Todd Wolfson Photo

Todd
Wolfson

Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and Co-Director of the MIC Center

Faculty

Office:
CI 110
PHONE:
848-932-8709
FAX:
732-932-6916
EMAIL:
twolfson@rci.rutgers.edu
OFFICE HOURS:
WEB LINKS:

Todd Wolfson is an anthropologist by training. His research is a mixture of traditional and cyber-based ethnography and he has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.


Education

University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., Anthropology and Social and Cultural Foundations of Education

Duke University
B.A, Cultural Anthropology


Research

Todd Wolfson's research focuses on the intersection of new media and contemporary social movements and he is author of “Digital Rebellion: The Birth of the Cyber Left” and co-editor of the forthcoming volume, “Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and Contemporary Social Movements.”  Wolfson believes in the importance of engaged scholarship that leads to tangible action in the world, and to that end, he is a co-founder of the Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) based in Philadelphia, PA. MMP is an award-winning organization that aims is to use new media and communications to build a movement of poor and working people, united across color lines. MMP's work has been supported by the Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, Media and Democracy Coalition, and Media Democracy Fund amongst others.


Research Groups


Funded Projects

Grant to develop media and journalism collaboration between students and social justice organizations across New Jersey, funded by the Dodge Foundation, Journalism for Democracy ($50,000) 2014-2016

PhilaPOSH, Social Media and Latino Worker, Principal Investigator on a research project that studies the possibilities of reaching Latino construction workers with social media ($6,500) 2013-2014

NTIA, Sustainable Broadband Adoption, Principal Investigator on research project examining intersection of broadband adoption and training programs in low income communities across Philadelphia ($167,500) 2011-2013

New America Foundation, Public Computer Centers, Principal Investigator on research project focused on public computer centers ($35,000) 2012-2013

New Jersey Office of Information Technology, Principal Investigator on research project focused on digital divide in NJ ($80,000) 2010-2013


Selected Publications

Wolfson, T. (2018). “The History of all Hitherto Existing Society:” Class Struggle and the Current Wave of Resistance, tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, Vol 16 No 2 (2018), co-authored with Peter Funke.

Bach, Amy J.; Wolfson, Todd; and Crowell, Jessica K. (2018) "Poverty, Literacy, and Social Transformation: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Digital Divide," Journal of Media Literacy Education, 10(1), 22 -41.

Wolfson, Todd. Digital Rebellion: The Birth of the Cyber Left, University of Illinois Press, History of Communication series, (2014), 248 pages.

Wolfson, Todd, The Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and the Contemporary Social Movements. Edited volume, co-edited with Peter Funke and Andy Lamas, Temple University Press, 2017.


Awards & Recognitions

Clarion Award, The Association of Women in Communications, Recipient of “Newspaper Investigative Series” award for “Tapped Out,” a series focusing on poverty in Philadelphia that appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, 2015 

Best Investigative Report, National Association of Black Journalists, Recipient of “Best Special Investigative Report” for “Tapped Out,” a series focusing on poverty in Philadelphia that appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, 2015

Scholar Activist Award - National Communications Association, Recipient of the inaugural Scholar-Activist Award, which was conferred by the Critical & Cultural Studies division of NCA, 2014  

Rutgers University, Department of Journalism and Media Studies

  • Distinguished Achievement in Service, 2015
  • Distinguished Achievement in Research, 2013
  • Distinguished Achievement in Teaching, 2011

Additional Resources