Communication Skills

Thomas Dooley is a lecturer in the School of Communication at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a two-time Emmy award-winning multiplatform producer with expertise in digital content strategy, video production, photojournalism and long-form documentary. He is currently exploring immersive storytelling in journalism.

His career has taken him across five continents always in pursuit of compelling stories. During his career he has been involved with nearly every level of production - behind the camera as a videographer, behind the computer as an editor, and supervising colleagues as a producer.

As a Producer for PBS, he produced over 150 short-form segments for TV and social media. He has also produced, filmed and edited long-form documentaries for national television distribution such as Dialogue In Metal and the Emmy award-winning Music for Life: The Story of New Horizons.

Whatever the arena—professionally, in family, in ministry or in community—Keith’s desire, first and foremost, is to serve. Dr. Keith B. Jenkins, Professor of Communication in the School of Communication, is the Vice President & Associate Provost for Diversity & Inclusion at Rochester Institute of Technology. Keith, a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, received his B.A. in Communication from the University of Arkansas and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Communication from the Florida State University. Since joining RIT in 1992 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Dr. Jenkins has also served as RIT Faculty-in-Residence (1993 – 1995), RIT’s first Assistant Provost for Diversity (1999 – 2002), Director of Undergraduate Degree Programs in the School of Communication (2011 – 2016), and Interim Vice President and Associate Provost, Division for Diversity & Inclusion (2016 – 2017). He was also privileged to establish RIT’s Multicultural Center for Academic Success and the School of Communication’s Journalism Degree program. Jenkins is the recipient of many awards. Among the RIT awards are the 2010 Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching, the 2005 Isaac L. Jordan Pluralism Award, the 2004 RIT Diversity Trailblazer Award, the 1993-94 Provost’s Excellence in Teaching Award, the 1996 and 1997 Higher Education Opportunity Program “Community Professor” awards which recognize a professor who has made a difference in the lives of HEOP students at RIT, and NTID’s (National Technical Institute for the Deaf) 1995 Pluralism Award. Jenkins’ scholarly publications and presentations center around studies in intercultural communication, political and visual rhetoric, and the rhetoric of gospel song. Most recently, the focus of his research has been on pragmatism and the rhetoric of inclusion in Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.

After a 30-year career in Technical Communication and Interactive Multimedia management, Lori joined RIT’s School of Communication full time in 2013.

Professor Marra has a B.S. in Management from Nazareth College where she also double-minored in Philosophy and Studio Art. She also holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. She focused on Stoic Ethics and her thesis is titled: The Mad Are All Unwise: The Practicality of Stoic Ethics. She teaches Communication, Public Speaking, and Technical Communication (with a focus on business communication for technical professionals). Lori is also an accomplished playwright and long-time member of the Dramatist Guild. She is advisor to the RIT Players, RIT’s theatre club and she is an artist in residence at MuCCC Theatre. For more on her playwriting career, visit her web site: lorimarra.com or follow her on Twitter @blueinkplayrite.