Emerson College

With the start of every academic year comes new goals, new connections, and of course, new faculty members from a range of disciplines. The Fall 2026 semester brings a speech language pathologist specializing in augmentative and alternative communication, an Emmy Award winning director, a theatre historian, and the founder of a national book festival, to name a few new full-time faculty. We asked them to answer a few questions about themselves and their fields. Part 1 of 2.

Emerson College Trustee Seth Grahame-Smith ’98 and Erin (Stickle) Grahame-Smith ’96 have endowed a transformative $1 million scholarship to support student storytellers. The scholarship will be awarded to School of Film, Television, and Media Arts and School of Communication students with demonstrated financial need. “Emerson students are the brave communicators, visionary artists, and bold storytellers who go on to shape our culture and transform their industries.

When Miles Katz ’26 stepped onto the stage at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference in Las Vegas this spring, he wasn’t just accepting an award—he was presenting research to many of the engineers who helped shape the technology he was studying. Katz, a School of Film, Television, and Media Arts major, received the Best Student Paper Award for his research examining cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Emerson College is completely transforming the way it prepares students for an evolving world of work with the launch of the reimagined and restructured Emerson Career Design Center, which centers around a model that integrates career readiness throughout a student’s academic experience, and sets them up for success in the creative economy.

Emerson Move-In is Energetic, Organized Move-in day for first year students at Emerson is no small undertaking. Hundreds of student, staff, and faculty volunteers help make the process spirited, welcoming, fun, and efficient. Here are some moments in time, capturing what move-in was like for some first year students on Wednesday. 8 a.m. When most Bostonians downtown were ambling to their offices half asleep, a cheerful roar could be heard erupting from the sidewalk in front of 80 Boylston Street.

Emerson College and WERS will recognize five alumni during Alumni Weekend in October, whose achievements span industries including nonprofits, music, television, radio, and academia. Alumni Weekend will take place from October 23-25, and the Extraordinary Together: Alumni Awards Celebration is on Saturday, October 24, from 6:00-11:00 p.m. at the Ritz-Carlton, Boston.

Abigail Miner ’28 announced new students as they arrived at the Little Building. Incoming students lined up in vehicles along Boylston Street, eagerly waiting to turn onto Tremont Street, where they were greeted by an energetic team of orientation move-in leaders. Dancing along to music, songs, and cheers, the leaders announced students as they stepped out of their cars and began their journey at Emerson. First stop? The Little Building.

Aimy Nguyen has experience with having to prove herself. A student at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Boston, Nguyen needed to show her coaches and teammates that she could hold her own on a wrestling squad made up of (largely male) students at O’Bryant and Boston Latin Academy.

Speech@Emerson students participate in a preschool screening lab during the Immersion program, which brings the online students together on Emerson’s Boston campus for a few days to attend in-person workshops, practice techniques, and build community. Photo/Derek Palmer On a recent Friday, dozens of Emerson College students gathered in a classroom in the former Union Bank Building and pretended to be 5 years old.

Scott Shiller ’97 remembers the show that changed the trajectory of his career—a Blue Man Group performance that he saw while he was an Emerson student. Now, 30 years later, Shiller has returned to Emerson as the inaugural Vice President of the new Division of Media and Arts Ventures (MAV), bringing with him a career spent creating and leading unforgettable live theater experiences in Boston, Chicago, Miami, Denver, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, and beyond.