Arielle Bernstein

Arielle Bernstein serves as a Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Literature at American University and co-directs the MA in Literature, Culture, and Technology program. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including Creative Writing Across Genres, College Writing Intensive, and Advanced Studies in Form: Television.

Her academic credentials include:

• BA in Philosophy and English Literature from Brandeis University
• MFA in Creative Writing from American University

Bernstein's research critically examines how digital communications and social media reshape human expression, intimacy, and empathy. She investigates film and television's evolving role in contemporary culture, with specialized focus on artificial intelligence's emotional impact and humanity's changing relationship to physical objects in digitized environments. Her work bridges academic scholarship and public discourse through accessible cultural criticism.

Her writing appears in The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Week, Salon, and AV Club. She has edited essay columns for The Rumpus and co-founded Together, Alone—an online publication dedicated to television, film, and pop culture analysis—creating a collaborative space for media criticism.

Bernstein received significant recognition as a 2023 finalist for the CINTAS Foundation's Creative Writing Fellowship, highlighting her contributions to literary arts.

• 2023 CINTAS Foundation Creative Writing Fellowship Finalist

As MA program co-director, she mentors graduate students and develops curriculum at the intersection of literature, technology, and cultural studies. Her current creative project—a first novel—extends her exploration of technology's influence on human connection.

Through Together, Alone, Bernstein cultivates a dynamic community for media scholars and enthusiasts, fostering critical dialogue about storytelling in the digital age and examining television's cultural significance through interdisciplinary lenses.