Dr. Brent Cowley is delighted and honored to join BYU–Hawaii as a Visiting Assistant Professor and to help fulfill the University’s global mission of educating and spiritually edifying students and serving in the Laie community.
Dr. Cowley holds a Ph.D. in Communication and Media Studies from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. Since beginning teaching in higher education in 2009, he has taught dozens of courses in a wide array of media areas, including film, television, journalism, PR, advertising, and documentary. His curriculum focuses on media literacy and cultivating student learning through theory and scholarship while simultaneously fostering world skills and, in some cases, portfolio-ready products. Throughout his teaching, including seminary, he has cherished opportunities to instruct students of all ages, nationalities, and cultures and assist students in connecting temporal knowledge and skills with an eternal perspective.
Dr. Cowley's interdisciplinary research draws on critical, cultural, and industrial approaches to media regulation, including global regions such as the Asian Rim, Oceania, and Europe. Combining interests in media arts and communications, he has contributed to some of the earliest studies on the sanitization of movies for digital streaming services, such as the remediation of films on Disney+ and other international platforms. Other studies include alterations to films for prisoner populations, international airlines, home video, and television. His research reflects global industries’ trend of modifying objectionable or insensitive content based on religious and cultural policies as well as correcting racial and gender stereotypes due to more recent progressive movements.
His recent research on the history and global impacts of theatrical film sanitization in Utah County, Utah, offers a window into a complex and, in some cases, contradictory set of influences at the intersection of culture, religion, political economy, and media technologies.
Dr. Cowley also has a background working in film, television, and commercials for institutions such as the Walt Disney Company, CBS, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Brent was raised in the Salt Lake Valley and comes from a line of LDS pioneer heritage. He served a full-time mission in Independence, Missouri, in areas where several of his ancestors resided. As a world traveler, he met his wife, Jen, while visiting Santiago, Chile. Together, they have three children. In his free time, Brent enjoys watching documentaries with Jen, film preservation and archiving, and game nights with family and friends.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of Oregon (Communication and Media Studies): 2023
Certificate: New Media & Culture: 2023
MA University of North Texas (Media Industry and Critical Studies): 2017
BA University of Utah (BA, Film Studies; BS, Psychology): 2008, Cum laude
Minor: Communication – Documentary Studies
Dissertation
“Filtered Morality: Theatrical Film Sanitization in Utah County, Utah, 1960s-1980s”
Committee
Peter Alilunas, Associate Professor, University of Oregon (Chair)
Janet Wasko, Professor and Emeritus Knight Chair in Communication, University of Oregon
Seth Lewis, Professor and Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media, University of Oregon
Daniel Steinhart, Associate Professor, University of Oregon
Jon Lewis, University Distinguished Professor, Oregon State University
Research Interests
Global Media industries; Critical/Cultural studies; Media literacy; Political Economy;
Film Studies; World Film History; U.S. film industry; Race and Gender studies; Documentary;
Film sanitization/manipulation; Cultural Policies; Eco-criticism; Integrated Communication
EMPLOYMENT
2024 – Present Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Communication, Media & Culture
Assistant Professor of Communication
2023 – 2024 Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Communication, Media & Culture
Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication
2021 – 2023 University of Oregon, Cinema Studies
Instructor of Record
2017 – 2023 University of Oregon, School of Journalism and Communication
Instructor of Record; Graduate Research Assistant; Graduate Employee
2014 – 2017 University of North Texas, Department of Media Arts
Teaching Fellow; Graduate Teaching Assistant
2011 – 2013 Utah Valley University, Cinema Studies
Adjunct Instructor
2011 – 2024 Salt Lake Community College, Division of Arts, Communication & New Media
Instructor of Communications
2009 – 2024 Salt Lake Community College, Division of Arts, Communication & New Media
Instructor of Film Studies
2004 – 2009 Salt Lake Community College, Division of Arts, Communication & New Media
Teaching Assistant
PUBLICATIONS
“Abbreviating Mickey Mouse: The Art of Remediation in Disney Cartoons,” in Interpreting and Experiencing Disney: Mediating the Mouse. P. Hobbs, ed. Intellect, 2022.
