Office and People Directory

Alexander Adrian

Biography

Alexander really likes being outdoors and especially being outdoors with a camera in hand. He’s passionate about creating and telling stories and loves to experiment with new ways of doing that.

Over the last decade Alexnder has worked through all areas of creative and production – from directing award winning films and brand campaigns to television shows and live events. Through all that time he still find nothing better than the process of taking something from an idea on paper to a tangible story or piece of content for the world to see.

Alexander is as comfortable out on a mountain ridge as he is on film set and loves developing and working on great creative.

Distinctions & Awards

Distinctions & Awards

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Patricia Aldredge

Biography

Dr. Patti Aldredge came to Champlain College in the fall of 2015 from Virginia Commonwealth University where she served as Associate Professor and Director of Field Education. Prior to that she served as Clinical Associate Professor and Deputy Director of Field Learning and Community Partnership at the NYU Silver School of Social Work in New York City and as full-time faculty and Associate Director of Field Education at The University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She entered academia with a 20-year medical social work career, including appointments at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR), and The Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX. Additionally, her practice includes oncology and end-of-life, traumatic brain injury, youth-at-risk, addictions, and protective services. She provided individual, family, and group counseling to youth in the Juvenile Justice system, and co-founded an urban theater group for youth.

Distinctions & Awards

2021 Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship
2020 Lavender Faculty Award
2013 CSWE Leadership Scholar
2012 Marilyn Mieszkuc Professor in Women’s Studies

Publications & Abstracts

PUBLICATIONS & ABSTRACTS

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• Council on Social Work Education
• BPD Undergraduate Social Work Education Association
• Consulting Editor, Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work
• National Association of Social Workers
• American Mensa
• Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) – Vermont

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“Knowledge rooted in experience shapes what we value and as a consequence how we know what we know as well as how we use what we know.”

—Bell Hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom

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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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Kel Bachus

Biography

Kel is an author and veteran of the video game industry; they’ve worked on everything from titles like Elder Scrolls Online, to mobile games to the last game ever made for the Atari Jaguar. Working in game development as both a designer and writer while publishing in genre fiction led to teaching with a very story-forward focus. In 2022, Kel created Champlain’s Interactive Narrative major to meet the increasing need for narrative specialists in the current market.

Champlain provided the perfect opportunity to create not only cutting edge curriculum for story creators, but to work on issues of equity and justice in this sometimes problematic field. Kel’s interest is in radically inclusive spaces and decolonized processes; they work with students on a range of projects in their own studios, often with a justice focus.

Kel founded Rad Magpie, a Vermont nonprofit supporting underrepresented developers, and runs a summer studio for students working on independent projects and starting their own companies.

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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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John Boyd

Biography

Boyd started teaching at Champlain College in the fall of 2012. He teaches multiple topics within the Game Design curriculum including game design, system design, and level design.

As a game designer, he helped develop eight titles on a variety of development platforms including PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Notable titles include: Rage (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Xbox 360, PS3), Kinect Star Wars (Xbox 360), Medal of Honor: Airborne (Xbox 360), Luxor3 (PC), and Sin Episodes: Emergence (PC).

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Mallory Breiner

Biography

Mallory Breiner makes painting, sculpture and installation that collage visual language from art history, film, found internet images and personal photographs to investigate ideas about gender, motherhood, labor, emotions and art-making. She received her MFA from Hunter College (New York, NY) in combined media in 2014 and her BA in Fine Arts and English Literature from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont in 2007. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of Art at Champlain College and Saint Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont.

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Amanda Crispel

Biography

Amanda is a Professor of Game Design, and the former Acting Dean of the Division of Communication and Creative Media, the former Chair of the Game Studio. She has been a faculty member of Champlain College since 2005, and has an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art focused on games as a persuasive communication medium.

Amanda Crispel is a veteran of the game industry. She has worked for companies such as Brøderbund Software, Mattel, Lego, Leapfrog, The Learning Company and Nickelodeon, and she specializes in serious games and interactive media intended to have a positive impact on the player.She has also worked on several research grants creating serious games. Some topics include the prevention of sexual harassment and violence in high school and college environments, and nutritional education for K-12 students.

What are your hobbies?

