Jeff Share
By appointment
Jeff Share worked for ten years as a freelance photojournalist documenting situations of poverty and social activism on three continents. In 1987 he won the Oscar Barnack Award and 1st place news feature series at World Press Photo for his work documenting a nine-month long a peace march for global nuclear disarmament. After leaving journalism he entered the elementary school classroom to teach bilingual education in the Los Angeles Unified School District for seven years. Then he joined the Center for Media Literacy as the Regional Coordinator for Training funded by a federal media literacy grant. Once the grant ended, he returned to school to earn his Ph.D. in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA where he has been working with new teachers and undergraduate students ever since. His research and practice focus on transformative education, preparing K-12 educators to teach critical media literacy for social and environmental justice. The second edition of his book, "Media Literacy is Elementary: Teaching Youth to Critically Read and Create Media" was published in 2015. Two years later, Share co-authored with Richard Beach and Allen Webb, "Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference." Collaborating with Douglas Kellner (2019) they published, "The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education." Jeff is a Fulbright Specialist and English Language Specialist for the US State Department who has taught critical media literacy and Environmental Justice in India, Argentina, Mexico, China, and Germany.
Titles & Positions
- Continuing Lecturer
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
- Recipient of the Professional Faculty Teaching Award from the Department of Education, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2022.
- Recipient of the Elizabeth Thoman Service Award from the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) 2021. “Formerly known as the Meritorious Service Award, the Elizabeth Thoman Service Award honors those who have given many years of service to the field of media literacy. This award recognizes individuals or projects that have significantly contributed to the growth and quality of the field of media literacy over the years.”
- Leica Oskar Barnack Award (1987) for photographs of the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.
- World Press Photo (1987) First Prize News Feature Series.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Fall 2006.
- Master’s Degree, major in Media Literacy from Vermont College, 2000. Thesis: Media Literacy for Transformative Education.
- California State Teaching Credential, with Bilingual, Crosscultural, Language & Academic Development (BCLAD). Emphasis: Spanish, from L.A.U.S.D. Teacher Training Internship Program, 1997.
- Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies from Vermont College, 1991. Thesis: Photography as a Catalyst for Social Change.
Select Publications
- Webb, A., Beach, R., & Share, J. (Eds.), (2024). Empowering youth to confront the climate crisis in English language arts. Teachers College Press & The National Writing Project.
- Share, J. (Ed.). (2024). For the love of nature: Ecowriting the world. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
- Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2019). The critical media literacy guide: Engaging media and transforming education. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill/Sense Publishers.
- Beach, R., Share, J., & Webb, A. (2017). Teaching climate change to adolescents: Reading, writing, and making a difference. New York, NY: Routledge. (Co-distributed with NCTE)
