The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, & Technology School leadership appointed Dr. Heidi Rae Cooley as the new program head of the arts, technology, and emerging communication and of critical media studies.
Dr. Cooley, associate professor at the Bass School, is among four UT Dallas faculty members selected this year to lead their respective academic areas in arts and technology, physics, biology, and electrical and computer engineering.
Dr. Cooley focuses on media theory as it pertains to mobile technologies and related practices, such as GPS and haptic technologies. She also co-directs the Public Interactives Research Lab, where investigators concentrate on the design of interactive technologies in public spaces.
She is a co-founder and associate editor of the Interactive Film & Media Journal. Her research interests include urban screens and sentient (“smart”) environments, place-based digital cultural heritage, and habits and habit change. Her work explores topics that focus on forms of media that alter individuals’ experiences of their bodies and shape the social collective.
“I do not think or act alone,” Cooley said. “I adhere to several voices: Walter Benjamin’s concept of ‘botanizing on the asphalt;’ Dr. Karen Barad’s theorization of “intra-action” and “touch”; and Charles Sanders Peirce’s idea of ‘community of inquiry.’ These guides assist me in my approach to scholarship, pedagogy, and service. In my new role, I hope to inspire students and others to identify their own guides as they pursue our shared future.”
Cooley earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from California State University, Fullerton; a second master’s degree from UC Irvine; and a PhD from the University of Southern California in 2007. She was an associate professor of media arts and film and media studies at the University of South Carolina before joining UTD in 2018.
Visit the Nov. 1 article by the Office of Media Relations to learn about all the UT Dallas appointees.