International Technological University
Volume II, Issue 2, Spring 2012
“Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination” Daniel Bell
Where Art & Technology Merge
By Patricia Wiggin
Q: What do you get when you merge an international group of educators, designers, and animators with Silicon Valley academia? A: The dynamic Digital Arts department at ITU! Department Chair Cedrick Chan sees many possibilities for his crosscultural team. He envisions China as ready for a business model that incorporates the booming coffee house craze with informal university learning centers--the ITU Café. The ITU Café model offers contemporary, media-centered education to graduate-level Chinese students. Creating a program with modern actors, the series Friends in the City will furnish a backstory for class material and technology tools (phone apps, drills, games) aimed at English instruction. Another series, Ad It Up, prescribes Dual Motive Theory for business behavior (See ITU Journal, Dual Motive Theory Spring, 2011 http://bit.ly/GOKJaj.) Additional projects include a 2013 documentary on ITU President Yau-Gene Chan’s grandfather who was a Chinese Warlord. The team is also consulting, directing and doing R&D with Black Dragon Studio on the international animated series called Cyboars.
ITU executives visit Digital Arts team in China
The vision for the ITU Digital Arts group is to bind art and education, East and West, and China to the US. Because ITU experts are already working in Chinese academia, animation and film, ITU will be a conduit to educate students and directly satisfy Chinese workplace needs. ITU expects to see a growth in exchange students between China and San Jose within a year.
New Class: Manufacturing Cinematic Space By Barbara Gini If you love movies and architecture, the Manufacturing Cinematic Space class is the perfect place for you. A welcome addition to the Digital Arts classes, this course focuses on space and design principles thruough a medium that is familiar to everybody: films.
We experience objects for their face value, missing important connections to other elements of our life. In class, after watching “Blade Runner,” we were asked to find connetions between the movie storyline, architecture, use of space, and our own personal storyline.
Every day, we see, hear, touch and experience the world around us.
This exercise forces you to look at life in a different way, to understand
Professor Marina If you ask any of Professor Marina Christodoulides’s Digital Arts students how they would describe her, the word ‘charisma’ is typically used. Marina teaches the newest course offered in the Digital Arts Department: “Manufacturing Cinematic Spaces.”
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why movies use certain structures and spaces, and what they represent. Examining your life, you do the same, realizing the structure of your home or the topography of your hometown has a deep impact in the way you act and relate to other people. Adding these experiences together, the resulting analysis will help lead you to a new thinking on designing of space!
Singing Class Do you like to sing? On select Wednesdays, Mr. Jun Kai Su offers free singing lessons at ITU for the community!
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Barbara Gini, ITU Senior Website & Graphic Designer and Digital Art Student, is a law school graduate from Italy who found her true passion in graphic and web design.
Today’s Young Professionals Can you work a room in a matter of minutes? Shake hands with the 49ers Training Camp Director, or Google’s Senior Engineer — all in one hour. On January 26, 2012, ITU sponsored Today’s Young Professionals’ Membership Appreciation Event at the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.
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Volume II, Issue 2, Spring 2012
team
Spotlight on Cedrick Chan By Patricia Wiggin
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Amal Mougharbel Manager: Hubert Chang Editorial Board: Barbara Arnoldussen Patricia Wiggin Coordinator: Charitha Valluri Chinese Reviewer: Dr. May Huang Contributors: Dr. Frank Aguilera Dr. Ramesh Konda Cedrick Chan Linda Fan Barbara Gini Sunit Peter Ahmad Shaar Jared Van Lehn
Cedrick Chan, Department Chair Digital Arts
“Aware of trends, always looking ahead, and yet, remembering the echo and patterns of the past” is how Cedrick Chan describes a futurist and in effect, himself. As Department Chair of ITU’s Digital Arts Department since 2009, Cedrick’s story is a unique amalgam of past and present, artist and educator.
Looking back, his accomplishments include artistic and technical direction with successful Hollywood productions, such as the Star Wars prequels and The Mummy Returns. He has also worked on video and interactive media productions, animated feature films with China Film Group, and lecturing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design.
