Teaching
My main goal as a teacher is for students to look critically at the media industries and the technologies that shape them, and to work inside those industries as ethical communicators.
Three commitments shape how I teach: flexibility, building students’ confidence, and keeping critical theory tied to actual media practice. My research on platform industries, algorithmic governance, and artificial intelligence feeds all three, as does the time I spent working in advertising before I returned to the academy.
I treat flexibility as care, not as a lowered bar. Assignments come in several forms, including written analysis, podcast episodes, group presentations, and creative critique, so that students can show what they understand in whichever register suits them. I also ask them to test course concepts against the platforms they already use every day, from how TikTok decides what they see to the spread of AI through marketing and design.
Halfway through each semester I sit down with students individually to hear what is landing, where they would like more attention paid, and what still needs changing while the term can absorb it.
What I ask students to examine, I am also working through with colleagues. In this talk for the AI Faculty Series at the Center for Transformative Media, I set out how artificial intelligence is reshaping culture online, and what that means for how we teach and study media.
Northeastern University
Global Influencers
Special topics course of my own design.
MSCR 1320 · Media and Social Change
MSCR 2325 · Global Media
Examines how media systems, platforms, and cultural industries operate across national and regional contexts, shaping power, identity, and everyday life. Through case studies drawn from film, television, streaming platforms, social media, and influencer economies, students analyze how media circulate globally, with particular attention to the political economy of platforms, the role of algorithms in visibility and suppression, and the uneven conditions under which media are produced, distributed, and consumed.
COMM 2303 · Global and Intercultural Communication
An overview of culture and communication, examining the social construction of race and identity and how interactions between cultural groups in the U.S. have produced conflict, alongside strategies for resolving it. The course studies how cultural lifestyles and communication patterns intersect with local and international issues of community, language, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and race. Students apply theory to real-world contexts through reflective writing and a collaborative podcast project that translates scholarly insights into public-facing work.
COMM 1113 · Business and Professional Speaking
Training in the fundamentals of confident communication in business and professional contexts: audience analysis, speech objectives and structure, and delivery technique. Largely hands-on, with presentations that mirror real-world professional tasks.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
COMM 412 · Gender and Social Media
Competitively selected to teach my own 400-level special topics design.
COMM 375 · Writing as Communication
Introduces students to the writing conventions and genres related to the discipline of Communication, ranging from research papers to critical reviews. It also emphasizes writing as a form of communication itself, and a number of issues concerning the politics of writing and research.
COMM 250 · Interpersonal Communication and Culture
Introduces students to the study of interpersonal communication, and the communicative processes and practices that occur between people.
COMM 118 · Introduction to Interpersonal Communication and Culture
North Carolina State University
COM 110 · Introduction to Public Speaking
Introduces students to research skills, topic selection, speech organization, and skills in speech delivery.
Guest lectures
Digital Media Cultures and Subcultures
Online Hate and Misogyny
Social Media Activism
Selected student feedback
The excerpts below are drawn from anonymous course evaluations across several years and institutions. I have grouped them under the three commitments described above, because those are what students return to most often when they describe the class back to me.
Flexibility as care
Some assignments we were able to start in class and get feedback on to see if we were doing it correctly. The individual consultations also helped greatly to get our ideas to the instructor and get feedback on them.
She was also very understanding towards student’s problems and needs and always willing to compromise or give extra time to someone who reached out.
The course was very well prepared from the start, with everything clearly structured in the syllabus, which made expectations and deadlines easy to follow. The instructor evaluated in a very fair and consistent way.
Building confidence
A huge strength of hers is to make introverts and extroverts alike truly feel comfortable in the class so everyone can come out of their comfort zone and develop public speaking skills.
This instructor made us comfortable with a subject that is uncomfortable to practice and gave us practical advice to improve ourselves.
A great strength of Professor Suren was her ability to teach topics, ideas, methodologies, research, and somewhat controversial topics in a neutral, inclusive, and classroom-friendly tone. I never felt like I was targeted for having a differing opinion than my classmates in a discussion.
She treats us like grown adults, and so a lot of the time it feels like I’m having a conversation with her and the class rather than a boring lecture.
Theory into practice
I liked that it felt like I was learning things that I would need to know for real world jobs and leaving this class I feel like I have a better understanding of how to write for communication, how to write better in general, especially when applying to positions.
She was really good at explaining course topics by using current event examples, which made it a lot easier to understand.
I enjoyed the way this class was taught, as there was a lot of class participation. There were lots of opportunities to talk with other students about class materials, and I felt that that helped the learning experience.
The very interesting and varied subject matter kept me engaged. The instructor was very kind to each and every student and had a clear understanding and passion for the material.