Dragonboat Paddling, Woodworking, Skiing

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Being on Lake Champlain, or enjoying a beautiful evening at a lake shore eatery.

Professional/ Scholastic Affiliations

https://www.igdafoundation.org/

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Christopher DeGuise

Biography

Christopher DeGuise is a professor at Champlain College and the founder and game developer at Instance Entertainment. DeGuise is an entrepreneur and a technologist with more than 20 years of experience working as an IT professional. DeGuise has an equal interest in the technology and business sides of his field, and believes technology has the ability to automate and simplify our lives.

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Matthew Dismuke

Biography

Dismuke works in the game industry and taught an Advanced Seminar class.

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Christopher Dreisbach

Biography

Christopher Dreisbach is an award-winning filmmaker, musician, and fine artist with over a decade of professional experience.

American Film Institute Conservatory, Master of Fine Arts (specializing in Directing)
Hampshire College, Bachelor of Arts

Distinctions & Awards

Alfred P. Sloan Science & Film Award

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Film: Housekeeping (1987), Directed by Bill Forsyth
• Music: Talk Talk – Laughing Stock (1991)
• Book: The Visiting Privilege by Joy Williams

Favorite Quote

“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.”

—Robert Bresson

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Ryan Dunleavy

Biography

Ryan is a freelance artist specializing in motion graphics, animation, editing, and video production. He has 18 years of experience including 11 at a creative agency in Seattle, WA. After leaving his job there, he traveled around the world and eventually ended up in Colchester, VT, where he has 2 dogs, 3 goats, and 8 chickens.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Watch all movies by Edgar Wright
• Read the Dune Series (and new movie)
• Watch the Arcane animated series

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“Self realization. I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said, ‘I drank what?'”

—Val Kilmer, Real Genius (1985)

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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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Sinyoung Evans

Biography

Sinyoung Ra Evans is a born-in-Japan, Korean-American instructor. She started her career teaching English in Japan, and currently teaches Japanese in a high school, in an online program, and at Champlain College.

From the beginning, her teaching philosophy has remained the same: teacher as a learner, teacher as an entertainer! In other words, she tries not to forget to see the lesson plans, materials, and activities from the learner’s point of view. She says, “Probably I am lucky to be a non-native speaker of English who needs to keep monitoring English language use consciously and subconsciously in my daily life.” She tries to find something interesting “such as songs, games, films, products, and such” so that students can connect their target language to the real world naturally. As she travels nationally and internationally, as she teaches in the classrooms, as she guides and translates for exchange programs in Japan and in the U.S., she truly believes connecting knowledge to actual successful communication brings genuine smiles to the students and contributes significantly to their achievement of the learning.

Sinyoung Ra Evans has an MA in TESOL from Saint Michael’s College and a Vermont State K-12 educator’s license for ESL and Japanese.

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Samara Fantie

Biography

Samara Fantie is a game developer and artist currently based in Vermont. Her robust background in the sciences includes an MA from American University in Mathematics and a BA with distinction from Amherst College in Psychology and Mathematics.

Leveraging a lifelong love of art, games, and interactive narratives, Samara has accumulated over a decade of experience helping people tell their stories. Her portfolio spans a wide array of projects including visual development, comics, 3D modeling, illustration, and many other flavors of game-related art and design. She has collaborated with a diverse range of clients including neuroscientists, indie developers, and Unity, showcasing her versatility and expertise in both technical and artistic domains. Her passion for the craft and innovative adaptability have enabled her to consistently deliver compelling creative solutions that resonate with audiences.

As co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of game studio Glossbird, Samara brings a unique blend of analytical rigor and creative vision to the gaming industry. Prior to teaching at Champlain College, she taught graduate-level courses at American University’s Game Lab for their Master of Arts in Game Design program.

Distinctions & Awards

• a16z TxO f’23 Accelerator Cohort
• PocketGamer- Most Innovative Mobile Game of the Year Finalist
• SmithMicro- The Avatar Challenge Design Contest

Publications & Abstracts

A Burlington Game Developer Hopes to Hit It Big With ‘Fitment’

Professional/ Scholastic Affiliations

Recommended Reading

Mrs. Davis

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