Matt Swan is an instructor at Northern Illinois University where he teaches media related courses for the Department of Communication. Before that, he worked in the television industry in Rockford, IL, writing commercials as well as writing and hosting a silly, late night monster movie series called “Uncle Don’s Terror Theater.” He received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from Florida State University and still enjoys writing plays as his main creative outlet. His work has been performed in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Matt also wrote the screenplay for an animated holiday film, “Davey and Goliath’s Snowboard Christmas” which airs every December on the Hallmark Channel. Matt is married to Judy Santacaterina, the Bachelor of General Studies advisor at NIU and also the Director of Individual Events for the Forensics team. They have a classic Chicago mixed marriage-she’s a White Sox fan, he cheers for the Cubs.

Swan’s favorite film directors are Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder and he watches far too much television under the pretext that it’s “part of the job.” Matt gets a kick out of his gig as Movie Man on “Walking on Air with Betsy and Sal,” claiming it’s a pleasure to share his informed opinions with sisters who regularly represent the opposite.