CCS Welcomes New Faculty

We are delighted to announce that our association with Virginia Tech’s Pandemic Prediction and Prevention Destination Area has allowed the Center for Communicating Science (CCS), in partnership with the School of Performing Arts, to hire two additional faculty members in applied theatre. These new members of our team, Jon Catherwood-Ginn and Brittney Harris, will co-direct some of the research conducted by the CCS in the coming years, take on some sections of the graduate-level course Communicating Science (GRAD 5144), and teach performance and devising courses in the Theatre Arts Program in the School of Performing Arts.

    Harris, with a B.F.A. in acting from Old Dominion University and an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Georgia, comes to Virginia Tech from her position as assistant professor of theatre performance at Old Dominion University. Her work at ODU focused on “the intersectionality of community engagement and performance as activism pedagogy,” she said. As assistant professor of applied theatre at Virginia Tech, she hopes to continue to work in race and performance, performance as activism, applied collaborative techniques, devised theatre, and community-engaged theatre. 

    “I first met Brittney when she took a position in our Post-MFA Fellows program,” said Center for Communicating Science director Patty Raun. “Her enthusiasm for arts integration lights up every room she enters, and her expert facilitation inspires those that she teaches. I am thrilled that we are welcoming her back to Virginia Tech.”

    Harris was drawn to the work of the center, she said, because of the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration it provides. 

    “The center's transformative approach to integrating the arts into natural and social science disciplines demonstrates the importance of maintaining trust, security, and essential human connections within communities, especially relevant in the post-pandemic era,” she said. 

    “I'm very excited about contributing to and further diversifying our center's creative human interaction and engagement culture,” she added. “I look forward to exploring a wide range of possibilities, including inventive critical thinking, effective public speaking, and interdisciplinary collaborations.”

    Outside of work, Harris enjoys supporting local art, spending time in nature, traveling, cooking, and exercising. 

    Catherwood-Ginn, with a B.A. in English and theatre from Bucknell University and an M.F.A. in directing and public dialogue from Virginia Tech, has been Associate Director of Programming at the Moss Arts Center for the past 10 years. He has over 20 years of teaching experience from his work in the New York public school system as an English teacher and has taught applied theatre in higher education, juvenile correction facilities, and schools of medicine. Catherwood-Ginn also is currently working on his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in planning, governance, and globalization.  

    “Jon has established a well-deserved reputation for impactful community-engaged scholarship,” said Raun. “We are very fortunate that we will have his great mind and great heart on our team going forward.”

    Catherwood-Ginn says that he is excited about doing “anything and everything” for the center, including designing and facilitating workshops, co-teaching the Communicating Science course at Virginia Tech, assisting with the center’s Research Stories webpage, and contributing to the public’s engagement with the Pandemic Prediction and Prevention Destination Area. 

    “The goals of this interdisciplinary initiative are so vital in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said, “and I believe the Center for Communicating Science has much to offer in fostering relationships, trust, complementary knowledge, and shared understandings between pandemic researchers and community members. It’s an honor to be welcomed into this timely and ambitious effort as a collaborator.”

    Catherwood-Ginn expressed admiration for what the center has been doing and commented that it helps people with “communicating across disciplines, different value systems, and different ways of understanding the world.” Outside of work, he enjoys playing music, reading, running, and cooking. 

    Pandemic Prediction and Prevention (PPP) is one of two transdisciplinary research teams that received Destination Area 2.0 Phase II grant awards from the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost last August. Raun is one of the co-principal investigators on the PPP team. Community engagement and effective communication are essential components of the research team’s plans to develop strategies for  anticipating future disease outbreaks and preventing them from becoming pandemics, and the skills Harris and Catherwood-Ginn bring to the center will be invaluable. 

    We welcome both Jon and Brittney!

    Written by Elliott Byrd, Center for Communicating Science student intern