Nicole Pacelli is a second-year graduate student in Film in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research explores how mixed-race identities are constructed and perceived through the cinematic lens and how cinematic perception informs lived identity. Her additional research interests include questions on diaspora, migration, and national identity in American and postcolonial cinema.
Conference Presentations:
- 2024 – Annual Conference on South Asia (ACSA), “In Search of Belonging: Documenting the Pluralities of Identity in Safina Uberoi’s My Mother India”
- 2024 – Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS), “Invisibility, Visibility and Mixed-Race Representation in Marvel’s Ant-man and the Wasp”
- 2024 – Midwest Graduate Film Studies Symposium (MGFSS), “Mixploitation and the Representation of ‘Free Women of Color’ in Jack Weis’s Quadroon”
Honors/Awards:
- Sharon Sites Award, UW-Madison, Spring 2024 (awarded to outstanding women in Film & Media and Cultural Studies areas of Communication Arts)
- Brommel-Hanson-Ijams-Hayward Scholarship, NEIU, Fall 2022
- McNair Scholar, NEIU, 2020-2022
- Fall Merit Tuition Scholarship, NEIU, Fall 2021
- Communication, Media, and Theatre Distinguished Student Award, NEIU, 2019-2021
Education:
- B.A. – Communication, Media, and Theatre, Northeastern Illinois University, 2022
Courses:
- CA 100 – Introduction to Speech Composition
Service:
- GSO Representative, 2024-2025 academic year