Last semester, I signed up for the child development course, “Children & Mass Media.” As a Communications and Media Studies minor, I had met Professor Dobrow on several occasions, and she was always so helpful and enthusiastic. I jumped at the chance to take her class! After talking to some friends, I found that this course is not only greatly popular but also greatly fascinating. All of us have fond memories of “Barney” or “Wishbone” or “Sesame Street,” but who of us knows just how much work and thought factors into our half-hour entertainment? Professor Dobrow is interested in what she studies and it shows. Keep your schedules open for her classes in your next semesters at Tufts.
Name: Professor Julie Dobrow
Department: Communications and Media Studies
Hometown: Great Neck, New York
What do you teach? The “CMS Senior Colloquium,” and two courses in Child Development, “Graduate Seminar in Children and Media “and in the spring, “Children & Mass Media.”
How long have you taught at Tufts? 17 years
What’s your favorite aspect of Tufts?
The students! We have the greatest students. They are incredibly creative and socially aware and interested in so many different things. I love that every student I know here is involved in about 52 different activities.
Why are you passionate about what you teach?
When I was in graduate school, the very first semester, I was given a teaching assistantship, and I just fell in love with teaching and have been doing it ever since.
In terms of media, I think that it’s incredibly important. You all have grown up in a world of wall-to-wall media. It’s an important part of what you do, because it’s a part of your lives, but you don’t often think to step back and think about what media means in a larger social context. In my classes, I encourage people to step back and think about what’s going on, why it’s important and how it’s important…
I started teaching “Children & Mass Media” when I came to Tufts. I’d never taught a class before on children and mass media but at that time, I had a three year old and an infant, and I was really interested in children and mass media as a parent. I saw that my kids were going to grow up in this environment so I became interested in it as a parent and an academic. My four children are my own little laboratory!
What is your favorite aspect of teaching?
The best moments of any day are when something clicks in the classroom or when a student is in my office and tells me things have come together. That’s really exciting. I had a moment at an alumni event in New York a few years ago, which was really poignant to me. A woman came up to me and said, “Professor Dobrow, I don’t know if you remember me. I was in the very first class you taught at Tufts and it really changed my life,” and it was 15 years later. When you’re in the classroom, you don’t stop and think of the potential you have as teacher to direct a student’s life. You never know what you’ll say that’ll rub off on them. When you have someone come up to you and say something like that, it’s really powerful.
What was your favorite part of college?
Learning to think in an interdisciplinary way. Everything I did in college and grad school and years since as a professor, has been really inherently multidisciplinary. I never wanted to be constrained by one field or other. Even when I was in college, I double majored in anthropology and sociology, but the senior paper I wrote was on women’s history. My interests have always crossed disciplines and one of the things I learned in college was how to do that.
What were you like in college?
When I went to college I thought I was going to be a music major. I play the flute…and played in the orchestra the whole time. I worked for the college newspaper…and in those days, we’d physically lay things out, we’d spend all night coming up with punny headlines. I spent a lot of time in and out of the classroom pursuing the things that were important to me.
What advice would you give to college students?
I’d say the same thing I say to my own children, two of whom are in college. These are terrific years. You’re never going to have the time and the luxury again of studying without tons of constraints on you. Take advantage of that. Take advantage of being in an environment where ideas are important and you’re encouraged to explore. Try new things; don’t be afraid to do that. Remember, part of being in college is being in an environment with people different than you are. Take advantage of that, too.
Why do you like Boston as a city?
I’ve lived in Boston longer than I lived anywhere else. I’ve always enjoyed the Boston area. I like the fact that it doesn’t take you long to get to the ocean or the mountains…I like the fact that it’s a very youth oriented city. There are lots of universities. There are lots of difference things going on in the arts all the time. Boston used to be called the Athens of America…it is true that it has remained a vibrant place…I’ve always found it to be a fun environment.
Who inspires you? Some of my colleagues here at Tufts inspire me. I am inspired by my children all the time. I’m amazed by the way their minds are developing, their creativity, and sense of humor, each one in a different way. And, I’m very often inspired my students.
If you have had any wonderful, awesome, inspirational professors, please feel free to e-mail me their names so I can interview them in “Campus Class-Acts!” (Alexandria.chu@tufts.edu)