ODU's Edgerton Records Podcast for Inside Higher Ed's 'Academic Minute'

Gary Edgerton, Eminent Scholar and professor of communication at Old Dominion University, was recently featured nationally on a podcast sponsored by the publication Inside Higher Ed.

"The Academic Minute," a daily podcast sponsored by Inside Higher Ed and airing on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, featured Edgerton talking about his new book, "Mad Men: Dream Come True TV."

"The Academic Minute" is unique because it offers a forum for researchers to speak about their work in their own words, in an audio format. It airs on WAMC in New England, and is linked nationally through the WAMC and Inside Higher Ed websites.

In his podcast, Edgerton spoke about how "Mad Men" has been a critical success since debuting in 2007, winning four straight Emmys for "Outstanding Drama Series." But more than that, Edgerton said the cable television series has captured the public zeitgeist.

"Its imprint … is evident throughout contemporary culture, inspiring other TV series and films, print advertisements and designer fashions, and all sorts of ancillary products," Edgerton said. "Creator Matthew Weiner, a former executive producer on 'The Sopranos,' presents another set of compelling, complex characters on 'Mad Men,' set in the sophisticated go-go world of Madison Avenue in the early 1960s."

For a link to Edgerton's "Mad Men" podcast, go to: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1889782.

Edgerton, who chairs the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at ODU, has published nine books and more than 75 essays on a wide assortment of media and culture topics in a variety of books, scholarly journals and encyclopedias. One of his recent books, "The Columbia History of American Television" (Columbia University Press, 2007), was named the 2008 John G. Cawelti Award winner for Outstanding Scholarly Inquiry into American Cultural Studies by the American Culture Association.

Edgerton was the second ODU researcher recently featured on "The Academic Minute." In November, Michael Seiler, professor and Robert M. Stanton Endowed Chair of Real Estate and Economic Development, recorded a podcast.

Seiler, founder and director of the Institute of Behavioral and Experimental Real Estate in ODU's College of Business and Public Administration, discussed how the human tendency to copy the behavior of those around us has contributed to the ongoing mortgage crisis.

Seiler's podcast on Inside Higher Ed can be heard here: http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2011/10/26/strategic-default-and-mimetic-herding.