When: Wednesday, November 04, 09:30 a.m.- 10:30 p.m.

Where: Rashid Auditorium (4401) Gates & Hillman Centers

Dr. Lewis Bernstein, Executive Vice President, Education, Research & Outreach
Dr. Michael Levine, Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center
Miles Ludwig, Vice President and Executive Producer, Digital Media
Erica Branch-Ridley, Broadband Supervising Producer, The Electric Company
Dr. Glenda Revelle, Research Scientist, Digital Media
Dionne Nosek, Vice President, Creative Development
Karen Fowler, Executive Producer, The Electric Company

Sesame Street Coming to Campus!

Abstract:
Forty years ago, a national experiment called Sesame Street appeared on television sets around the country, aiming to help children prepare for school. Today, co-productions of the show exist in 140 countries around the world, and the Sesame Street Muppets have taught preschoolers academic and social skills needed to succeed in life. Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street, continues to work on behalf of children everywhere, including early elementary school students with the new incarnation of The Electric Company. Presented as a case study of the Sesame Workshop model in action, The Electric Company takes a 360-degree approach to media, going beyond television to include content online and on new forms of digital media.

Bio:
Dr. Lewis Bernstein, Executive Vice President, Education, Research and Outreach Sesame Workshop
As Executive Vice President of Education, Research and Outreach, Dr. Lewis Bernstein establishes the educational agenda for all Workshop productions and creative executions. He oversees the development and analysis of research studies which assess the outcomes of Sesame Workshop’s projects. Previously, Bernstein served as the Executive Producer of the nonprofit organization’s most beloved and well-known series, Sesame Street. In his three years as Executive Producer, the series adopted a curriculum encouraging American children to respect the diversity of children from all over the world and an initiative to teach children about health, nutrition and exercise. His work won him and the Workshop three Emmy awards.

Formerly Vice President, Global Sesame Street Productions, Bernstein has been integral to the success of the children's series internationally, training production teams from France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Kuwait and Israel to develop their own versions of the program. Prior to his role as Vice President, Bernstein served as Executive Producer for Sesame English, a television program that teaches conversational English in foreign countries. In addition, he was responsible for spearheading the Israeli/Palestinian version of Sesame Street and served as the Executive Producer on the project.

Bernstein’s association with Sesame Street began in 1972 when he came on board as Director of Research working alongside Jim Henson and Jon Stone to integrate entertainment and education. Bernstein holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in Communications Research, an M.A. from Hebrew University in Communications, and a B.A. from Queens College, CUNY, in Psychology.

Michael H. Levine, Ph.D. Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center
Dr. Levine oversees the Center's efforts to catalyze and support research, innovation, and investment in educational media technologies for young children. Prior to joining the Center, Dr. Levine served as Vice President of New Media and Executive Director of Education for Asia Society, managing the global nonprofit organization's interactive media, and educational initiatives to promote knowledge and understanding of Asia and other world regions, languages and cultures. Previously, Dr. Levine oversaw Carnegie Corporation of New York's groundbreaking work in early childhood development, educational media and primary grades reform, and was a senior advisor to the New York City Schools Chancellor, where he directed dropout prevention, afterschool, and early childhood initiatives. Dr. Levine has been a frequent adviser to the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, writes for public affairs journals, and appears frequently in the media. He was named by Working Mother magazine as one of America's most influential leaders in shaping family and children's policy and serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including We Are Family Foundation, Ready To Learn, Talaris Institute, and Teach For America. Levine is also currently a senior associate at the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University. He received his Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University's Florence Heller School and his B.S. from Cornell University.

Miles Ludwig, Vice-President and Executive Producer of Sesame Workshop’s Digital Media Group, oversees creative and production for interactive and digital initiatives. Miles has led the design and development of interactive educational experiences and educational software titles for every significant technology-based platform of the last 15 years, including product lines for Mattel, V-Tech, Hasbro, Electronic Arts, Jakks Pacific, Scholastic, Nintendo and Sony. Miles was previously the Creative Director of Elias Arts’ Sound Intelligence Group, and the co-founder of Kirt Gunn & Associates, Inc. (KGA), an interactive advertising agency. At KGA he led a team that created cross-platform campaigns for Diageo, LVMH, Ford, and Volvo. Miles was educated at Brown University and New York University.

Erica Branch-Ridley Sesame Workshop – The Electric Company
Erica Branch-Ridley is the Emmy award winning Broadband Supervising Producer for the new literacy show The Electric Company at Sesame Workshop located in Manhattan, New York. Erica oversees all creative direction, educational content development, and broadband video production of the Electric Company website in addition to all digital media aspects of the property including mobile video, iphone aps, content syndication, and console game development.

Before The Electric Company, Erica served as the Executive Producer and Sr. Director of TV Land Digital where she also oversaw the creative direction and production for both the TV Land and Nick-at-Nite websites. In addition, she was in-charge of the development and production of Broadband Video which included content for the streaming video player, mobile platforms, content syndication and podcasting. She also worked in conjunction with ad sales and promotions marketing on the development of online cross-promotional ad sales projects.

Erica has won numerous awards for her work at TV Land but most importantly she won an Academy of Arts and Sciences Primetime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Television” for her work as Executive Producer for the 2005 TV Land Awards Online application. She was also twice nominated for a NATAS Technology Emmy Award in 2004 and 2005 in the same category.

