultant, a copywriter, a creative director and holds a law degree from the University of Mumbai having worked with Disney India while specializing in intellectual property rights. She hopes to expand her knowledge of marketing, consulting through the MBA at McCombs, while expanding her knowledge of the media and entertainment industries through the affiliateship with CEMI.

Kellen Sharp is a first-year MA in the Radio-Television-Film department studying Media Studies. He is a Wisconsin native and recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin -Madison, where he earned a BA in Communication Arts: Radio, TV, Film and minored in Digital Studies. Kellen is passionate about media’s ability to connect communities and cultivate identities.