Distinguished Teaching Professor of Communication and Information Mary Chayko has been reappointed Faculty Fellow in Residence at the Honors College-New Brunswick for a sixth consecutive year in 2022-23. She will teach, mentor, and reside among Honors College students, with a focus this year on helping first-year first-generation honors students explore the rich array of academic and research opportunities at Rutgers.
Interim Dean of the Rutgers School of Communication and Information, Dafna Lemish, said, “Mary Chayko is a model of a faculty member who is deeply committed to each student's intellectual growth and personal wellbeing. Being part of the Honors College faculty and available to support students informally in addition to her regular teaching, has added a unique value to their pedagogical experience. It is no wonder that she earned the rank of ‘distinguished professor’ so rightfully!”
Chayko conducts research into the social impact of digital media and technology on site at the Honors College. She works with Rutgers faculty, honors students, and graduate students on projects ranging from the analysis of gender bias in social media images and smart devices to the development of technologies that enable the collection and distribution of resources to facilitate organ donation. She collaborates with researchers at Robert Wood Johnson – Barnabus, the Rutgers Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Academy (IDEA), the Honors College Innovation Lab, and the Behavioral Informatics Lab at SC&I.
Chayko will also teach a Byrne Seminar, “The Science of Success,” for first-year Honors College students in Fall 2022.
As Director of Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies at SC&I, Chayko directs the Digital Communication, Information, and Media (DCIM) and Gender and Media minors. She is also an affiliate faculty member of the departments of Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In 2019, she was honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1992, she was named a Faculty of Arts and Science Distinguished Contributor to Undergraduate Education at Rutgers.
“I’m very happy to be spending another year teaching, conducting research, and working with students as a fellow at the Honors College,” Chayko said. “My appointment here is a unique opportunity to share all the exciting things happening at SC&I with the honors community, and vice versa.”
Chayko’s fourth book, Superconnected: The Internet, Digital Media, and Techno-Social Life, was published in its third edition in 2021 by SAGE Publications. The multidisciplinary primer on digital life and society has been adopted in dozens of college courses nationally and internationally. See the blog for the book at https://superconnectedblog.com/, and Chayko’s website at https://marychayko.com/.
Follow her on LinkedIn, on Instagram @Mary.Chayko, and on Twitter @MaryChayko.
Chayko’s video welcome to Honors College students is here.
Discover more about the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website.
Photo: Courtesy of Mary Chayko
