William C. Siska, Ph.D.
ProfessorFilm Theory & Studies
Phone: (801) 581-5227
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Dr. Siska is past Chair of the Division of Film Studies at the University of Utah, a position he held from 1999 to 2007. He served as Chair of the Department of Theatre from 1991 to 1998 and Director of the Film Studies Program from 1983 to 1991. Prior to coming to the University of Utah in 1977, Dr. Siska was Assistant Professor of English and Communication at Mundelein College in Chicago. Professor Siska holds a B.A. degree in English from the University of Notre Dame (1968); a M.A. degree in Communication from Stanford University (1970); and a Ph.D. in Film from Northwestern University awarded in 1976.
Siska has published two dozen articles and reviews in publications including Film Quarterly, The Quarterly Review of Film Studies, Wide Angle, The Journal of the University Film and Video Association, Cinema Journal, Literature/Film Quarterly, and The Christian Century. He has published book chapters on The Art Film and Formal Reflexivity, and the book Modernism in the Narrative Cinema. In addition, he has delivered two dozen conference papers and invited lectures on subjects ranging from Japanese cinema to Postmodern film and screenplay structure.
Professor Siska has film festival awards for his 16mm films Hannah and Make Your Own Steps, was the writer and editor of The Black Hills Flood, and editor of 14 other films. At the University of Utah, Dr. Siska’s teaching responsibilities include the History of Film sequence and graduate seminars in film genre and authorship. As part of the University’s commitment to Distance Education, he has offered the History of Film as a telecourse from 1988-91 and 1995 to the present.
Dr. Siska participated in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989 and Yale University in 1983. He was a Danforth Foundation Associate from 1980 to 1984. Professor Siska is currently a member of the University and Community Relations Committee. He has previously served on the Tanner Humanities Center Faculty Advisory Committee, University Research Committee Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, University Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee, Liberal Education Council, University Press Editorial Advisory Committee and Honors Program Advisory Committee.
