Reading Reality TV

May 03, 2025

Thank you for your abstracts! We are currently in the process of putting panels together and will have a program shortly!

Please welcome our 2025 Keynotes!

Chad Kultgen

Chad Kultgen is an author, podcast host of Game of Roses, a squirrel photographer and he has secretly coached players to infiltrate the Bachelor franchise for the past three years.

Emily Nussbaum

Emily Nussbaum is a Pulitzer Prize winning TV Critic, and the author of Cue the Sun!

Heather Porter

Heather M. Porter, M.S. – Ms. Porter is an accomplished line producer and coordinating producer.  A member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, she has produced over 200 hours of television and worked on numerous projects across genres. Her recent credits include RuPaul’s Drag Race, Chefs vs Wild, Seduced by Speed, and Ted Bundy: The Survivors.  When not on set, Porter works on academic pursuits including publishing numerous articles in journals and academic texts, teaching, and serving as a Board Trustee for the Popular Culture Association. Her research focuses on quantitative analyses of images of violence, intelligence, and female representation in the science fiction and fantasy genres.  

Ed Swiderski

Ed Swiderski is an American marketing technology executive and television personality who was the winner on season 5 of the reality TV show The Bachelorette.

Conference Registration — it is totally free to attend the conference! But please let us know you are coming by filling this form out for every attendee

2025’s charity: ProPublica

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account.

 

DePaul Volunteers

Are you a DePaul student applying to be a volunteer? Click here to email for more info!