User:Dinosossi

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Dino Sossi: dds2130@columbia.edu, dino_sossi@yahoo.com

Dino Sossi is an award-winning stand-up comedian, filmmaker/video journalist, radio host, writer/editor, researcher and teacher.

Comedy:

As a stand-up comedian, Dino has performed at Carolines on Broadway, Comix Comedy Club, the New York Comedy Club, Comedy Corner, EastVille Comedy Club, The PIT - all in New York. He has also performed with the Cambridge Footlights as well as The Comedy Store in both London and Manchester - all in the United Kingdom. Footlights alumni include Hugh Laurie (House), two-time Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson (Howard’s End, Sense and Sensibility), Graham Chapman, John Cleese & Eric Idle (Monty Python), Germaine Greer (The Female Eunuch), Trevor Nunn (former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Nicholas Hytner (Artistic Director of London’s National Theatre, director of the film version of the Broadway and West End play The History Boys), Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G., Borat, Brüno) and John Oliver (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart).

In Canada, Dino has performed at the Calgary Funnyfest comedy festival. He has also performed at The Standup Sitdown Fight Fight Fight Comedy Competition, The J.T. Huntley Comedy Festival, Laugh Resort, Rivoli, Comedywood and Rivoli - all in Toronto. He has also performed at Yuk Yuks, the world's largest comedy chain, in Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener, as well as at Club 54 in Burlington. He was chosen to be the first performer to grace the stage at the newly renovated Poor Alex Cabaret space, former home to the theatrical version of Saturday Night Live and The Kids in the Hall in Toronto.

Dino has performed on stage with Judah Friedlander (NBC’s Emmy Award-winning 30 Rock), Russell Peters (Forbes 2009 Top 10 Earning Comedians) and Jim Gaffigan (HBO).

Dino has also been a writer and performer with Jester of Columbia University. Jester alumni include Beat Poet Allen Ginsburg (Howl), playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Steven Spielberg’s Munich), best-selling Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk (The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War), and Academy Award-winning writer and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve).

Dino was also a sketch comedy writer for the Pembroke Players at the University of Cambridge (UK) where he wrote one act of a comedic pantomime performed by the drama group. Players alumni include Eric Idle (Monty Python), Peter Cook (Beyond the Fringe, Amnesty International benefits), Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor (both from The Goodies).

Filmmaker, Producer, Video Journalist, Photographer:

As a television producer and video journalist, Dino produced, directed, shot and edited close to 400 hours of documentary-style reality television as well as countless hours of lifestyle programming for Alliance Atlantis (producer of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) on current affairs, men's issues and dating. He also wrote scripts for live show segments, promos and lifestyle articles.

His work has aired on Discovery USA, the Independent Film Channel, MTV Canada, the CBC, CTV, MuchMoreMusic, Life Network, PrimeTV, Pridevision and One. His documentary work has screened in New York, Los Angeles as well as in England at the University of Cambridge.

He has worked as a Rich Media Consultant with the Instructional Media Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University (US) where he provided post-production training and support for faculty and students on digital media projects. He was also a photographer with Inside magazine for the Department of External Affairs at Teachers College.

In terms of his independent production work, his clients have included: the Ontario Liberal Party, The Loop, Spectacular Spas, Imperial Life Financial, Riverdale Hospital, International Women’s Writing Guild, Shandwick & Associates and the Toronto Electrical Utilities Credit Union.

Radio Host:

In radio, Dino has hosted, produced and technically-produced two popular shows for CIUT 89.5 FM. Spotlight was a show focusing on performing artists. Youth Live Radio focused on youth issues.

Writer/Editor:

Dino is an Editorial Assistant with AOL (America Online) where he writes/edits news and feature stories for the PopEater pop cultural website www.popeater.com/bloggers/dino-sossi. AOL has 100 million unique monthly viewers (Business Week, December 11, 2009).

He was a staff reporter at The Toronto Star, the largest circulation newspaper in Canada where he wrote crime and trauma related news stories for the City Desk as well as international stories, and has written for the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

As a student, he was a writer for The Cambridge Student and the Varsity, both University of Cambridge undergraduate student newspapers.

