Mierzejewska awarded fellowship by television executives

Faculty | Dec 15, 2014 | Gabelli School of Business

Bozena I. Mierzejewska

A Fordham University Schools of Business professor will be getting a rare inside look at the television industry as part of a fellowship awarded to her by an industry professional organization.

Bozena I. Mierzejewska, an assistant professor of communications and media management, will be attending the National Association of Television Program Executives annual meeting in Miami Beach in January as a faculty fellow.

“To keep in touch with academia, they have a fellowship program to which they invite professors who teach students about their business or teach students who would be potential employees,” Mierzejewska said.

The fellowship was awarded on a competitive basis. Mierzejewska had to submit an essay, a listing of her publications and her curriculum vitae as part of the application process.

“They select a number of scholars, and they want to expose those scholars to the issues and practices of television by inviting them to their gatherings and also to help them to network between the industry and academia,” Mierzejewska said.

Mierzejewska has an M.A. in economics from the Warsaw School of Economics and a Ph.D. in management from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Her teaching and research have focused on media management and the impact that digital innovation has had on media organizations and workers.

The Miami Beach event will begin early for the faculty fellows. They will take part in “a two-day intensive exposure to issues of the television industry,” a special program set up by the television executives, before the actual meetings begin, Mierzejewska said.

Mierzejewska said she believes the event will help with both her teaching and research.

“For me, it’s a really big honor because I study issues that are about the industry itself, and it’s very challenging to get access to executives and later to … develop research with them or develop conversations that will help me to understand better really what’s going on,” she said.

She also expects her fellowship to benefit Fordham and its students.

“I hope I develop networks and I start to develop relationships with those executives and with those companies … making them aware that Fordham students could be very good potentials for either internships or eventually for employment,” she said.