Each time we welcome a new visiting assistant professor to our department, their ideas and methods of studying communication make large impacts on our student curriculum. This year, we are thrilled to be joined by Paxton Haven, whose research focuses on the ways digital media affects local music economies, specifically dance music and nightlife club culture.
Haven is joining Communication Arts this year after completing his Ph.D. this past summer at the University of Texas at Austin. This fall, Haven will be teaching two core courses in the department: CA346: Critical Internet Studies and CA351: Television Industries. Haven will also be introducing a new course in Communication Arts called Music Video from MTV to TikTok. This course will explore the history of popular music industries and track the major turning points of music television from cable television to streaming video to social media.
Students were eager to land a seat in this new class, and it reached capacity quickly. This instant popularity prompted the department to add it to the course roster for the Spring 2026 semester.
We are looking forward to having Haven’s expertise present in our program for the next year, and we can’t wait to see how students are inspired by his music-focused coursework. Welcome to Wisconsin, Professor Haven!