By Samantha Thomson ’09 (Communications and Media)
Public Affairs Intern

Jaimie Pattipeilohy ’09 (Communication and Media) is capturing the experience of studying abroad at New Paltz with her video journals.

Pattipeilohy, a student from Haarlem, Netherlands, and several other international exchange students from different countries are participating in the new video documentary project. The students are recording their educational and cultural experiences while studying at New Paltz and the short documentaries they produce will be shown to potential international exchange students.

“It is the start of many new projects in the future between Noord University and New Paltz,” said Pattipeilohy.

Patricia Sullivan, chair of Communication and Media, agrees with Pattipeilohy that the project is the start of many collaborations.

“We’ve established a significant partnership with Noord University,” she said. “Technology made it possible for students to work together via the Internet and then come together for intense working sessions to finalize the project.”

Pattipeilohy’s work will be part of a larger project, ‘gnr8,’ that will consist of two three-minute videos that will reflect campus life and the educational experience at New Paltz. She said the videos highlight the similarities, the differences and the once-in-a-lifetime experience for international students. The final films will be available for prospective international study abroad students, their families and friends, as well as faculty members.

“The opportunities – including partnerships and networking around the world – that projects like these open up to students and faculties alike in both nations are awesome,” said Pattiepeilohy. “And the people that you meet are energetic, creative, and like-minded. It is a really positive thing to be involved in.”

"Bear Mountain View," photograph by Greg Miller

The openings of “The Hudson River: A Great American Treasure” by Greg Miller and “Inscription” by Philippine Hoegen and Carolien Stikker on Sept. 19 mark the final installment in the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art’s six-month Art and the River project.

The Art and the River project is the museum’s contribution to the Hudson River Quadricentennial taking place this year.

An opening reception will be held for “The Hudson River” and “Inscription” from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19.

“The artists behind ‘The Hudson River’ and ‘Inscription’ invested a great deal of time exploring the region in order to create their beautiful and haunting images,” said Sara Pasti, the Neil C. Trager Director of the museum.

Untitled 2004, (still image from video), by Philippine Hoegen and Carolien Stikker

“The Hudson River: A Great American Treasure” is the second Art and the River project show by Orange County, N.Y.-based photographer Greg Miller. The newest exhibition presents 20 recent color photographs of Hudson Valley landscapes by Miller, whose panoramic photograph of the Hudson River is on display at the museum through Dec. 13. The photographs in “The Hudson River” depict views of the river and its valleys from New York City’s George Washington Bridge to the river’s small upstate tributaries.

For “Inscription,” the Dorsky Museum commissioned Amsterdam artists Philippine Hoegen and Carolien Stikker to produce a short film about the river. The artists, who work together and maintain solo careers, visited the campus in May and June of 2009 to explore the Hudson River and its tributaries. During that time, they made film, videotape and digital audio recordings under the working title “Riverbank.”

There are four works in the exhibition: a video projection, “Crossing;” a slide and video projection installation, “Smoke no smoke;” and hybrid photographic videos, both untitled. In addition, a book, titled “Superstructure,” will be published by the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art and SUNY Press to coincide with the exhibition.

From June to December, the museum is hosting five art exhibitions – including the flagship exhibition, “The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th-century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society”; an academic symposium; and various other events.

An artists’ lecture for “Inscription” is set for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16, in the campus’s Lecture Center, room 102.

Both exhibitions are open through Nov. 29.

This is the first in a series of profiles featuring faculty and staff members who are using Technology in the Classroom to enhance the educational experiences of their students.

Getting the word out

Howard Good (Communication and Media) is preparing his students to become media professionals in the digital age by using blogs, wikis and video.

“Blogs and wikis are commonplace on the Internet, and it’s important that students who aspire to media careers become familiar with them and confident in using them,” he said.

In many of his courses, Good uses blog posts to encourage discussion and dialogue, gauge his students’ understanding of a topic and provide writing opportunities, “and as many are journalism majors, this is always a good thing,” he said.

Screen shot of Literature of Journalism blog

Alyssa Jung ‘09 (Journalism) said the material in each of the four classes she has taken with Good has been supplemented with a blog. She said the experience allowed her and her classmates to further their interaction with the material and one another.

“Bringing activities and discussions outside of the classroom allows us to gather our own understanding of digital media while gaining firsthand experience with some of the means used to power it,” Jung said.

Students in Good’s Press in America course compiled an online encyclopedia or wiki using PBWiki. Students researched a topic of historical significance in American journalism and created an entry, which is available to the public, complete with hyperlinks, illustrations and an annotated bibliography.

Good’s journalism students are also learning how to produce videos and multimedia presentations.

The final in his Media and Ethics course was not considered complete until the students’ videos were uploaded to YouTube or a similar site. Good said one video has had more than 10,000 hits since it was uploaded more than a year ago.

He said through these projects his students gain crucial practice in making multimedia presentations and acquire a significant piece of work for their portfolios.