Biography for Jennifer L. Mintzer
last updated August 2009
Jennifer L. Mintzer is a filmmaker, writer, educator and entrepreneur from the Philadelphia area.
She previously served as an Assistant Professor of Communication at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. At Pine Manor, Professor Mintzer taught a wide array of production and media studies courses including “Multicultural Images in the Media,” “Images of Women in the Media,” “Children and the Media,” “Legal and Ethical Issues in Mass Communication,” “Introduction to TV and Radio Production,” “Digital Moviemaking,” “Advanced Video Production,” “Writing and Marketing Scripts and Screenplays,” “The Art and Industry of Film,” “Performing for Radio and Television” and a First Year Seminar called “A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words.”
Prior to her career in teaching, Mintzer worked as a producer and nonlinear video editor at Haley Productions (now Allied Pixel) in Media, Pennsylvania, where she worked on media projects for corporate clients such as DuPont Pharmaceuticals, the Heinz Wildlife Refuge and numerous radio stations throughout the country.
Mintzer’s primary research interests are images of gender in the media, Internet-mediated communication and intercultural communication. Her interest in intercultural communication developed from an early age and was further developed in doing a minor in German in college. As an undergraduate, Mintzer was chosen as one of five students to participate in a pilot program to study abroad for a summer in Tübingen, Germany. Following the trip, she spent her senior year of college living in the international dorm at Ursinus College where she made numerous friends from around the world.
As a graduate student, Mintzer studied abroad in London for a summer and served as a resident assistant at the International House of Philadelphia. In 2007, she was awarded a sabbatical leave from Pine Manor and during that time, she traveled around the world as a visiting lecturer on the Semester at Sea voyage where she taught “Intercultural Communication,” “Cinema and National Identity” and “Mass Media Systems Around the World.” During the 100-day voyage the ship circumnavigated the world, making port stops in Puerto Rico, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, China and Japan.
Mintzer holds her M.F.A. in Film and Electronic Media from American University and B.A. from Ursinus College where she double majored in English and Communication and minored in German. She also holds a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Temple University. She is a Phi Beta Kappa inductee and a member of Mensa.
In her free time, she enjoys traveling, surfing the Internet for useful websites, reading and trying new and adventurous things like swimming with dolphins and skydiving!