Looking ahead, Cedrick sees the creation of pioneering academic advancements. The University launched the Digital Art and Architecture Program in Spring 2012 with its first course offering “Manufacturing Cinematic Space”. (See related articles in this issue by ITU staffers Barbara Gini and Jared Van Lehn). This is the first university program in the world to integrate digital cinema and architecture. Originally from the US, but now a resident of China, Cedrick is excited about mutual collaborations. He sees ITU as the perfect bridge between the burgeoning Chinese digital arts community, our high-tech proximity, and academia. With focused, media-centric educational curriculum and design, ITU is uniquely positioned to bring Silicon Valley education to the Chinese global landscape. Patricia Wiggin teaches Communication at ITU and works with ITU’s team in China. She recently received her MBA from ITU, and is currently a DBA student
Marketing & Distribution: Cindy Dinh Suman Bhargava
Professor Marina Christodoulides
Designer: Kathia Rubi
By Jared Van Lehn
Charisma & Digital Arts ‘Know-How’ All in One She currently works as a designer at the MKThink Innovation Studio along San Francisco’s waterfront. Constantly striving to improve her craft, Marina enters competitions and was a recent finalist in a Public Project Contest held in Egypt.
Photographer Radhesh Talasila International Technological University
When Marina isn’t developing California high-speed rail train stations or designing studios, her other love is teaching. As an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, she taught classes in the areas of Architecture and the Arts.
“Global Development through Silicon Valley Education” 355 W San Fernando St San Jose, CA 95113
http://itu.edu Contact: newsletter@itu.edu
Marina received a Master’s in Architecture and City Planning at UC Berkeley. ITU is pleased to have her practacing her passion in making connections between Digital Arts and Architecture.
Marina Christodoulides Digital Arts Faculty Member Continued from page 1
Excitment about Marina’s teaching style and personality traveled quickly, causing class enrollment to triple in size after its start date. The views expressed in articles are those of the writers only and not of ITU or the ITU Journal. ITU Journal is not responsible for accuracy of information cited in the news and events. The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit submissions, with contributions capped at 400 words. Plagiarized submissions will be discarded.
Marina believes “There is beauty in everything.” She conveys that focus in the center of her pedagogy, instructing students to keep their eyes and ears open for inspiration – from a winding staircase to a soundbyte on the radio.
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Jared is currently a Communications/Marketing intern at ITU. He graduates from the University of Phoenix this fall with a B.S. in Business Marketing. Jared is a waiter, personal/athletic trainer, actor, standup comic, and is currently writing a sitcom.
Volume II, Issue 2, Spring 2012
Assessment Leadership Academy: My Learning Experience
Did You Know?
By Amal Mougharbel, PhD Department Chair of Business Administration This year I had the opportunity to undergo ten months of training from the Western Association for Schools and Colleges (WASC) Assessment Leadership Academy (ALA). Topics included Assessment Culture, Assessment Leadership, Student Learning Outcomes, Program Review, Portfolio, and Student Affairs. And now my training is over! The ALA program is integral to ITU’s future progress. Among my ALA assignments were: 1) campus visit to analyze an institution’s assessment activities, 2) reflective essay to describe my learning, and 3) final project on an assessment subject. Why assessment training? In the past, ‘assessment’ has had various meanings in higher education. Now, it’s the practice we use to grade student’s work, and to standardize institutional measurements required for external
Student Workshop
accountability. Assessment gives an institution information on the success of a program, course, or curriculum. To improve student learning, assessment is the logical, on-going process of collecting, analyzing and using information from developed outcomes. The challenges of classroom assessment include: - Creating assessments that support lesson outcomes - Creating assessments that help students do well - Employing assessment in practical ways to affect teaching explicitly, and - Involving students in the assessment process. The goal of the ALA program is to build long-term change. Through our assessment process, we will make a lasting impact despite limitations of time, knowledge and resources.
Today’s Young Professionals Networking in San Jose By Cindy Dinh Continued from page 1
Today’s Young Professionals [TYP] engages professionals from all industries between the ages of 18 and 35, offering opportunities to network and socialize. Events are intimate and give networking newbies a welcoming invitation to ‘put themselves out there.’ ITU’s students, staff, and faculty met the challenge. Dr. Ramesh Konda commented, “These are the kinds of events we need to attend. It gave us a chance to show
President Yau-Gene Chan introduces ITU to members of TYP
ITU to the community.” Silicon Valley is known for industry creatives and TYP provides a setting to link these minds. ITU’s IT Manager Kranthi Lammatha expressed, “I met a small business owner that night and he hired me to develop his website.” As proud members of TYP and the Chamber of Commerce, ITU’s employees witnessed the strength of connections.
Cindy is the Director of Communications at ITU and part-time professor in Communication Studies. Her passion is in empowering others to simply “speak up,” to articulate well in writing and through the power of spoken word.
