Adam Hebert: Film professor and friendly face

From New Hampshire to Hollywood, Adam Hebert’s work led him to his purpose at the University of Pittsburgh’s Film and Media Studies Program. After his 10th year teaching at Pitt and first year as a teaching assistant professor, he credits the stories, setbacks and surprises along the way to his friends, colleagues and students.

“I never thought I would become a teacher,” Hebert said. “I went to film school, so my only real goal was to finish, move to Hollywood and become a cinematographer.” 

Hebert did that — he moved to California with childhood friends, worked in the film industry for years on set and in Technicolor’s digital content delivery wing. During his sojourn, Hebert found himself missing school, writing, researching and learning just as much as he craved the connection of sharing art with others.

Hebert graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in cinematography and videography, earned his Master of Arts degree in film studies at North Carolina State University and later landed his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in film and media studies.

Pitt’s rigorous 4-hour film courses intimidate students. Hebert, however, implements a fresh triangulation of fun, exploratory and friendly dynamics into the classroom. On day one, he memorizes names, hometowns and the little details about his students, encouraging them to get to know one another and care for one another just as deeply as he cares for them.

Jack Crosby, a junior film and media studies student, reflects upon the moment he knew he would thrive under Hebert’s teaching style on the first day of “Introduction to Film.”

“On syllabus day, he wrote his name on the board as ‘Dr. Adam Hebert,’ then erased both ‘Dr.’ and ‘Hebert’ and introduced himself to us as Adam,” Crosby said. “It’s a lasting first impression. It puts you on the same level as him, but also on a level that shows you’re going to learn a lot from him.”

Since his first year, Crosby registered consecutively in Hebert’s classes because of the safe setting Hebert fosters.
“He’s such a welcoming person to talk with and has an energy that he wants to be there for his students, he wants us to learn, have a good time and just chat. I think that’s the best learning environment, especially for a discussion-based class for film,” Crosby said.

Hebert doesn’t let pride in his accomplishments override his connection with students.

“When I earned my Ph.D., I was proud to call myself Dr. Adam Hebert for about a day, but now I just have my students call me Adam,” Hebert said. “It’s a nice way to ease them into discussion on day one when they are also getting to know each other.”

In 2020, Hebert joined Pitt professors JC Lee and Cory Holding in Pitt’s Prison Education Project as a tutor during the COVID-19 pandemic. PPEP is a network of Pitt faculty members from across disciplines who teach courses in prisons in the western Pennsylvania region. The courses bring together incarcerated people and outsider undergraduate students, and Hebert described the experience of teaching the courses with both groups as enriching and emotional. 

“Doing work through PPEP taught me so much about being an instructor, an empathetic listener and a good workshop participant,” Hebert said. “It challenged me to reconsider my approach to teaching composition in Pitt’s classrooms. I hope to be able to do it again someday.”

Now, Hebert prioritizes positive experiences for every student and is happy to nurture their desires to learn about their own interests and passions. 

Juliette Bartel, a sophomore media and digital communications major, took Hebert’s “Icons, Images and Ideas” course last year.

“He wants to play to your strengths,” Bartel said. “Our final was a paper about a film, but I felt better talking about it. I approached him about my request to make a podcast instead, and he couldn’t have been more excited. He saw me for who I was and what I wanted to do with my future.” 

Bartel explains the importance of professors uplifting students to share their voices with others.

“During a tough political discussion, I raised my hand to disagree with a peer,” Bartel said. “Later that day, I received a kind email from Adam, which was just what I needed at that moment. My freshman year was hard, and when he credited my bravery for expressing my point of view in a respectful way, he made my whole week.”

Hebert brings humor to the classroom beyond coursework. For Halloween, Hebert dresses up in a Grim Reaper-inspired costume each year, with a sign that reads, “final grade giver.” The irony falls under the costume being worn by their supportive professor. His students know that the man on the other side of the mask won’t harm their grades for expressing themselves. 

“In some ways, teaching is a bit of a performance, but being reflexive about it with my students encourages them to be themselves, not just seminar students,” Hebert said. “I try to get to know them as best I can, so if I can play the fool or reveal some of my quirks, I think that smooths out many perceived difficulties with getting the discussion flowing.”

