Jill Belli’s Profile
utopian studies, science fiction, happiness studies, writing studies, scholarship of teaching and learning, digital humanities, American studies, cultural studies, medical humanities
Jill Belli, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English at City Tech, CUNY.
Her interdisciplinary interests and expertise bridge happiness studies & well-being, science fiction & utopia, self-care & social hope, education & pedagogy, parapsychology, medical humanities, āinvisibleā illness, healing, grief, trauma, writing studies, digital humanities, critical data studies, storytelling, tarot, astrology, and nature. Her monograph ‘Pedagogies of Expansiveness’ and memoir ‘Beautiful War’ (both in progress) explore these intersections.
At City Tech, she teaches courses in science fiction, utopian studies, self-help literature, freshman writing, and professional & technical writing (including writing with new media & digital storytelling) and co-organizes the college’s annual Science Fiction Symposium. From 2014-2020, Jill served as Co-Director of the OpenLab, the collegeās open-source digital platform for teaching, learning, and collaborating. She currently serves as a CUNY Mindset Ambassador.
She is a founding member of the Writing Studies Tree (writingstudiestree.org), an online, open-access, interactive academic genealogy for the field of writing studies, and she serves on the Steering Committee, the Teaching Committee, and as the web developer for the North American Society for Utopian Studies (utopian-studies.org).
When not researching, writing, or teaching, Jill travels, hikes, camps, practices yoga, and plays violin with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.
My Courses
Sandbox course for OpenLab workshops
This is a model course for ENG 1101
“Study of science fiction literature and film, with attention to cultural implications of the genre. Explores the questions science and technology raise about past, present, and future societies. Projects, presentations, and exams based on readings.ā *Photo Credit: Jill Belli, personal photograph of Dale Chihuly’s “Winter Brilliance” (2015). Chihuly Garden and Glass. August 5, 2021.
Digital Storytelling (Fall 2023)
“The fundamental aspects of narrative in digital environments. Students will learn to identify common elements of digital stories and analyze how story creators utilize digital tools, platforms, and interfaces to add interactivity to their narratives. Hands-on introductions to a range of freely available digital storytelling tools to create narratives in a variety of interactive formats.” *Photo Credit: Jill Belli, personal photograph. The Sky. El Malpais National Monument. May 29, 2021.
This is an online asynchronous course facilitated by Dr. Shauna Chung. The course involves the following: Students complete a 120-hour internship. Class activities provide an opportunity for discussions and electronic portfolio development to enrich the learning experience. Students write weekly status reports, and supervision is by both the faculty and the job supervisor.
My Projects
The Open Road is our place to highlight all thatās possible on the OpenLab. Join now to keep up on OpenLab news, events, and updates. Check our weekly In the Spotlight posts for a glimpse into the incredible work being done by City Tech students, faculty, and staff. Follow OpenLab News for announcements and site updates. And see our OpenLab Calendar for office hours, events, and workshops. You can find our workshop schedule and signup for workshops here as well. The Open Road is also a place for the OpenLab community (meaning you!). We would love your feedback, insight, and comments. Please send along anything on the OpenLab that you love! We are always available for any questions you might have. Email us anytime at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu!
WAC encourages courses throughout the college to incorporate formal and informal writing into the course practices and requirements. Avatar retrieved from Bridgeline Digital, Creative Commons License
Science Fiction is an important, modern cultural expression that relies on interdisciplinary approaches to explore the relationships between and within humanity, science, and technology. This project connects the individual and collective efforts to leverage science fiction to enrich City Tech’s students’ experiences, deepen classroom learning with archival research, and connect City Tech to the networks of science fiction research around the world.
Realizing the value of the research experience at the undergraduate level, this project is committed to fostering research opportunities for City Tech students. Faculty and students can use this project as a place to share announcements about research opportunities, as well as a place to offer information about the experiences students and faculty have had in their research endeavors. A handbook on effective mentoring, developed by the Undergraduate Research Committee, is currently available for download.
The purpose of this project is to create a forum to ask questions, generate discussion, and share teaching materials, resources, and ideas about teaching and learning on the OpenLab. Avatar image: “The open door” by hehaden.
My Clubs
This club site will be used for the tutorial portion of the Club Council OpenLab Workshop (Fall 2017) and will house materials that may be useful to club representatives in building out their own sites on the OpenLab.
Recent Activity
Jill Belli created the site Belli Sp2024 Eng2420 Ol75