Prior to her position with TV Land, Erica was the Senior Producer for Nickelodeon Online. Erica oversaw the production for the “Playtime” area of Nickjr.com. Erica was in charge of coordinating TV, Web development, design and technology to extend the Nick Jr. brand and franchises online. Erica has nurtured many notable online properties for Nick Jr. from Blue’s Clue’s and Bob the Builder to Little Bill and Oswald. She was the lead producer of the first ever successful TV / Web convergent effort for preschoolers with Dora the Explorer! The Dora online launch went on to be voted “best use of online” by Kidscreen Magazine in 2000.

Before her work with Nickelodeon, Erica worked as the Education Content Producer for The AT&T Learning Network where she was responsible for providing online support and resources to teachers and communities. In particular, she managed the web-based teacher support pages and the “Ask the Learning Network” online mentoring program for K-12 teachers. Previous to working in the internet industry, Erica spent almost 10 years in the television industry working for such companies as Black Entertainment Television where she created and produced a children’s television show called “STORYPORCH” that featured celebrities like Maya Angelou, Bill Cosby and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee to name a few. “STORYPORCH” went on to win her a National Education Association Award, high recognition from TV Guide and Child Magazine and two nominations from the NAACP for their renowned Image Award. Erica also worked for almost 6 years at CBS-NEWS on the award winning show 48 HOURS where she started out as the assistant to Dan Rather and future CBS-NEWS president Andrew Heyward. Finally, Erica worked at WNBC-TV where she got her start in television, working on many public affairs local shows and on NBC network specials including the annual “Christmas in Rockefeller” variety show.

In 2007 Erica was one of 30 people chosen from cable networks around the country by the National Association of Multi-ethnicity in Cable to participate in their prestigious year long Executive Leadership Development Program at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Erica has completed graduate coursework at Seton Hall University in Elementary Education and Technology and holds a B.S. degree from Syracuse University from the esteemed S.I. Newhouse School in Speech Communications and Television Production. Erica resides in West Orange, New Jersey with her husband Jon. She is the proud mom of 3 of the biggest Electric Company fans, 11 year old daughter Nya and 6 year old twins; Olivia and Jonathan.

Glenda Revelle, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Digital Media Sesame Workshop
Dr. Revelle is a Research Scientist in the area of Digital Media at Sesame Workshop. In that capacity, she is responsible for developing and pursuing strategic education and research collaborations with partners in academics and industry. In addition, she provides consultation on educational content, interface development, interactive design and usability to Sesame Workshop's digital media product development teams. She is also a Research Associate in the Psychology Department at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Revelle has previously served as Vice President for Education and Research/Digital Media and Vice President for Interactive Product Development, both at Sesame Workshop. In addition, she has served as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Senior Researcher at the University of Maryland's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies/Human-Computer Interaction Lab, and as an interactive education consultant to many prominent media companies. Her current research interests include mobile technologies and children’s learning, tangible interfaces, and intergenerational family communication. Dr. Revelle received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan.

Dionne Nosek, Vice President, Creative Development Sesame Workshop
Dionne Nosek has a long record in producing award-winning content for Sesame Workshop’s Global Television group. Dionne has served as a leading creative voice in a variety of Workshop projects: Narrative Producer on The Electric Company, Sesame Street podcasts, Executive Producer for International animation commissions and Pinky Dinky Doo. Dionne also developed and produced over a dozen Sesame Street home videos, including the best-seller and pee-in-your-pants funny “Elmo’s Potty Time.” Dionne also launched several new brands in kids programming; most notably, Sesame Workshop content curator for the Noggin cable launch. Dionne is currently Vice President of Creative Development at Sesame Workshop. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Karen Fowler, Executive Producer, The Electric Company
The Electric Company has been a passion for Fowler since she began spearheading its' reinvention four years ago. As a Development Executive at Sesame Workshop, she began to explore her vision for this multi-media project that brings righteously playful, musical stories and sketches to serve the literacy needs of 6-9 year olds. To bring this initiative to life, she put together a creative team consisting of Tony and Grammy winner's on music, McArthur grantee's on stories, Emmy winning director's and celebrities like Whoopie Goldberg, Wyclef Jean and Jimmy Fallon, as well breaking new talent like series co-star Priscilla Diaz. Fowler recently delivered 40 episodes of The Electric Company to PBS and 2 pro-reading PSA's packed with celebrities airing nationally. Additionally, she is currently working on the creative for the upcoming Electric Company live ticketed tour and has ongoing involvement in all other facets of this widespread project.

Previously, Fowler worked on a variety of properties for Sesame Workshop including creatively leading the launch of the Japanese Sesame Street, co-developing and overseeing production on 26x1/2-hour episodes of Sponk! (aired on Noggin), and co-developing Pinky Dinky Doo, a series airing on Noggin domestically and on various networks around the world.

Before joining the Workshop, Fowler worked as Senior Producer/Development Executive at Nickelodeon's Creative Lab, where she developed and produced over 30 character-driven live action and animated films, all of which premiered on Saturday Night Nickelodeon. At Nick, Fowler co-created and produced the network's first web/TV series called "Natalie's Backseat Traveling Webshow".

Raised in a mining town in northern Canada with two TV stations and a whole lot of hockey, Fowler has been happily working in New York City for over 15 years.

Faculty Host: Matthew Kam
Inquiries? mattkam@cs.cmu.edu

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