“‘Money is the Root of All Evil.’ How the Business of Journalism Shapes Trust in News,” Journalism, 2024. (with Jacob L. Nelson and Seth C. Lewis)
(Forthcoming): “A True-Life Disneynature Adventure: The Political Economy of Animals and Environmental Activism,” in Animals — Media — Education. Schluchter, J. & Hoiß, C., eds. Polity, 2024.
(Under review): “Filtered Morality: Religious Motivation in Consumer Gratifications of Sanitized Hollywood Films,” New Media & Society.
(Monograph in progress). “Filtered Morality: How the Post-Code Trials over Regional Theatrical Film Regulation Shaped the Filtering Industry” – Preparing book proposal for NYU Press
(Monograph in progress). Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Censors?: Self-Censorship in Early Walt Disney Animation – Approached by Jim Burr from the University of Texas press
(Paper in progress). “Film Censorship Behind Bars: The Sanitization of R-Rated Film Content in US Correctional Facilities”
(Paper in progress). “Edited for Content: Unblurring and Reassessing Censored In-Flight Entertainment”
(Paper in progress). “A Match Made in Washington: The Political and Economic Relationship of the American Film Institute to the U.S. Film Industry” (with Janet Wasko).
GRANTS/FELLOWSHIPS/AWARDS
2023 Best Paper, “Fighting for Mr. Goodbar: Theatrical Film Regulation and the Trials Over “Autonomy” in Utah County, Utah,” Latter-day Saints and Media Symposium, Las Vegas, Oct. 2023
2017- 2023 Columbia Research Fellowship ($1,000 annual award), School of Journalism and Communication
2017-2018 Steven A. Raymund Ph.D. Fellows Fund ($40,000) – University of Oregon
2015-2016 MA Graduate Academic Excellence and Teaching Award (Media Arts) – University of North Texas
2014-2015 MA Graduate Academic Excellence and Teaching Award (RTVF) – University of North Texas
2014-2017 GATS Scholarship, RTVF – University of North Texas
2005-2007 Departmental Scholarship, Film Studies – University of Utah
2004-2005 Academic Scholarship, Division of Arts, Communication & Media, Salt Lake Community College
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
2024 “Censorship Beyond Borders: Global Impacts of Utah County’s Cultural Policies and Film Sanitization Technologies,” International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand. June.
“Remediating the Mouse: The Economics and Uncertainties of Disney+ and Remediated Digital Environments,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Boston, Massachusetts. March.
2023 “Fighting for Mr. Goodbar: Theatrical Film Regulation and the Trials over Autonomy in Utah County, Utah,” Latter-day Saints and Media Symposium, Las Vegas, Nevada. October.
“A ‘Desecration’ of American Film Heritage?: A Reassessment of the National Film Preservation Act 1988,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Denver, Colorado. April.
“Media Revisionism in the Digital Age: Self-Censorship, Memory Holes, and Progressive Pressure,” Pop Culture Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas. April.
2022 “Film Censorship Behind Bars: The Sanitization of R-Rated Film Content in US Correctional Facilities” – Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Cyberconference. April.
“Who Censored Roger Rabbit?: Self-censored Disney Animation vs. The National Film Preservation Act 1988,” Pop Culture Association Conference (Panel Chair), Cyberconference. April.
2021 “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Censors?: Self-Censorship in Early Walt Disney Animation” – Pop Culture Association Conference (Panel Chair), Cyberconference. June.
“Edited for Content: Unblurring and Reassessing Censored In-Flight Entertainment” – Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Cyberconference. March.
2020 “Cultural Regulation of Sanitized Media: Global Impacts of Utah County’s Cultural Policies and Film Censorship Technologies” – International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Tampere, Finland. July. (Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
“Remediating the Mouse: The Political Economy of Remediated Disney Digital Environments” – International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Tampere, Finland. July. (Cancelled due to COVID-19).
“Economizing Information: Internet Movie Database and the Political Economy of Media Industry Data” – What is Information Conference, Portland, Oregon, Cyberconference. May.
2019 “Regulating Obscenity: Battling ‘Immorality’ in Utah County” – International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Madrid, Spain. July.
“Circle the Square: Brand and Disney’s Corporate Identity in the Platform Economy” (with Maxwell Foxman) – International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Madrid, Spain. July.
“Abbreviating Mickey Mouse: The Art of Remediation in Disney Cartoons” – Pop Culture Association Conference, Washington D.C. April.
