I have worked to maintain a serious commitment to University and school service. At the university level, I served as the School of Architecture representative on the faculty Senate from 2014-2017. The three years of service as a whole occurred during the beginning and end of President Calingo’s time at Woodbury and also the beginning of President Steele’s term. During this time the Senate worked to have a strong voice with Board of Trustees providing a channel to faculty concerns during this tumultuous time. I served on sub-committees such as the ambassador award committee. and I worked with Ewan Branda to construct the skeleton format for all faculty handbooks. However, some of the more important issues that I have been involved in revolved around responding to concerns of my colleagues. In the Spring of 2014, and adjunct faculty member approached me with an issue regarding his pay check. Payroll had accidentally dispersed only a fraction of what he was owed, and informed him that they could not fix the issue until the next pay period. That day, I approached Nedra Peterson, then Dean of Faculty who subsequently brought it up with David Dauwalder who then immediately resolved the issue. In another instance, I brought a concern to the President regarding a letter that some faculty had been asked to distribute to student who had not yet paid their tuition. The faculty members concern, that I shared, was that bringing financial matters into the classroom, jeopardized the student teacher relationship. In my service as the Senate representative to the School of Architecture, I saw my most important role as communicating the concerns of the faculty to the administration, and working to resolve them.
In the academic year of 2018-2019, I began serving on the Curriculum Committee. We reviewed several curriculum proposals including the revised Applied Computer Science – Media Arts program. I learned a lot from Tamara Blok, Elizabeth Trebow, and Marty Tippens on essential content in the development of curriculum. This helped me to critique my own coursework, and also prepare me for serving as Chair of the Curriculum Committee in the academic year of 2019-2020 and 2020 -2021. As chair of the curriculum committee I have worked to establish collaboration and transparency as fundamental components to the work of the committee. The committee is composed of excellent faculty and staff (Judy Kriger, Adam Wood, Marty Tippens, Elizabeth Trebow, and Tamara Block). We have all tried to position ourselves as collaborators rather the reviewers of faculty proposals. We do everything that we can to help our colleagues meet the WUFA approved curricular standards. In the fall of 2019 we received and reviewed twenty-two proposals some of which (Animation and Game) were complete program revisions. We had to meet weekly and organize two half-day retreats in order to complete the work in the fall. It was a busy but energizing semester. We worked with every proposal to get it approved, asking for revisions, meeting with faculty, and generally seeking to help our colleagues to put forth the best curriculum possible. The fall of 2020 was similar in the review of approximately twenty proposals. In terms of transparency, we issue all comments and communication regarding proposals through libguides. This allows all members of the Woodbury community to access review our comments. I learned an incredible amount about a range of teaching practices, and found this experience to be the most rewarding service of my entire time at Woodbury. As part of this, I served on the Curriculum Advisory Panel in which faculty and administrators work together to organize and process the development of new curriculum.
In the fall of 2020, I was offered and accepted the position of Chair of Applied Computer Science – Media Arts (ACSMA). The logic for this is that I will also chair the new Design Computation program which is designed to be interrelated with the ACSMA program. While this position is only a semester old, I am excited by the potential this has for increasing my service and academic commitment to the University through the development of new curriculum that fosters interdisciplinary learning. Since assuming this position, I have worked with the Chairs of Art History, Graphic Design, Game Design, Animation, and Architecture to look for opportunities for shared classes. While these changes are in their early stages, they are tied to my vision for both the Applied Computer Science – Media Arts program and the Design Computation programs. While serving on the curriculum committee I have noticed the separated nature of our schools and programs. I have also noticed some of the amazing courses that are offered in other disciplines. I am looking forwarded to growing the ACSMA program and building the Design Computation program in a manner that leverages the knowledge of a variety of programs within Woodbury University. In the fall of 2021, I will begin shifting two courses from dedicated ACSMA courses to the Art History and Graphic Design programs respectively. I am doing this because after reviewing the catalog, I found that the course offered in the ACSMA program are nearly identical to courses offered in these other disciplines. Graphic Design and Art History offer expertise in the respective courses that the ACSMA program cannot easily provide. I contacted the Chairs of the programs and discussed these changes and look forward to working with them on their execution. I see collaboration with other departments as a central part of my role as a teaching scholar.
I have also worked at improving my advising by helping our 5th year students complete their requirements for graduation. During the academic years of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Chair Heather Flood asked me to advise all of our graduating students with her. In 2018-2019 this resulted in the advising of thirty-nine students with over sixty meetings. These were complex advising sessions. I worked with students that I had never advised before in solving problems that dated back to their first semester at Woodbury. I kept a log of our meetings so that I could follow who was on track to graduate and who was not. It was a useful tool and it allowed me to better track the students issues that I faced. I have included a copy of this document for reference. I plan on improving this process in the upcoming semesters, by seeking out common problems earlier. Furthermore, I continue to write numerous letters of recommendation and support for our students. A full list of these letters has been included.
Advising ACSMA students has presented new challenges as they are required to complete concentrations in other departments. The complexity of this process has made it clear that I need to work with registrar and chairs of other departments to ensure that the concentrations are not obstacles to graduation. I also need to thoroughly review the schedule of related disciplines to ensure that ACSMA students can take the courses that they need.
I have worked in recruiting by participating the School of Architecture portfolio workshop every year, as well attending and providing tours during open house events in the school of architecture. I also attend reviews at local community colleges such as PCC and LAAID. In my new role as chair, I have organized virtual presentations to local high schools, created on-line content to be viewed by prospective students, and participated in Woodbury University recruiting events. In addition to my school service, I am registered volunteer with LAUSD. I have worked serving breakfast at local schools.
I have also worked at improving my advising by helping our 5th year students complete their requirements for graduation. During the academic year of 2018-2019, Chair Heather Flood asked me to advise all of our graduating students with her. This resulted in the advising of thirty-nine students with over sixty meetings. These were complex advising sessions. I worked with students that I had never advised before in solving problems that dated back to their first semester at Woodbury. I kept a log of our meetings so that I could follow who was on track to graduate and who was not. It was a useful tool and it allowed me to better track the students issues that I faced. I have included a copy of this document for reference. I plan on improving this process in the upcoming semesters, by seeking out common problems earlier. Furthermore, I continue to write numerous letters of recommendation and support for our students. A full list of these letters has been included.
Joseph Aguilar
Billy Chiriboga
Cindy Davila
Mary Hosseinioun
Cesia Lopez
Marques Fallejo
Joana Martinez
Miriam Jacobsen
Agnes Nakiganda
Bryan Rincon
Adriaan Saavedra
Crystal Tan
Justin Yap
Roberto Oceguera
Maryam Hosseinioun
Arturo Marquez
Cindy Rodriguez
Catherine Fletcher
Faisal Alohali
Breena Garcia
Dalia Bukhamsin
Jesse Ledin
Agnes Nakiganda
Sattam Aljehani
Mashael Alshammary
Lauren Kelsey
Rodrigo Gonzalez Velazuqez
Sergio Talamoni
Omar Fida
Daniel Spilman
Tamim Almahmood
Nafiseh Salavatian
Carlos Holmes
Jenan Al Sabbagh
Muotaz Abbas
Yuqi Wang
Roxana Perez Antonio
Tony Lopez
Wijdan Aldowsary
Joseph Miller
Andrew Ancira
Juan Franco
Zhaoqi Zhu
Sabine Arslanian
Noor Begum
Qiqin Tang
Zijun Zuo
Ali Al-Sulaiti
Christian Boling
Lucas Mok
Max Perez
Sharece Shabazian
Luz Auyon