Mike Alvarez is a Postdoctoral Diversity and Innovation Scholar in the Department of Communication. He is also serving as Interim Diversity Chair of the Postdoctoral Association at UNH. He received his PhD in Communication and Graduate Certificate in Film Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was supported by a Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellowship. He also holds a BA in Psychology from Rutgers University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. For his dissertation, he examined the meanings discursively created by users of a ‘pro-life’ suicide forum and how these meanings were shaped and constrained by the platform itself.
Dr. Alvarez is the author of the forthcoming book, The Paradox of Suicide and Creativity: Authentications of Human Existence, a phenomenological study of the links between creativity in the arts and sciences and self-destruction. He has also completed a memoir, The Color of Dusk, which recounts his past struggles with mental health, suicide, and psychiatric hospitalization. Driven by his own encounters with mortality, he is currently exploring two parallel research interests. The first concerns suicide prevention apps, the cultural assumptions embedded in their design and their intended environment of use. The second concerns end-of-life narratives during COVID-19 as told in the media, the classroom, and by members of at-risk populations, including frontline workers, communities of color, and persons with underlying conditions. On that note, Dr. Alvarez recently signed a contract with McFarland for a co-authored book titled: A Plague for Our Time: Dying and Death in the Age of COVID-19. The book is anticipated to release in Spring 2022, with Dr. Alvarez as senior author.
As a member of multiple marginalized groups, Dr. Alvarez is steadfastly committed to cultivating respect for and appreciation of difference. In the past, he has helped organize and curate a semester-long, international film festival on physical and neuro-cognitive diversity; facilitated difficult conversations on end-of-life across communities; and as chair of a steering committee on diversity at Goddard College, spearheaded various initiatives that culminated in a best practices report that the college continues to use.
When there is free time to be had, Dr. Alvarez enjoys reading dystopian novels and transgressive queer literature, playing survival horror video games, and playing with his two newly adopted kittens. He also considers himself a decent cook and can make a variety of dishes from his native homeland of the Philippines.