Faculty for Creative Media Major

Emily Andrews

Biography

Emily Andrews is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Vermont. Her educational journey led her to Syracuse University, where she earned a BFA in Illustration, and later to Champlain College for an MFA in the Emergent Media program.

Emily’s work is deeply rooted in both digital and traditional media, with a particular affinity for the texture and tactility of traditional printmaking. Her creative sensibilities lean towards comics and visual storytelling, and her portfolio spans a diverse array of projects including logos, branding assets, and a graphic novels.

In her freelance capacity, Emily has brought her unique visual language to a variety of local publications and authors, among others. Her commitment to her craft and adaptability across various media have enabled her to consistently deliver compelling visual narratives that resonate with her clients and audience.

Publications & Abstracts

Seven Days

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John Billingsley

Biography

John has diverse broadcast and media production experience, having worked in various capacities in television, radio, film and music production. Early in his career, he spent many years working in the music business in New York City while on staff at two major recording studios, Quad Studios and Looking Glass Studios. During this time, John worked on and received engineering credits on many major label releases, including albums by Phillip Glass, Nils Lofgren and Phish. Later, as a freelance audio engineer in New York, he worked for a variety of television stations and independent production companies, including MTV, VH1, The Oxygen Network and Giants Football Broadcasting.

More recently, John spent a decade working as a producer and production engineer at Vermont Public where he recorded, edited and mixed audio for broadcast and podcasts on a daily basis. In addition to producing audio content, he created videos for the station’s website. John developed and produced a music video performance series titled Live From The Fort that ran for 5 years, garnishing over 100,000 views on Youtube. He also developed, produced and occasionally hosted, a weekly series titled Safe and Sound, that focused on Vermont musicians.

Through his production company, Breadbox Productions, John have produced several documentaries. One feature documentary he co-produced, directed and wrote, Liemba, tells the story of Africa’s oldest operational ship which plies the waters of Lake Tanganyika. He has also written, performed and mixed the musical scores for several independent productions. Through the use of midi, samples and virtual instruments, he composes in styles ranging from hip-hop to classical.

John received a Bachelor of Arts from St. Lawrence University and a Master of Arts in Media Studies from The New School.

Publications & Abstracts

Liemba

Favorite Quote

“Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow.”

—Mahatma Gandhi

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Erik Esckilsen

Biography

Erik Esckilsen came to Champlain College from the publishing industry, where he worked as a writer and editor. Today he teaches writing-intensive courses in a range of subjects, emphasizing art and digital culture, and remains active as an essayist, fiction writer, journalist, and scholar.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Rachel Hooper

Biography

As a Creative Media Faculty member at Champlain College, Rachel Hooper teaches a range of courses including Human-Centered Design, Creative Media, and Video Game Production. Additionally, she serves as the Project Manager at the Emergent Media Center, where she empowers students to seek patterns, connect dots, and imagine new futures by using data and empathy to uncover and define problems worth solving.

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Ken Howell

Biography

Ken Howell is an Associate Professor in the Division of Communication & Creative Media, where he teaches in multiple programs. He started teaching at Champlain as an adjunct in 2006, having previously taught at the New York University Steinhardt School and New Jersey City University.

Ken has been working with Champlain’s Emergent Media Center (EMC) since 2008. He has worked on an array of projects, including the UNFPA Game to Prevent Violence Against Women and IBM Virtual Worlds project. Along with support from the EMC, Ken recently served as Faculty Advisor for the Sandbox team, a group of students exploring new and novel forms of human-computer interaction. Work from that team has been exhibited at the Chicago Design Museum, the Game Developers conference, and many other venues internationally. He also works with a group of artists called the Illumination Collective, exploring digitally controlled lighting as a means of art making.

In addition to teaching, Ken has been an independent Interaction Designer and Developer for over twenty years, and has worked on such broad-ranging brands as Urban Outfitters, Rossignol, Pantene, and Skittles. He is also active in the Maker Movement, and is a founding board member of Generator Makerspace

When he is not working or teaching, Ken enjoys drawing, painting, tinkering in his laboratory, taking care of his Bonsai trees, and all things outdoors.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Christian Konczal

Biography

Christian Konczal, Director of Esports at Champlain College, is a passionate advocate for the integration of technology and education. A proud alumnus, Christian received his MFA in Emergent Media from Champlain in 2017 and has been steadfastly committed to the development of collegiate esports ever since.

As a graduate student, Christian served as a project management fellow for BREAKAWAY, an internationally recognized project partnered with the UNFPA, UNiTE, and Grassroot Soccer. BREAKAWAY aims to educate youth about Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), promote gender equality, and inculcate respect, values that Christian carries forward in his current role.

Christian is a strong proponent of gender equity within esports, striving to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all players. He believes in the transformative potential of esports to bridge gender gaps and is proactive in his efforts to ensure this in practice.

After graduation, Christian honed his skills in the field, consulting for multiple collegiate esports programs across the country. He then launched a successful program at a D2 State University, wherein he established varsity esports teams, oversaw program operations, supervised student coaches and players, and integrated esports into the academic experience. His fundraising efforts during this period helped support scholarships and program expenses, further validating his dedication to esports in the educational sphere.

Upon returning to Champlain, Christian pioneered the college’s esports program, fostering strong varsity teams and empowering the existing esports club. His leadership, combined with his unwavering belief in student potential, brought Champlain its first Varsity championships in over 20 years within the first year of the varsity esports program’s inception.