“Diffusion of Censorship: Technology’s Role in Editing Hollywood Media” – What is Technology Conference, Portland, Oregon. April.
2018 “Classifying Transparent Censorship: MPAA v. BBFC” – International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Eugene, Oregon. June.
“Filtered Morality: Religious Motivation in Consumer Gratifications of Sanitized Hollywood Films” – International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Eugene, Oregon. June.
“Franchising the Disney-verse: The Canonization of Disney Animation” – What is Universe Conference, Portland, Oregon. April.
2017 “Wall-E and the E-pocalypse: Eco-Value Messages in Animation” – What is Life? Conference, Portland. April.
2012 Workshop: “Active Engagement through Classroom Media Technologies,” Salt Lake Community College. August.
2011 Workshop: “Encouraging Critical Thinking in the Classroom through Media,” Salt Lake Community College. August.
Conference Discussant/Moderator
2024 Moderator, “Oceanian Perspectives on Human Dignity Conference,” Oceania and the Media, Brigham Young University–Hawaii, April 25, 2024
2020 Discussant and moderator, “Social Media and Misinformation,” What is Information? Cyberconference, University of Oregon Remote, May 1, 2020
Discussant and moderator, “Media Literacy,” What is Information? Cyberconference, University of Oregon Remote, May 2, 2020
Discussant and moderator, “Media Technologies in Practice,” What is Information? Cyberconference, University of Oregon Remote, May 2, 2020
TEACHING
Brigham Young University–Hawaii (2023-2024)
COMM 200: Mass Communication & Society: Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025
COMM 305: Popular Culture & Communication: Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
COMM 326: Issues in Global Communication: Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
COMM 490: Senior Seminar: Fall 2024
University of Oregon (2017-2023)
CINE 265: History of the Motion Picture (Part 1): Fall 2021, Fall 2022
CINE 266: History of the Motion Picture (Part 2): Winter 2022, Winter 2023
CINE 267: History of the Motion Picture (Part 3): Spring 2022, Spring 2023
J 201: Media and Society: Fall 2018 (GE)
J 213: Fact or Fiction: Spring 2019 (GE), Summer 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020 (Online) (GE), Winter 2021 (Online) (GE), Spring 2021 (Online) (GE)
J 411: U.S. Film Industry: Spring 2020 (Online)
J 412: Understanding Disney: Winter 2019 (GE), Winter 2020, Summer 2023
University of North Texas (2014-2017)
MRTS 3470 – International Film History to 1945: Fall 2015, Fall 2016
MRTS 3470 – International Film History from 1945: Spring 2016, Spring 2017
MRTS 3610 – Film and Television Analysis: Fall 2014 (TA), Spring 2014 (TA)
Salt Lake Community College (2009-2023)
COMM 1010 – Elements of Effective Communication: Fall 2011, Spring 2012,
Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Summer 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014,
Summer 2014, Summer 2015, Summer 2016, Summer 2017, Summer 2018,
Summer 2019, Summer 2020 (Online), Fall 2020 (Online), Summer 2021 (Online)
COMM 2010 – Public Speaking: Spring 2013, Spring 2014
FLM 1023 – Introduction to Film: Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Summer 2011, Fall
2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2012, Summer 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2014,
Summer 2014, Summer 2016, Spring 2021 (Online), Fall 2021 (Online), Spring
2022 (Online), Spring 2023 (Online), Fall 2023 (Online), Spring 2024 (Online)
FLM 1070 – Film and Culture: Spring 2007 (TA), Fall 2008 (TA), Fall 2009,
Spring 2010, Summer 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Summer 2012, Fall 2012,
Spring 2013, Summer 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Summer 2014, Summer 2015, Summer 2016, Summer 2017
FLM 1070 – Film & Culture (Online) – also co-designer of course:
Summer 2021 (Online), Fall 2021 (Online), Spring 2022 (Online), Summer 2022
(Online), Fall 2022, Spring 2023 (Online), Summer 2023 (Online), Fall 2023
(Online), Spring 2024 (Online), Summer 2024 (Online)
HUMA 1100 – Introduction to Humanities – Spring 2013
FLM 2450 – Film Criticism: Fall 2005 (TA), Fall 2006 (TA), Spring 2014
RECORDED LECTURES & CASE STUDIES (Film and Culture)
- Dinner Table Scenes Analysis (Mise-en-scene & Encoding and Decoding)
- Disabilities, Psychological Motivation & Abnormal Psychology in Film (Lecture)
- Disney & Representation (Case Study)
- Documentary, Activism & New Modes of Television (Lecture)
- Global Hollywood: Made in China (Case Study)
- History of Racism in Media & Products (Case Study)
- Introduction to the Auteur Theory (Spike Lee)
- Structure and History of Hollywood Filmmaking (Lecture)
- Women in the Industry - Gender Gap, Inking & Casting (Lecture)
MEDIA
2022 “No song, movie or show can escape the digital age’s revisionist urges,” featured Interviewee, " Travis M. Anderson, Washington Post (August 2022).
