Portfolio Mentors
School of Media Culture & Design Portfolio Mentor Initiative
Our Portfolio Requirements
All incoming freshmen and transfers applying for Spring 2024 semester or the Fall 2024-2025 academic year are asked to submit a portfolio and written statement if applying for any of the following programs: Animation + VFX, Filmmaking, Game Art + Design, Experience Design, and Fashion Design.听
Animation + VFX has additional requirements outlined on our Portfolio Requirements page.
VIEW PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENT DETAILS
Meet our Portfolio Mentors
Learn more about the faculty that will be helping you with your portfolio below.
Chair and Faculty, Department of Animation
Judy Kriger
Judy Kriger is an independent filmmaker and animator and has been a professional CG artist for two decades. Her credits include: Cats and Dogs, Antz, South Park, Ren and Stimpy and Doughboy, Kraft and Keebler commercials. She teaches senior thesis, introductory through advanced 3D animation and visual effects production courses. Her book, 鈥淎nimated Realism: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Animated Documentary Genre,鈥� was published by Focal Press and she is currently working on a CG animated PSA and a new book pitch.
Education
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design
MFA, California Institute of the Arts
[email protected]
Chair, Department of Fashion Design
Anna Leiker
Anna Leiker is an Assistant Professor and the chair of the Fashion Design department in the School of Media, Culture & Design at 麻豆传媒集团. Her professional background is in knitwear, lingerie and swimwear. She specializes in computer applications in fashion design and has utilized knowledge of several CAD systems: Macbeth Eye, Investronica, Tukatech, and PAD. She has presented papers and lectured at both international and national fashion design and educational conferences, on topics including, future of fashion design, interdisciplinarity in fashion design and fashion photography.
She has been a part of the Woodbury community for 20 years. Anna鈥檚 scholarship involves fashion technology, specifically digital print on textiles and smart textiles, fashion sustainability, and fashion photography. Her vision for the program is to infuse elements of sustainability and wearable tech into the fundamentals of the curriculum.
Education
Master of Fine Art from Academy of Art University
Master of Science in Textiles and Fashion Design.
Bachelor of Design and Technology in the Apparel Industry from Moscow State University of Technology and Design.
[email protected]
Chair, Department of Experience Design
Behnoush McKay
Behnoush McKay is an Associate Professor and chair of the Department of Experience Design at 麻豆传媒集团. She joined 麻豆传媒集团 in 1997 as an adjunct faculty and moved to a full-time position in 2006. She received her BFA in Graphics and Packaging Design from Art Center College of Design, and her MFA in Visual Communication from California State University Northridge. For 20 years, Behnoush was a principal in McKay Consulting Group, Inc. With a solid background in Art, Design, and Visual Communication, she designed and provided art direction on projects involving packaging, multimedia, print, and product design.
She has presented papers and lectured at both international and national design and educational conferences, on topics including, future of graphic design, design education 鈥� problem-solving, social responsibility in design, and educational assessment. Read more of her bio here.
Education
California State University, Northridge California June 2007
Graduate School, Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication, with Distinction
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California August 1991
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Graphics/Packaging, with Honors
Chair, Department of Filmmaking
Kristen Fuhs
Kristen Fuhs is Professor and Chair of the Media Arts department at Woodbury, as well as Program Director for Filmmaking. Her research and teaching interests center on media and cultural studies, with particular specializations in documentary and the film industry. In addition to courses on these topics, she regularly teaches classes on censorship, stars & celebrity, film genres, and the history of Hollywood. Her scholarly articles have appeared in collections and journals such as听Cultural Studies, the听Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, the听Journal of Sport & Social Issues, and听Vocal Projections: The Voice in Documentary, among others. She is also the co-founder and editor of the documentary criticism website听Docalogue, as well as the related听顿辞肠补濒辞驳耻别听book series.
Education
PhD, Critical Studies, University of Southern California
MA, Critical Studies, University of Southern California
BSSP, Communication Studies, Northwestern University
Assistant Professor, Department of Filmmaking
Elizabeth Yarwood
贰濒颈锄补产别迟丑听Yarwood听is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer, writer, and director. She is an Assistant Professor of Filmmaking in the School of Media, Culture & Design. Elizabeth holds an MFA in Film and TV Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Her cinematography work spans both narrative and documentary, and has been seen at film festivals including听SxSW,听Cinequest,听Dances听with Films, Full Frame, and听HollyShorts. She has served as cinematographer on award-winning projects such as the feature documentary鈥�Pioneers in Skirts鈥痓y director Ashley Maria, which explores gender inequality in the workplace, and the comedic short film鈥�Labor Relations, by writer/director听Karisa听Bruin, which examines work/life balance for mothers. She has worked as a camera operator or camera assistant on a wide variety of TV shows on network and cable television such as鈥�Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.鈥痮n PBS.鈥疎lizabeth is currently in pre-production for the narrative feature film鈥�Lady Parts, by directors Liz听Manashil听and Sean Wright, about a woman who must grapple with difficult decisions surrounding preventative care for the BRCA-1 breast cancer gene.听听
Read more of her bio here.
Education
B.A. from Bard College
M.F.A. from USC School of Cinematic Arts
[email protected]
Chair, Department of Game Art & Design
Paul Smith
Paul M Smith听is currently a production pipeline consultant, mocap technician, forensic accident reconstruction specialist, and freelance artist for Mobile Motion Mocap, Containment Field, and Bowley, Inc.听
Some portfolio credits include 鈥淎RDYs: A Radio Disney Music Celebration鈥� live television performance and 鈥淵ulu Toys: Snapstar Dolls鈥� music video at Mobile Motion Mocap; 鈥淩oboblitz鈥� 鈥� Xbox360 online arcade at Naked Sky Entertainment; 鈥淢ighty Ducks Pinball Slam鈥� 鈥� main attraction ride and 鈥淢en In Black鈥� and 鈥淧inky and the Brain鈥� 鈥� PC at Gigawatt Studios, 鈥淩ailroad Tycoon II鈥� port, 鈥淪ega Swirl鈥�, 鈥淜iss Psycho Circus鈥� 鈥� Dreamcast at Tremor Entertainment; 鈥淭he Black Eyed Peas Experience鈥� for Zoic Studios, and 鈥淭he Walking Dead slot machine鈥� for Stargate Studios 鈥� mocap technician/cleanup artist at Containment Field, Inc; 鈥淐hico鈥檚, GAP, Federated, Avon, Fashion Bug, Pac Sun, Koos MFG, Victoria Secret, Club Monaco, Cato, Belks, and TC2鈥� 鈥� 3D Digital Sculpt Fabrication Artist at Shapely Shadow; and 鈥淐al Trans Forensic Re-creation鈥� animations at Blast Radius Consulting.听
Paul assists as a regional/state judge and competitive events coordinator for SkillsUSA in the Interactive Application and Game Development competition.听
Education
B.F.A and M.A: Computer Animation, William Patterson University, Patterson, NJ
A.S: Computer Animation, Bucks County Community College, Bucks County, PA
[email protected]
Interested in our mentor program?
Inquire for more information below.