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| Chair |
Nick Rothenberg | |
| Vice-Chair | Sandra Taylor | |
| Secretary/Treasurer | Rick Seifert | |
| Board Member | Vanessa M. Hughes | |
| Board Member | Joan Rutkowski | |
| Board Member | Erik Vidstrand | |
| Board Member | Stephani Skalak |
Nick Rothenberg has been involved with Media Think since 2001, leveraging a varied background in anthropology, business, and media. His business experience includes several successful start-up ventures, as well as serving as a Partner and Entertainment Media specialist for a national consulting firm. While working in business, he has always been involved with nonprofit entities, helping them to maximize their business models in support of their goals and outreach efforts. Nick has also had a long-standing interest in media, including producing and directing an award-winning PBS documentary, and participating in some of the earliest online development work. Having recently started a family, he has become even more passionate about helping young people to successfully navigate our media saturated world. Nick is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a Master's in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California. TOP
Sandra Taylor, MSW, LCSW, founding board member of Media Think, is a licensed clinical social worker providing treatment for both adults and adolescents in her private practice. She is also affiliated with Providence Behavioral Health Services facilitating group treatment for their DBT Program. Sandra is on the board of the Columbia River Eating Disorders Network, a group of professionals providing education and treatment to individuals suffering from eating disorders, and was past Director of the Ottawa/Carlton Bereavement Counseling Center of Ottowa, Canada. She is committed to the development of positive self esteem in young people and has presented to and been a consultant for schools, health clinics, parent groups and religious organizations, on the media and its affects on body image, self-esteem, and eating disorders across the spectrum. TOP
Rick Seifert is a teacher, journalist and community activist. He founded the Southwest Community Connection newspaper in Southwest Portland in 1994 and continues to write for the monthly paper. In addition to serving as founding board member and past board chair of Media Think, he is on the boards of the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association and the Hillsdale Farmers Market, which he also founded. He has taught journalism at several universities including the University of Montana, the University of California (Berkeley) and the University of Portland. He now teaches part time at Portland Community College. He has his BA from Stanford University and his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University TOP
Vanessa is a founding board member of Media Think. A teacher, artist and documentary filmmaker, she has more than twelve years experience in communications, public relations and media. Vanessa has appeared on radio, television and as visiting lecturer for a variety of audiences. She became part of NMLC while researching a film documenting the affects of media on adolescent behavior, emotion and perception of the world around them. She received her M.A.T. from Lewis and Clark Graduate School, her film degree from Columbia College in Chicago where she worked in the advertising and commercial film industry. Vanessa currently teaches high school for Portland Public Schools. TOP
Joan has a BS in Journalism from University of Portland and a Masters in Teaching from Lewis & Clark College. She was an editor at the Southwest Community Connection newspaper in Portland for four years. Implementing the newspaper’s mission to build community through communication helped Joan develop a broader perspective on the power and potential of media. She later taught Language Arts, Journalism and Newspaper classes at Aloha High School for three years, incorporating lessons about media literacy into her curricula. Joan’s first presentation with NMLC was in 2004 as a panel guest to discuss "Media and Power in Fahrenheit 451," as part of the Multnomah County Library "Everybody Reads" program. Joan is currently studying philosophy and communication theories to enhance her teaching. TOP
Erik Vidstrand has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Development and a Master of Public Health. Since coming back from West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, Erik has been dedicated to monitoring the tobacco industry and has educated thousands of educators and youth around the country. In 2000, Erik was trained at the New Mexico Media Literacy Project as a media literacy catalyst and helped found Media Think. Erik is a Health Educator with the Multnomah County Health Department School Based Health Center Program in Portland, Oregon and the Director of Northwest DOC (Doctors Ought to Care), which coordinates anti-smoking campaigns throughout the Northwest. TOP
Stephani has specialized in video documentaries that aim to foster understanding across a cultural divide. Whether helping students in the US understand the ecological issues facing African families in Lesotho or the Cameroon, or enabling American high school students to talk peer to peer about the effects of homophobia in the classroom, Stephani approaches her subjects with respect and an open mind. Since 1999, Stephani has taught video production, editing and media literacy to youth. She has been an instructor for TILT and the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and since coming to Portland she has taught for the NW Film Center, Film Action Oregon, and St. Mary's Academy. Stephani received her BA in International Development and African Studies from The American University in Washington, DC, and began to understand what it all truly meant through her Peace Corps service in Mali, West Africa. TOP
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Media
Think
formerly the Northwest Media Literacy Center (NMLC)
2115 SW Tyrol St., Portland, OR 97239
(503) 452-7333
