As an assistant professor of communication, department of arts & humanities, at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Chris teaches courses in film, communication, and popular culture. 

 

Research interests include film genre and authorship as well as Hollywood history during the Golden Age. In addition, Chris developed a course for the UW Colleges titled "Superheroes and Society" that covers the cultural history of the iconic genre. Chris was invited to present on his class at the 2016 Comic-Con International conference in San Diego alongside Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology), Michael Uslan (comic writer and producer of Batman films 1989-present), Paul Levitz (former president of DC Comics), Paul Zehr (Becoming Batman), and Hannah Means-Shannon (editor at Dark Horse comics). 

 

Chris' first book focuses on the cultural history of the Warner Bros. studio during the Great Depression and lead up to World War II, titled From the Headlines to Hollywood: The Birth and Boom of Warner Bros. Current research chronicles the studio’s social impact from 1942-1956.

 

Chris regularly presents at national conferences and is currently the "Hollywood Studio System" area chair for the Film & History national conference. His work can be found in The Journal of American Culture, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, The Journal of Religion & Film, Senses of Cinema, the Journal of Film and Video, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Atlantic Monthly, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. 

 

Chris holds a B.A. in film studies and English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as well as both an M.A. in film studies and Ph.D. in communication from Regent University.

 

Amazon author page can be found here.