To wrap up each semester, he shares his old video game consoles, kaleidoscopes and film technology with his students, reminding them what learning from a creative perspective is all about and that it’s OK to be a kid.

“Some students sit with devices in their hands getting ready to play them and they give me a look, like, ‘Are you sure we’re allowed to do this?’” Hebert said. “For me, doing practical and fun exercises involve the importance of surprise in the classroom. I try to encourage them to be surprised by things that maybe they’re taking for granted.” 

Hebert appreciates the little things in life, so he incorporates his favorites into lessons.

“I have a very bizarre set of interests and hobbies, things I grew up doing that I thought would recede, but instead have returned,” Hebert said. “I played every sport, skateboarded and loved playing guitar. I tend to need to ping-pong between things. It’s like I need to be surprised.” 

He never predicted his dissertation would include his hobbies, let alone his interests being a core factor as to why he shines as a professor at Pitt.

“It allowed me to accommodate the thing I thought I was putting behind me, with the thing that ended up helping me earn my Ph.D.,” Hebert said. 

Before teaching at Pitt, Hebert gave a conference presentation during his Pitt fellowship about skateboarding. While he always thought about skateboarding, he planned to put it behind him and pivot to whatever his dissertation was going to be. It then became about exactly that — street skateboarding, political potential and affect theory. 

Marcia Landy, professor emerita, approached him after his speech, calling him “the skateboard guy.” While Hebert wished to be referred to by name, this moment shifted his teaching career. He felt empowered hearing Landy explain why she connected with his presentation so vividly, despite not being a sporty person or skateboarder herself.

“I enjoyed talking to and learning from her. I started doing more work on skateboarding — my first peer-reviewed publication was about street skateboarding and Colin Read’s filmmaking,” Hebert said. ”A lot of that is due to Marcia knowing more about me than I knew about myself. She was the one who tilted me down that path.”

Hebert keeps a skateboard in his office that was gifted to him by a colleague as a reminder of the support he has behind him in his career. His love for skateboarding, passion and the people along the way have empowered him to embrace his creativity and implement it into his teaching. 

“I try not to separate my teaching, my scholarly work and my creative work. When I first started teaching, I felt separated,” Hebert said. “These days, I think it’s important to watch films and take in other art around other people.”

This applies to Hebert’s way of connecting with students while still relating materials to class. Hebert references his own extracurricular projects to grow students’ curiosity and hints at upcoming plans to gauge excitement. 

Over the years, Hebert has worked on an independent film with the intent of showing his students the ways to use cameras for his course projects. To prove what the technology would be capable of, he filmed bison on the South Park Game Preserve.

The occurrence of his weekly visits with the bison and follow-ups with his students became frequent. In collecting a compilation of footage and learning about the site from frequent tourists and locals, he found himself on a spontaneous sidequest. Many students embraced his creativity, which inspired him to theme a composition course around animals — displaying Hebert’s dedication to teaching film and media to his students, no matter the subject. 

“I’ve had the pleasure of showing parts of the animation and sequences to students from the independent film, yet, always felt a doubleness about this project,” Hebert said. “The question of when it’s finished or where it’s shown is almost secondary, but I would love to show it in full to my students that have only seen pieces of it over the years, yet keep asking me about it. It’s those people who will enjoy whatever the finished product is.”

Learning how his students frame their own creative projects about animals has refocused Hebert’s vision for his bison film, which now includes collaborating with his own students on the project. Ciara Brand joined as a film animator through Pitt’s First Experiences in Research program.

“The students are always going to teach me more than I teach them, but it’s more important for me that they end up teaching each other,” Hebert said.

Hebert’s methods are inspired by Orson Welles’ comedy-drama, “Chimes at Midnight.” 

“It’s tinged with sadness and loss, but also wonderfully funny, poignant, full of joy, surprise, unforeseen relationships and how we constantly remake ourselves,” Hebert said.

Like “Chimes at Midnight,” a film with different emotions and themes clashing but working together to make the movie work, Hebert’s teaching is best done when it isn’t a one-way street.

“I find the more performative aspects of teaching are not to be thought of as ‘blocks’ to authentic communication, meaning or emotion,” Hebert said. “Through these structures, we shapeshift and navigate the push-pull between living within a system that asks certain things of you by rebelling against, or testing the boundaries, which is when something truly genuine arises. I think this is something that teachers and students are both very familiar with.”