New Department Blog Goes Online

After years of discussing the need for better inter-department communication a new blog has been created to share department information. This blog fulfills a strategic plan initiative and will give the department faculty the opportunity to highlight what's happening within their programs. The new blog enables faculty to upload photos and videos along with their news items.

If you have any questions about how to use the blog please contact Ira Gardner at: irag@spokanefalls.edu

or call: 533-3728

SFCC Photography students film Danny McCollim

Ira Gardner and a group of students enrolled in the Intro to Documentary Video Production course arranged to film SFCC music instructor Danny McCollim performing in the auditorium. Danny has been playing the piano for 50 years and is one of Spokane's most respected jazz pianist. It was a great opportunity for students to learn how to sync three cameras together. The students are also editing a short interview piece with Danny and will be posting it at their multimedia blog located at http://sfccphotovideo.blogspot.com/.

SFCC Graphic Design Hosts Addy Award Judging

SFCC Graphic Design helped the Spokane Ad Federation judge this years Addy Awards Submission. Among the submission are SFCC student projects. Graphic design students routinely win awards in the student category as well as scholarship awards sponsored by the AdFed. Greg Stiles and photography instructor Erik Sohner collaborated in the fall to create photo submissions for student work. We'll post the winners later this spring.

Northwest Photo Educators Meet in Seattle

Photography instructor Ira Gardner traveled to Seattle February 23rd to meet with high school and college photography educators from all over the state of Washington. 40 instructors gathered at Seattle Central Community College where this event was hosted by SCCC photography instructor (and former SFCC faculty member) Alejandro Tomas.

The focus of the event was the establishment of new pathways for students to matriculate from high school to grad school. Articulation agreements were discussed and the group has agreed to pursue the creation of a region wide college fair for high school students.

We have entered a new era of cooperation between prof/tech community college programs and fine arts baccalaureate institutions. Among the colleges represented at the event were: University of Washington, Seattle University, Central Washington University, Art Institute of Seattle, and the Cornish College of Fine Arts.

One interesting statistic from this event was the fact that every baccalaureate institution in attendance are maintaining wet chemistry darkrooms and feel strongly that black and white film photography is still viable in the digital era.

Journalism Pitches New SFCC Multimedia Center

Journalism instructor Jason Nix recently made two presentations about a $120,000 proposed multimedia work center. Jason spoke to the CCS Board as part of their "celebrating success" presentation where Jason was able to highlight recent national awards the SFCC Communicator has earned and pitch the idea of a new multimedia center designed to incorporate print production, podcasting, and video production.

Jason also presented the idea to the SFCC Student Council last week in an effort to get part of the expected $600,000 budget surplus students have accumulated. If the proposal is adopted, the plan is to remodel 19-119 when the Audio Technology program moves to their new facilities as soon as the Music building remodel is complete. The plan is to have a production center that is inter-disciplinary and mirrors current media production work environments.

SFCC Interior Design Students work on "Touch the future" house.

SFCC interior design students, along with faculty member Cynthia Blue-Blanton, worked on the Touch the Future house located near the campus at the River Run Housing Development. For more information visit:
http://www.ccs.spokane.edu/Foundation/Touch-The-Future-House.aspx

Graphic Design Program - H.S. Articulation

Graphic design instructors Greg Stiles and Doug Crabtree met with regional high school instructors on February 25th in support of articulation programs between SFCC and Spokane Public Schools. SFCC has an ongoing commitment to work with regional high schools to ensure students are receiving comparable educations to on campus coursework as well as making the transition as smooth as possible for those students who choose to enroll in the Graphic Design program after high school.

Tech Fee Funds Filemaker Pro Update

Computer Support recently ordered FileMaker Pro 10 Server and 5 copies of the FileMaker applications in support of the upgrade of the photography program's equipment checkout system and web curriculum database. Ira Gardner will be installing the server software on the SFCC-GD-2 server and will be coordinating the updating of the the old databases to the new format. The project will be completed during Spring quarter and will be fully operational by years end..

The SFCC Photography curriculum web database was the first online database developed at SFCC by Ira Gardner back in 1998 and has been in continuous operation since that time. The system includes a complete student management system including class rosters and grading as well as student web access to assignments and other resource links.

The new system will be made available for any AVA faculty member interested in using it and will feature a web browser interface that will make it easier for faculty and students from any AVA program to reserve equipment as needed. This project will fulfill a department strategic plan item that has been on the books for more than three years.

Future projects may include developing databases for data driven sites developed in the Web Design and Journalism program.

Advertising in a down economy

Applied Visual Arts instructors Doug Crabtree, Betsy Ward, Greg Stiles, and Ira Gardner recently attended an Ad Federation breakfast meeting held at the Spokane Club. The agenda of the February 4th meeting was a panel discussion about the economic future for Spokane and the impact on advertising and marketing businesses. The panel consisted of:

• Jeff Thomas (Moderator): Events Manager of The Spokane Club
• Kim Pearman-Gillman: Partner and VP National Accounts of Ascentium Corporation
  
• Teresa Meyer: Media Director of Quisenberry Marketing & Design
  
• Thomas Hammer: Owner of Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters
  
• Shaun Higgins: Marketing and Sales Director of the Spokesman Review