Christian is a fervent believer in preparing students for life post-college. His approach to esports extends beyond gameplay to encompass professional development, ensuring his students are equipped with practical skills and a strong foundation for their future careers.

Beyond his collegiate commitments, Christian has a heart for philanthropy. Working with his students he has been instrumental in raising over $20,000 for the Extra Life charity throughout his career, demonstrating his commitment to broader societal issues.

Christian Konczal’s multifaceted contributions at Champlain College exemplify the blend of passion, dedication, and vision needed to drive growth and success in collegiate esports. His unwavering commitment to gender equity and student development ensures that Champlain College’s esports program prepares students not just for competitive gaming, but for the wider world that awaits them after graduation.

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Al Larsen

Biography

Al Larsen is a media artist and writer whose work engages with ideas of public space and populist uses of media technologies. He works in and across multiple media and processes including programmable technologies, textiles, performance, audio production and printmaking. His work has shown in festivals in the US and internationally and his writing on popular culture, art and performance has appeared in P-Queue, Careless Talk Costs Lives, Plan B and The Squealer. He directs toe Creative Media BFA program at Champlain College.

Distinctions & Awards

Residencies:
– Center for Machine Arts, Peekskill, NY
– Burlington City Arts, Burlington, VT
– Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center, Buffalo, NY
– International Artist Exchange Residency, City of Glasgow, Scotland

Favorite Quote

“Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.”

—Corita Kent

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Katie Loesel

Biography

Katie Loesel grew up on Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from The Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio and a Certificate in Museum Studies from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She is a snowboarder, sailor, crafter, gardener, environmentalist, cyclist, and lover of local food and drink. After living in Thailand and Boston, Katie moved to Vermont to focus on her art. She tends to make prints, drawings, installations, and sometimes books. She has participated in artist residency programs at Vermont Studio Center and Zea Mays Print Studio. Her work has been exhibited nationally, with frequent shows throughout Vermont. Katie is the recipient of a 2016 Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant. Katie has taught printmaking at Burlington City Arts and Champlain College.

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Robin Perlah

Biography

Robin Perlah currently serves as Chair of the Creative Studio (home to Champlain’s creative art and design majors), Program Director for the graphic design (BFA) and interaction design (BS) majors, and is an Associate Professor in the Division of Communications and Creative Media at Champlain College.

In her time at Champlain, Perlah also served as the Academic Director for the Emergent Media Center, where she helped shape the creative vision for the campus-based interactive media studio. Additionally, Robin served as Assistant Dean for the CCM division, interim Program Director for creative media (BFA), and Program Director for the master’s programs in emergent media (MS and MFA). She has taught a wide range of courses in the areas of interaction design, photography, graphic design, and media theory, serving both undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, Robin teaches undergraduate courses in design history as well as photography, image-making, and visual design.

Perlah’s current art practice is based on a persistent interest in the photographic image, both still and moving, as it is transformed by digitality. Her work deals with the ambiguity of memory, the intersection between image capture (both analog and digital) and the methods of processing and presenting images, and how generative art and data mutations can reveal layers of complexity.

Before working at Champlain College, Robin was the co-chair of the Design & Creative Media program at the Center for Technology, Essex, and ran several community art programs to support young people through art-mentoring relationships and other activities. Prior to that, she had a long career as an art teacher and, professional photographer and photo editor, specializing in commercial, portrait, and event photography as well as fine-art printing.

Robin is a site evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), is part of the volunteer board for PechaKucha Night (PKN) Burlington, and recently rejoined the board of trustees for the Vermont Arts Council as board secretary after finishing her last term as Vice-Chair in 2019. Additionally, she serves as the co-director for the Technology & Design Institute at Governor’s Institutes of Vermont. Robin earned a master of fine arts in emergent media from Champlain College, a bachelor of science in art education from the University of Vermont, and studied commercial and fine art photography at the New England School of Photography.

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Kristen Shull

Biography

Kristen Shull received her MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies, class of 2020. Her comics are featured bi-monthly in the state-wide free newspaper Seven Days. Her self-published books include three volumes of diary comics, three issues of a fantasy comic anthology, and several comic zines. She’s been teaching at Champlain College since Spring 2022.

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Dana Steinhoff

Biography

Dana Steinhoff is Program Director of Game Business and Publishing, and Game Production Management in the Game Studio at Champlain College. She holds an MFA in Emergent Media from Champlain. Her specialization is in teaching interdisciplinary teams to create interactive digital products while learning about leadership, interactive design, team dynamics, and agile project management methodology.

Steinhoff co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Rad Magpie, a Vermont-based non-profit organization that is doing its part to dismantle the patriarchy and white supremacy in video games by radically empowering underrepresented voices through video game development. Previously, she managed the Exquisite Corpse Company, an avant-garde immersive theater company in NYC. She currently consults on app and video game development projects in the Burlington area, including at Champlain’s own Emergent Media Center.

Steinhoff enjoys renovating her Winooski home and acting, most recently with Vermont Stage. You may be able to catch her performing in her cover band Dana and the Dads (limited engagements).

Distinctions & Awards

Academic Innovation Award 2023, Champlain College: For work completed on Re/Imagining Science DEIBJ Committee

Publications & Abstracts

My reflection on the evolution of Rad Magpie, the nonprofit organization I cofounded to support marginalized video game developers.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

—Anaïs Nin

Recommended Reading

Want to get a heads up on how we build games at Champlain? Read Clinton Keith’s: “Agile Game Development: Build, Play, Repeat”

Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion” is a must-read right now to better understand the massive political divide in this country.

Office Hours

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