Dr. Stephane Dunn – a Morehouse professor and the college’s Cinema, Television, and Emerging Media Studies department chair – was recently selected for the Alex Trebek Legacy Fellowship.
Dunn was one of 18 professors selected for the 2024 fellowship program, which is put on by the Television Academy Foundation, according to a press release. Named for the late host of the quiz show “Jeopardy!”, the fellowship offers financial support to those attending the Foundation’s annual Media Educators Conference.
According to the release, the conference connects college classrooms with the television industry through “curriculum-enhancing seminars on the latest in the art, science and business of television with prominent leaders in show business.” Dunn went to Los Angeles to attend the conference from Oct. 9-11.
“I am definitely glad that I came and very grateful to have received an Alex Trebek scholarship to do so and be a representative of educator-creatives from an HBCU in particular,” Dunn said of her time at the conference. “The people that I was able to meet – from fellow educator-creatives around the country to some of the guest industry panelists and the Warner Bros tour were two of the best experiences.”
Dunn first came to Morehouse University as a visiting assistant professor from Ohio State University. When she began working at Morehouse, the school did not yet have a dedicated film or television-related major.
“The first day that I met with the then Dean of Humanities, I spoke about … I can’t really see staying some place where there’s not a film scholarship program,” Dunn said.
After that conversation, Dunn helped co-found the Morehouse Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies (CSTEMS) major. At school, she teaches screenwriting, documentary filmmaking, creative writing, African American Cinema, and film criticism. But Dunn is not just a professor – she’s working in the industry, too.
Dunn has written, co-directed and produced two short documentary films, “Fight For Hope” and “Mr. Creek’s Move.” She has written screenplays and books, including “Baad Bitches and Sassy Supermamas.” In addition to her job as a professor, she’s continuing to do creative work as well. She said this helps her in her teaching job, as she’s able to use personal examples of her own process, triumphs and struggles.
“It is so tremendous to be actually doing what I’m teaching,” Dunn said. “When I’m talking to students … I can share with them things like my outline for my screenplay that was optioned, to teach them how to do the outline.”
But, teaching and mentoring can make it hard to find the time to work on other things, she said. Part of what excited her about participating in the fellowship program and attending the conference was the opportunity to network with others who are in her position, as well as those who work full time in the industry.
“The other powerful aspect was getting inside the room so to speak and being able to sort of say aloud that we – dual professionals like me and the fellow participants can be more than attendees at an annual conference but active participants – partners in the continuing needed work towards breaking down barriers we and our students confront to accessing the industry and the Television Academy itself,” Dunn said.
