Michael A Betts
Assistant Professor
Michael A. Betts II is a Durham, North Carolina based experiential sound designer and social documentarian. An assistant professor of sound design in the film studies department at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, his work focuses on minoritized corporeality in majority spaces, asking viewers to grapple with their part within structures of power. A native of Greensboro, NC and a first generation undergraduate and graduate student; he received his BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011 and his MFA in experimental documentary from Duke University in 2020.
Betts' has had the privilege of debuting work at San Diego Comic Con, Oxford Film Festival, the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, among many others. He has adjudicated work at New Orleans Film Festival and been short listed for Catapult for his collaborative project with Eboni Johnson-Kaba and Barry Thornburg on United States Blerds (Blerd Nation). In 2024 Betts and his podcast partner John Biewen were awarded a Bronze Signal Award for General History and a Silver Signal Award for Documentary, because of their reporting on Wilmington 1898's Monument for their episode in PRX's Monumental. In 2025, Betts' audio work alongside Daniel Sircar (for Bottle Rocket Video) for Underscore VC's Startup Secrets yielded the team a Silver Telly in the Business to Business category.
His work would never be possible if it without his partner Carmen, their two children, Xaris & Miguel, and their puppy Maya.
Education
B.A., Communications - Media Production, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011)
M.F.A., Experimental in Documentary Arts, Duke University (2020)
Specialization in Teaching
Sound Design for Film/TV/Podcasting/Theater/Art Installation
Field Audio Production
Studio Audio Production
Research Interests
Sound Technologies
Sound Design for Film/TV/Podcasting/Theater/Art Installation
Audio documentary
Blerd Studies
Honors & Awards
Bronze Signal Award for General History, Wilmington 1898's Monument for their episode in PRX's Monumental (2024)
Silver Signal Award for Documentary, Wilmington 1898's Monument for their episode in PRX's Monumental (2024)
Silver Telly, Business to Business Category, for Bottle Rocket Video Produced mini series for Underscore VC's Startup Secrets (2025)
Best Documentary Short, Teacup Productions' A House For My Mother, Oxford Film Festival (2025)