Center Administrative Staff
Patricia Aufderheide's picture
Patricia Aufderheide
Co-Director

Center director Patricia Aufderheide is University Professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C. She is the co-author with Peter Jaszi of Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (University of Chicago Press, July 2011), and author of, among others, Documentary: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2007), The Daily Planet (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), and of Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press, 1999). She heads the Fair Use and Free Speech research project at the Center, in conjunction with Prof. Peter Jaszi in American University's Washington College of Law. She has been a Fulbright and John Simon Guggenheim fellow and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others. She has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including the Preservation and Scholarship award in 2006 from the International Documentary Association, a career achievement award in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association, and the Woman of Vision Award from Women in Film and Video (DC) in 2010. Aufderheide serves on the board of directors of Kartemquin Films, a leading independent social documentary production company, and and on the editorial boards of a variety of publications, including Communication Law and Policy and In These Times newspaper. She has served on the board of directors of the Independent Television Service, which produces innovative television programming for underserved audiences under the umbrella of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and on the film advisory board of the National Gallery of Art. She received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota.

Pat can be reached at: paufder (at) american.edu
Matthew Nisbet's picture
Matthew Nisbet
Co-Director

Matthew Nisbet is Associate Professor in the School of Communication at American University, Washington, D.C.. Nisbet’s research investigates the role the of media and communication in policymaking and public affairs, focusing on debates over science, the environment, and public health. Over the past decade, he has published more than 50 peer-reviewed studies, book chapters, and reports, which have been cited more than 800 times in the peer-reviewed literature and in more than 300 books. A 2011 editorial in the journal Nature recommended Dr. Nisbet’s research as “essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in the climate change debate,” and the New Republic highlighted his work as a “fascinating dissection of the shortcomings of climate activism.” He has been a Health Policy Investigator at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a Google Science Communication Fellow, and a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He holds an A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Communication from Cornell University.

Matthew can be reached at: nisbet (at) american.edu
Caty Borum Chattoo's picture
Caty Borum Chattoo
Creative Director

Caty Borum Chattoo is a full-time professor of Public Communication and Executive in Residence in American University's School of Communication. She has multifaceted expertise in social change communication, integrated media campaigns, and documentary film and television production. Most recently, she worked as a senior vice president at a D.C. global communications agency. She also worked in Los Angeles with producer Norman Lear through both the Norman Lear Center, a multidisciplinary think tank, and as a founding director of Lear’s Declare Yourself, a national youth civic engagement campaign. Prior to this work, she served as a program officer in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Entertainment Media & Public Health program. In addition, Borum Chattoo has produced documentary film, TV, and short-subject advocacy videos for groups including the AFL-CIO, California Nurses Association, ICLEI USA, YWCA, and others. She co-produced the investigative feature documentary film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," and served as a key media spokesperson; and she served as co-producer and field producer for an investigative TV documentary series about environmental social justice, "Sierra Club Chronicles," which aired on Link TV and the Sundance Channel.

Caty Borum Chattoo can be reached at: chattoo (at) american.edu
Angelica Das's picture
Angelica Das
Associate Director

Angelica Das is the Associate Director at the Center for Social Media with a background in nonprofit management and communication. Angelica programs the Center's annual Media That Matters conference and Visiting Filmmaker agenda, as well as special projects and strategic planning. She regularly serves as a juror for local festivals including the Justice Matters award at Filmfest DC. She previously managed operations for the nonprofit Machik, whose work is incubating social innovation on the Tibetan plateau. As program officer with the National Geographic Society, she managed grants and media for premiere explorers and adventurers. She received a Master of Arts in International Media from American University, where she investigated the role of hyper-local media in information environments. Angelica holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Rochester and post-baccalaureate certificate in Polish language and culture. A true global citizen, Angelica has roots in Poland and India and continues to explore the world through documentary filmmaking.

Angelica can be reached at: das (at) american.edu
Abigail Maravalli's picture
Abigail Maravalli
Project Coordinator

Abigail serves as the Project Coordinator at the Center for Social Media. She recently completed her master's degree in Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs at American University while researching the capacity of media to produce social change in Iran. While living in Washington, she worked with Meridian Hill Pictures as the Production and Development Intern and at the SILVERDOCS International Documentary Film Festival as the Conference Assistant. Abigail is thrilled to join the Center with the belief that a re-energized documentary film industry and the global potential of social media are rewriting the avenues for creating social change.

Abigail can be reached at: acm (at) american.edu