2020 Apocalypse Nolan (2021), directed by Thibaut Bertrand (StudioCanal+). Featured Interviewee based on Master’s Thesis
ACADEMIC VIDEO ESSAYS
2018 Cloudy with a Chance of Donuts: Causality in P.T. Anderson’s Boogie Nights (Video Essay) (Fall 2018)
2018 An Extra-Terrestrial Family Dinner: Formal and Ideological Analysis of Dinner Table Scenes (Video Essay) (Fall 2018)
2014 Blazing Westerns: Feminism, Masculinity, and Race in the American West (Video Montage) (Fall 2014)
SERVICE
Faculty Advisor – Public Speaking Club, Winter 2024, Spring 2024
Coordinator and Advisor – What is Communication?, Speaker Series, University of Oregon Remote, April 19-May 20, 2021
Graduate Student Coordinator – What is Information?, Cyberconference, University of Oregon Remote, April 30-May 2, 2020
Graduate Student Coordinator – International Association for Media and Commutation Research, Conference, University of Oregon, June 2018
Graduate Student Advisory Board – University of Oregon. 2017-2020 (elected service)
Mentor - University of North Texas Mentee Film Program. 2015-2017
Film researcher and media technician - “Playing the Part: Representations of Teacher’s Roles in Film” – Keynote speech
SLCC Faculty Convention 2009
SLCC Adjunct Faculty Convention 2012
Broadview University Academic Convention 2013
Committee work – Meeting with surrounding Utah universities to create synergy between course numbers and transfer credits. 2012.
Committee work – Meetings concerning plans for the new Center for Arts and Media. 2011.
Committee work – Research participant in a worldwide search for a new Dean for the Division of Arts, Communication, and Media at the Salt Lake Community College. 2010.
Sundance Film Festival – Volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival in many roles, most recently as a liaison for SLCC in encouraging student enrollment in Film and Media Studies courses. 1998-2012
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
College Art Association (Member), 2022-2023
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (Member), 2018-
Pop Culture Association/American Culture Association (Member), 2018-
International Association for Media and Communication Research (Member), 2017-
Salt Lake Film Center (Member), 2007-
Salt Lake Film Society (Member), 2005-
American Film Institute (Member), 2003-
REFERENCES
Dr. Peter Alilunas, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies
pka@uoregon.edu
541-346-2004
University of Oregon, PLC 105
Eugene, OR 97402
Dr. Seth Lewis, Professor, and Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media
sclewis@uoregon.edu
541-346-7342
University of Oregon, Allen 231
Eugene, OR 97402
Dr. Janet Wasko, Professor and Emeritus Knight Chair in Communication
jwasko@uoregon.edu
541-346-4174
University of Oregon, Allen 208
Eugene, OR 97402
Dr. Harry Benshoff, Chair & Professor in Media Arts
Benshoff@unt.edu
940-565-2537
University of North Texas, RTFP 262B
Denton, TX 76203
Dr. Sangita Gopal, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies
sgopal@uoregon.edu
541-346-5015
University of Oregon, PLC 103
Eugene, OR 97402
Nick Burns (Emeritus Associate Dean in Arts, Communication & New Media)
nick.burns@slcc.edu
801-957-3097
Salt Lake Community College,
South City Campus, 1-159 C
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Dr. Rick Moody (Emeritus Chair & Associate Professor in Cinema Arts)
Rickmovie2001@yahoo.com
801-863-7158
Utah Valley University
800 West University Ave.
Orem, Utah 84058
CV Last Revised 6/2024