College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Monica Ganas, Ph.D., is a professor and 30-year-veteran of the entertainment industry, performing principally in satirical comedy as an actor, writer, and occasional producer/director. Her areas of scholarship, publication, and teaching are popular culture, film, television, and other media, as well as theater, community development, and communication for social change. In addition to having developed the Media Studies emphasis in Communication Studies, the radio station KAPU, and local television programs, she co-authored APU's Cinema and Broadcast Arts and Theater majors and helped create the Department of Theater, Film, and Television. She has also directed 22 stage shows, both on and off campus, since coming to APU. The wife of a Lutheran pastor, Ganas is also co-director of the Azusa Renaissance Project, a grassroots movement to restore arts in Azusa through workshops and performance venues. She serves on the organizational boards of the City of Angels Film Festival and Reel Spirituality, is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences, and chairs the California Culture area of the Regional Popular Culture Association. She is also the author of California-ism, a book about California pop culture.