Dino has done editorial work for the IRC Labor Law Casebook and the Queen's Law Journal, a fully-refereed scholarly legal periodical. He was also an associate editor for the Society for International Education Journal at Teachers College.

Researcher:

Dino is currently a graduate student at Teachers College. He is also a Graduate Research Fellow with the Harlem Schools Partnership (HSP), funded by the General Electric Foundation. The HSP prepares “teachers and students for the demands of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in the 21st century workforce, Teachers College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science received a grant from the General Electric Foundation to launch the Harlem Schools Partnership. In June 2008, GE donated $5 million for the five-year program” (Columbia Spectator). The HSP is part of the General Electric Foundation's $29 million grant to benefit New York City public schools and is the largest single corporate contribution to the city's school system.

He has presented his research at the American Educational Research Association (the largest Educational Research conference in the world), the University of Cambridge and Columbia University. Topics included Facebook as a social networking tool to maintain social capital, teacher attrition, digital ethnography and financial equity in graduate education.

Teacher:
Dino was a teacher with the Toronto District School Board and Peel District School Board, both in Canada. He has taught 2nd Grade French Immersion (half-day French, half English), 8th Grade Math, 6 & 7 Remedial Literacy, & Junior Kindergarten to 6 Physical Education. He also acted as a basketball, soccer and volleyball referee as well as a basketball and track & field coach.

He has also taught in London, Cambridge, Cardiff, Ely and Liverpool, including a school for boys with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders - all in the United Kingdom.

Scholarships:

Dino has been chosen to be a member of Mensa International and the Golden Key International Honor Society. All Mensa members have an IQ in the top 2% of the world's population. Golden Key is an academic honor society for the top 15% of undergraduate juniors and seniors from all fields of study. He also has earned an Overseas Student Bursary from the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust as well as General Scholarships and Departmental Stipends from Teachers College, Columbia University.

He has also won the prestigious Hancock Award from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters for his strong character and leadership qualities. Other awards include the Bank of Montreal Award, Canadian Millenium Bursary, Learning Station.com Canada Technology Award, York University Faculty of Education Book Prize and Canadian Italian Business & Professional Association of Toronto Award. He was also named to the York University President’s Honor Roll for having an A+ average.

Education:

Dino earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen's University (Canada) and his Master of Philosophy in Educational Research from the University of Cambridge (UK) where he earned First Class Honours for his thesis. He is currently a graduate student in Instructional Technology and Media at Columbia University (US) where he currently has a 4.0 GPA.

He has studied comedy at the American Comedy Institute in New York, The Second City and the Humber School of Comedy.

Oh yeah. Every once in a while he has time for a nap.

Pop Cultural Writing: www.popeater.com/bloggers/dino-sossi/

Video: www.youtube.com/user/MrDinosossi

Other Published Writing: www.dinosossi.wordpress.com

Research: www.tc.edu/hsp

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/dinosossi

Blog: www.dinosossi.blogspot.com

Performance: www.myspace.com/489739229

Computer Software and Technical Skills:

Audio/Visual: BetaCamSP, DVCPro, DVCam, MiniDV, S-VHS video camera operation; studio and field lighting; sound board operation; digital and film photography

Video editing: Avid MediaComposer/Xpress, Final Cut Pro, iMovie HD, iDVD, Panasonic NewsByte, DPS Perception

Image/Sound manipulation: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and AfterEffects; Inscriber; Avid proprietary software, SAW

Internet: Macromedia Dreamweaver; all major internet browsers; First Class Client; Microsoft Outlook

Office productivity: Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint; WordPerfect; Adobe Acrobat

Statistics and data management: SPSS

News publishing solutions: CCI NewsDesk, BlogSmith

Programming languages: completed two university course in Java

Operating systems: Windows, Macintosh

Places I've lived
New York (US), London, Cambridge (UK), Toronto (Canada)

Companies I've worked for
AOL; Time Warner; Teachers College, Columbia University (both in the US); Alliance Atlantis; CIUT 89.5 FM; The Toronto Star; MuchMusic; The Second City (all in Canada)
Schools I've attended
Teachers College, Columbia University (US); University of Cambridge (UK)