Professor James S Moy, Dean of the School of Creative Media (SCM) and, concurrently, Chair Professor of Creative Media, traveled to Los Angeles in August to meet Dean Elizabeth Daley; Mr Douglas Wellman, Director of Facilities; Professor Scott Fisher, Chair of the Interactive Media Division, and other members of the team at the School of Cinema-Television of the University of Southern California (USC). Accompanying Professor Moy was Mr Sam McBride, Project Director responsible for
Major Capital Projects, of City University's
Campus Planning Office. They were joined by SCM
Professor Mark Green who was in
Los Angeles attending the
SIGGRAPH 2004, an international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques.
“We had useful exchanges and the three of us were given a very detailed tour of the technical facilities of the School, including the GeorgeLucasInstructional
Building and the RobertZemeckisCenter for Digital Art, which was a high point for me,” Mr McBride recounted. “It was tremendously useful to be able to take a close look at what is arguably the best interactive media facility there is today. We discussed various technical aspects of the facilities, such as audio and screening equipment and their remarkable interactive media teaching laboratory. In this way the benefits of the CityU-USC-Beijing Film Academy trilateral partnership are already proving to be of great practical use.”
Familiarization with hardware and software was not the only purpose of the visit. From a financial standpoint, Dean Moy was also able to learn much from the USC’s experience. Dean Daley, Mr Wellman and Professor Fisher explained what had proven to work well for the School, what challenges had been encountered, in what they felt the USC had invested its money wisely, and what further aspirations they held for developing their facilities and equipment. Their advice will certainly benefit the SCM under Dean Moy’s leadership.
Professor Moy is a noted academic in theatre, film and performing arts. He received his PhD in Theatre History and Playwriting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his MA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Professor of Theatre & Dance at the University of New Mexico prior to joining CityU.
