Tina Korani

Tina Korani, assistant professor of media design at San José State's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, is recognized for her forward-thinking leadership in positioning SJSU as a leader of media education in Silicon Valley.

Professor Korani uses hands-on demonstration to better familiarize students with emerging technologies, boost their critical thinking and improve their teamwork and innovation skills. Since Korani helped to establish the school's new Virtual Reality Lab, it's not unusual to see students walking around with VR apparatus for these new storytelling tools. They have new confidence in their competitive advantage when they enter the journalism job market.

Korani brought 360 video to SJSU, introducing students to a new method of immersive storytelling. In one example, Korani mentored a graduate student to make an impressive 360 video of a former inmate's life and his readjustment to the outside world. The project produced unforgettable images of the former inmate viewing the prison from the vantage point of Alcatraz Island, setting a scene far beyond what conventional camera techniques can impart. 

Korani's expertise in media technology education led her to instruct media production to 20 professional Georgian journalists for one month. The exit surveys revealed that Korani's workshops were considered among the most valuable experiences during their time in the United States. In fact, the journalists ranked her workshops third in all of their activities here, right after training at Facebook and Google.

“The School of Journalism and Mass Communications lives and dies on our ability to keep up with a rapidly advancing technological media landscape. Assistant Professor Korani is keeping us on the cutting edge," says Scott Fosdick, Ph.D., professor and graduate coordinator at SJSU's School of Journalism & Mass Communications.​