Mary Beth Fortunato, LMSW/MA

Mary Beth (MB) Fortunato brings diverse life and teaching experience to her role as visiting professor in the Strategic Communication department at Canisius University. Ms. Fortunato is an LMSW who returned to college and earned her MA in Mass Communication after a fulfilling career as a social worker. Her research interests include media effects, interpersonal and intercultural relationships, and ethics. Having come to strongly believe that education, in any form, is the key to freedom and life satisfaction, Ms. Fortunato made the decision to devote her career to teaching and is proud to describe herself as a “professional adjunct”, having taught at several local and out-of-state colleges and universities, as well as being instrumental in the development of community education. If a third career is in the cards for Ms. Fortunato, it would definitely require a backpack, a trail, and the woods.

Publications

“A Hazardous Inquiry: The Rashomon Effect at Love Canal, by Allan Mazur.”
Published book review which appeared in the Electronic Green Journal (A Professional Journal on Internal Environmental Information), Issue 12, 2000. 

“Pick on Someone Your Own Size: A Call for Marketers to Stop Targeting Kids.” 
Collaboration paper completed with Drs. Sherry L. Baker, Ph.D., Edward E. Adams, Ph. D., and Michael Perkins, Ph. D., from Brigham Young University’s Department of Communication Studies. Presented paper at the Colloquium 2000 on Applied Media Ethics Conference on The Ethics of Persuasion, October 10-12, Park City, Utah. 

“Basil Bernstein and Code Theory: An Explanation of Differences in Communication that Exist Across Social Class and the Effect on Human Potential.” Paper accepted for presentation at the American Sociological Association (ASA) Meeting held in Washington, D.C., August 12-16, 2000.

“An Inauthentic Childhood: Is Media and Technology Changing What it Means to be a Child?”
Paper presented at the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication 2000 Southwest Symposium. Held at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, November 3-4.