The Superhero Project is a program imagined by current UNC students. Professional and student artists work with young people at UNC Children’s Hospital to create collaborative sequential art.
As their final project in Multimodal and Networked Communication, my students created Graphically Speaking, a web series “that offers a multimedia forum for academic inquiry into comics.”
The Connected Learning Program
From the summer of 2010 to the spring of 2011, I coordinated the Connected Learning Program, an initiative of UNC-Chapel Hill’s James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. The CLP provided unique opportunities for undergraduates to explore a passionate interest while living and working with a group of peers. Throughout the academic year, CLP participants developed and led exciting events and activities ranging from a live interactive production featuring traditional folk dances from around the world to a guerilla performance art troupe. CLP projects encouraged leadership, collaboration, creative expression, academic research, and experiential learning, and contributed immensely to the intellectual life of the university.
One of the student projects I was most proud of was “A Look Beyond the Plate,” a student-made documentary directed by Mary Wurzelmann and Devin Gibbs. I guided Mary and Devin through production, editing, and marketing of their work, and I learned a great deal about digital film editing from Mary—an exceptional UNC communications major. “A Look Beyond the Plate” examines sustainable meat production in North Carolina and was an Official Selection at the 2011 North Carolina Family Film Festival where it won “Best Documentary Short.”