Carol Wilder
Carol Wilder is an author, teacher and mediamaker. She is Professor Emerita at San Francisco State University and The New School for Social Research, where she was Dean of Media Studies and Film and co-founder of the Graduate Program in Media Management.
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She received a B.S. in English and M.A. in Communication and Theatre from Miami University and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Communication from Kent State, where she was a graduate student and Teaching Fellow on May 4, 1970.
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Wilder did an early stint in journalism, winning a National Home Newspaper Association Best Feature Series Award, and has published dozens of book chapters and articles in numerous journals. She served on the Board of Directors of the International Communication Association, as President of the New York State Communication Association, and as Associate Editor of a range of academic journals.
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In 2007-08 Wilder received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, followed by a Senior Specialist Award in 2011 for establishing a documentary film lab at Hanoi University. She returned to Hanoi supported by Fulbright in October 2024 for a lecture series "From Aristotle to Algorithms," with a scheduled return in 2026.
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Her most recent book Living Northern California 1975-1995 was published by WTW Media in 2013. Crossing the Street in Hanoi: Teaching and Learning About Vietnam (2013) was published by Intellect/University of Chicago Press. Rigor and Imagination: Essays from the Legacy of Gregory Bateson (Praeger 1981, with John H. Weakland) received the National Communication Association Book of the Year Award. Wilder's selected work Paradox Lost: Carol Wilder Essays is forthcoming in 2026.Her 16mm short "Puttin' on the Dog" became part of the permanent archive of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2016. Her many recognitions, include the 2017 Kent State University Centennial Award.
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A longtime activist, Wilder's community service and advocacy includes more than thirty years on the Board of Directors/Advisors of Swords to Plowshares, a preeminent veterans support organization in California. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of KZYX radio, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting.
A Cleveland native, after a few years in Boston, Wilder lived in California for 20 years and New York City for three decades, before returning to her spot in Point Arena, California.