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On March 31, 2012, Dr. Barbara Hecker, ITU’s Engineering Management Department Chair, hosted the first open workshop “Android Application Development”. Attendees of this intensive one-day workshop learned the basics of app development and walked away with two apps that they developed during the workshop. According to a 2011 study by PewInternet, one-third, of American adults own a smartphone. So get developing! More info at http://itu.edu/appdev
Faculty Workshop: Academic Talk
On March 1, 2012, Dr. Amal Mougharbel with Patricia Wiggin hosted a faculty development workshop. The theme was “Encouraging Student Interaction in the Classroom.” Topics included: “Student Learning”, “Classroom Assessments”, and “Innovative Teaching Methods.” The next “Academic Talk” will be late April or early May, 2012.
New Program: Global Executive MBA
The Global Executive MBA is an intensive program of study to learn new management techniques while enhancing leadership capabilities. This program provides cutting-edge, integrated, and transformative education for high-potential executives. The core curriculum balances the art and science of management, for both understanding theories and applying them in diverse management situations. The core courses include: Strategic Thinking, Creativity and Problem Solving, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Management, Leadership, International Business, Risk Management, and Portfolio Management.
Guest Lecturer
In January 2012, ITU MBA professor Dr. Frank Aguilera delivered a guest lecture at San Francisco State University for a Public Administration course, “Managing Organizational Behavior.” The academic discipline of Public Administration studies government policy at the federal, state, regional and local level. Public Administration is also a field exploring the administrative functions of government. Similar to Business Administration, Public Administration uses current management practices to effectively implement government policies and programs. Dr. Frank Aguilera, a senior manager at NASA, has over 30 years experience in developing and implementing public policy.
Volume II, Issue 2, Spring 2012
EMS Update
Notable Events
Faculty Create Learning Outcomes and Rubrics ITU requires that Course Learning Outcomes [CLOs] be mapped to Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) for all departments. Faculty create their CLOs correlated to PLOs and ILOs. Once logged into the Educational Management System (EMS), faculty can click the “CLOs” option on the left-side menu to add the outcomes. If you have any questions about the EMS, contact Sunit Peter (EMS Program Manager) at speter@itu.edu.
1. March 1st - 31st: ITU’s “March Madness” 2. March 28th: John Wiggin “Artist’s Approach to Small Business” 3. Wednesdays: Singing Classes 4. May 6th: Graduation
CHEA Lists ITU as Recognized Candidate ITU has been listed on the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) website as an eligible candidate along with many other universities. These are most exciting times in the growth of ITU, thanks to all of the on-going accreditation efforts of staff, interns, faculty and students.
Sunit Peter joined ITU as a student in 2008, and since then has become ITU’s EMS Program Manager. He has worked with company’s such as DELL and Knoah Solutions back at home in his native town of Hyderabad. Peter is currently leading efforts to develop an educational management system (EMS) for ITU.
San Jose Art Museum Come see the exhibition entitled “Braving the Elements: Let’s Look at Art” (through August 12, 2012) featuring the elements of art that allows visitors to look, play, draw and put on their artist’s hat in the family gallery.
Thank You IT. Here they are: the creators of the IT infrastructure and solutions employed in ITU. Engineers, IT specialists, Subject Matter Experts and those wise folks that spend their times troubleshooting, configuring and IP Subnet Masking. They are taking care of ITU’s displays, servers, network, systems, (Call center, EMS, the Knowledge-Base). They are providing the latest technology that supports transferring most operations into a digital environment that ensures sustainability and operations continuity. Their name is always linked to the heart of the ITU name and vision. And they are the window to the latest technology in the Silicon Valley.
To find out more about ITU, visit www.itu.edu.
Pajama Drive In the cold winter months, we often take for granted warm pajamas, or a book to read on a rainy day. What we sometimes fail to realize is that there are thousands of children in need, both foster and orphan children that only want to feel loved. At this year’s Pajama Drive at the Fairmont Hotel, sponsored by the “Pajama Project”, ITU donated new pajamas and books to these children. The collection drive was coordinated by Cindy Dinh, Director of Communications, and Jared Van Lehn, Communications Intern. Even though the Pajama Drive is over, let’s keep looking for ways to show to the community around us that ITU Cares.
What’s on your mind?
Please send your thoughts to newsletter@itu.edu.
Please remember to recycle!
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ISSN: 2161-8054