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Julie Levinson

  • Professor
  • William R. Dill Governance Professor
Academic Division: Arts & Humanities
781-239-4478
Julie Levinson is Professor of Film, former Chair of the Arts and Humanities division and former Associate Dean of Faculty at Babson. She teaches courses in film and cultural history. Previously, she taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Rencontres Cinematographiques Franco-Americain in Avignon, France. She holds a PhD. in Film and Literature and an M.S. in Film from Boston University, as well as a B.A. in Theatre Arts and English from Cornell University.

In addition to her academic appointments, Prof. Levinson was the Curator of Film at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Director of Programming at the Boston Film/Video Foundation, and Curator/Producer of Mixed Signals cable television series for the New England Foundation for the Arts. She has curated film series for several other organizations including the Flaherty Film Seminar, the Celebration of Black Cinema, and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College. She has been a panelist for, among others, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, and the New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont Councils on the Arts. She frequently serves as a film festival judge and an editorial consultant on documentary films.

Levinson is the author of The American Success Myth on Film (Palgrave MacMillan), editor of Alexander Payne: Interviews (University Press of Mississippi), and co-editor of Acting, a volume in the Behind the Silver Screen film history series (Rutgers University Press). Her published work in journals and edited collections has focused on a wide range of topics including genre and gender, documentary film, narrative theory, and metafiction.

Academic Degrees

  • Ph D, Boston University
  • MS, Boston University
  • BA, Cornell University

Academic Interest / Expertise

Film and Cultural History; Narrative Theory; Film Genre; Independent and Documentary Film, Metafiction

Awards & Honors

  • 2017 — Babson Faculty Research Award, Babson College
  • 2016 — Summer Research Stipend, Babson Faculty Research Fund
  • 2015 — Babson Teaching Innovation Fund grant, Babson College
  • 2014 — Babson Research Scholar, Babson College
  • 2013 — Summer Research Stipend, Babson College
  • 2012 — Summer Research Stipend, Babson College
  • 2011 — Babson Teaching Innovation Fund grant, Babson College
  • 2011 — Women Who Make a Difference , Babson College

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Levinson, J. (in press). Comedies of Beset Manhood: Midlife Masculinity in the Films of Alexander Payne. Sage.
  • Tosti-Kharas, J., Levinson, J.R. (2024). From "How-to" to "Why do?" A film-centered pedagogy for teaching contemporary careers. Journal of Management Education. Vol: 48, Issue: 2, Page: 367-398. link
  • Schultz, J.L., Comer, D.R., Holbrook, R., Lewis, V.J., Tosti-Kharas, J., Levinson, J.R., Wayne, K., Michaelson, C.W., Cooper, E.A., Tong, A.S. (2023). Two thumbs up: Teaching human resource management topics using recently-released films. Journal of Human Resources Education. Vol: 17, Issue: 1/2, Page: 1-38. link
  • Levinson, J.R. (2015). Time and Time Again: Temporality, Narrativity and Spectatorship in Christian Marclay’s The Clock. Cinema Journal. Vol: 54, Issue: 3, Page: 88-109. University of Texas Press.
  • Levinson, J.R., Mandel, R.P. (2013). Teaching Research Methodologies to Professionally Oriented Honors Students. Honors in Practice. Vol: 9, Page: 163-172. National Collegiate Honors Council. link

Books

  • Levinson, J.R., Springer, C. (2015). The Auteur Renaissance: 1968-1980: Acting: Behind the Silver Screen (Volume 4). Page: 95-119. Rutgers University Press.
  • Levinson, J.R. (2014). Alexander Payne: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series). Page: 231. University Press of Mississippi.
  • Levinson, J.R. (2012). The American Success Myth on Film. Page: 232. Palgrave Macmillan.

Cases and Teaching Notes

  • Tosti-Kharas, J., Levinson, J.R. (2020). "Downsizing is about saving yourself:" The paradoxical nature of work and career success in Downsizing. SAGE Business Case Series on the Humanities and Arts in Business.
  • Levinson, J. (2016). City as Text: A Teaching Resource Document. Babson College, Harvard University and the Case Centre.

Book Chapters

  • Levinson, J.R. (2021). 2017: Movies and the Right to Be Heard: American Cinema of the 2010s: Themes and Variations. Page: 193-216. Rutgers University Press.
  • Levinson, J.R. (2019). “I can’t sleep. I’m losing my hair. I’m fat and repulsive:”. Crises of Masculinity and Artistry in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation: Refocus: The Films of Spike Jonze.. Page: 86-104. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Levinson, J.R., Rademacher, V.N. (2015). Global Film Across the Curriculum: Narrative Imagination and Pedagogical Innovation: Evolving Entrepreneurial Education: Innovation in the Babson Classroom. Page: 191-216. Emerald Group Publishing.
  • Levinson, J.R. (2015). The Auteur Renaissance, 1968 – 1980: Acting (Behind the Silver Screen Series, Vol 4). Page: 95-119.

Other

  • Levinson, J.R. (2020). Lost Soles. Punctuate Literary Journal.

Presentations

  • We can work it out: An interdisciplinary, narrative-centered pedagogy Levinson, J. Tosti-Kharas, J. Art of Management & Organization Conference, Liverpool, England (2022)
  • Research: How Do We Build on Our Legacy? Nersessian, D. Matsuno, K. Greenberg, D. Levinson, J. Sulkowski, A. Spinelli, S. Babson College Research Day, Wellesley, MA (2022)
  • Silver Screen Solutions: Teaching Management Topics Using Recently Released Films Levinson, J. Tosti-Kharas, J. Academy of Management Conference, Boston, MA (2019)
  • Cities of Lost Children: "Street Kid" Films, the Urban Imaginary and the Unseen Other Levinson, J. Modern Language Association (MLA) International Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal (2019)
  • Autobiopics and the Paradoxes of Biographical Truth Levinson, J. Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Shanghai (2018)
  • Devouring One's Own Tale: ADAPTATION as Metafictive Biopic Levinson, J. Screen Studies Conference, Glasgow (2018)
  • Comedies of Beset Manhood: Midlife Masculinities in the Films of Alexander Payne Levinson, J. Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Sydney Australia (2016)
  • Publishing Pedagogy Research Levinson, J. Working Session with the Masters: Publishing Babson Cases and Teaching Materials, Babson (2016)
  • Global Film Across the Curriculum: Narrative Imagination and Pedagogical Innovation Levinson, J. Marketing Management Association, Providence, RI (2016)
  • Acting: The Auteur Renaissance Levinson, J. Book talk, Framingham Public Library (2016)
  • The American Success Myth on Film Levinson, J. Book Reading, New England Mobile Book Fair, Needham, MA (2015)
  • Success Reassessed in "You Can’t Take It With You" Levinson, J. The American Success Myth on Film, North Hill, Needham, MA (2013)
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Department & College Wide Services

  • Arts and Humanities Division Chair (Fall 2016 - Fall 2019)