Salt Institute at MECA&D Hires New Visiting Professor of Radio & Podcasting for Spring 2021
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at MECA&D visiting teacher of Radio and Podcasting, Katie Shepherd.
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at MECA&D has hired a visiting teacher of Radio and Podcasting. Katie Shepherd, an experienced audio producer, writer and teacher, will teach Salt’s 15-week Radio/Podcasting Certificate Class this winter.
Shepherd is currently a contract producer at Slate Studios, and has previously produced shows for Gimlet Creative, Stitcher, NYU, The Listening Booth, and a Webby-winning show for Cadence 13. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, Literary Hub, Ploughshares, The Rumpus, and BUST. Katie is a graduate of the MFA writing program at Columbia University and holds an MA from The University of Manchester in education. She also teaches a podcasting course at Columbia University.
In her role at Maine College of Art & Design, Katie Shepherd will be teaching in our Radio & Podcasting track. She taught in the inaugural podcasting courses at Columbia and now brings these skills to the powerhouse program that is the Salt Institute’s audio program. Shepherd will be teaching from our time-honored, refined, and rigorous Salt Radio & Podcasting curriculum, adding her unique experience and lens to the experience for a new cohort of learners. We’re very excited to offer this exclusive opportunity for the Spring 2021 semester!
“The Salt Graduate Certificate is truly a transformative experience, and our alumni tend to become a community after graduation,” says Isaac Kestenbaum, Director of the Salt Institute. Kestenbaum himself is a Salt alum from 2008, before the program re-emerged at Maine College of Art & Design as a Graduate Certificate, and recently joined Maine College of Art & Design as Salt’s director in August of 2020. “We are delighted that our newest instructor comes so highly recommended by a Salt alum who is also a member of our Salt Alumni Advisory Committee here at MECA&D.”
“Katie will be teaching in our official Graduate program, which is an accredited certificate program in a single, intense, 15-week semester,” adds Associate Dean of the program, Araminta Matthews. “Maine College of Art & Design was able to respond quickly to the pandemic, implementing a variety of testing measures and safety precautions that allowed us to complete the full Fall semester in-person. Katie will be teaching in our face-to-face classroom this Spring, as well. We are heartened to be able to provide an in-person learning experience as a safe harbor for our learners amidst such difficult times.”
In addition to the Graduate Certificate program--the quintessential Salt experience--Maine College of Art & Design’s Continuing and Professional Studies office offers a variety of novice and expert workshops fully online. The Salt “novice” workshops are available to community members who are perhaps not quite ready for the full Graduate program, and our “expert” workshops are available for those who have gone through the Salt experience or similar programs and are looking for specific professional development opportunities in their discipline. Workshops vary from 1-day opportunities to 5-week mini-intensives and cover a range of niche topics in the area of documentary storytelling, radio & podcasting, and short film, many of which can be taken as samplers or preparatory experiences to strengthen the portfolio for application to the Salt Graduate Certificate.
For more information about the Salt C&PS Workshops, please visit our course listing site here. If you are ready to apply for the Graduate Certificate or have questions related to the application process, please visit our Program page at Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies (meca.edu) or contact our Graduate Admissions Counselor, Joel Tsui, at 207.699.5021 or joel.tsui-staff@meca.edu. You might also be interested in the first of our newly developed video podcast series in Salt. In our first session, we covered the basics of microphone selection in live-broadcasting opportunities. Check it out here: youtu.be/hgMb9y3PKjw.