Our notion as a faculty is that our new curriculum is all about delivery, with especial consideration for finishing and distribution - and not necessarily the production process or the method of delivery, because we feel it necessary to suggest that this medium changes almost every day - and our collective understanding of the purposes of this new curriculum will reflect our understanding.

Therefore, we are not necessarily requesting that students commit to declaring a specific track  (and/or any finite granulation of this medium...) We otherwise note that the term "Animation" usually carries an unexpected connotation for most audience and social expectations, and we insist that what we are contributing as a department represents a newer hybrid model of Animation Education. In other words, a more perfect synthesis of the various "Animation" genres with regard to production process and final distribution methodologies. While it is still true that one student may specialize in an arena of animation education - we find that it behooves most students to follow a “cross-disciplinary” application and practice to achieve their career goals.

For example, a student wishing for a career as a videogames animator would need to take courses in both the 3D and Interactive tracks.  A student aspiring to be a director at Pixar or similar feature studio would need to take courses in both the Traditional track (with its emphases on staging, layout and storyboarding, among others) and the 3D track.  Or, for a student interested in a career in internet cartoons, courses in Interactive and Traditional would be recommended.

Even while we are not asking students to pick tracks, we are seeking to expand the interdisciplinary motifs, because we feel that a combination of all of the various genres and methods will result in a higher appreciation for the medium. Our primary thought is that it's all about story-telling first and then about how we will instruct and present the animation technology of yesteryear and especially tomorrow.

We propose that this degree represents a solid cross-disciplinary Pre-Professional Degree in Animation Studies. Accordingly, we choose to stress a solid lower division knowledge base across the salient animation disciplines taught in any given animation curriculum. Moreover we also choose to stress a higher dimension of flexibility in upper division courses - without regard to specific track or emphasis - to allow any student the freedom to determine their own course and career destination within the protocols of a classical Ignation education.

Animation Department Outcomes

• To promote the unique personal artistic vision of each of our students in addition to supporting the collaborative filmmaking process.

• To foster a higher order of industry connectivity.

• To develop humanistic animation storytellers, grounded in the pillars of innovation, diversity and social justice.

• To prepare students for the ever evolving world of technological change that they will experience.

• To prepare the students for active creative leadership roles in the new emerging industries – whether it will be in the studio system or as independent artists.

• To prepare students for the challenging advent of life-time learning.

The entire point being is that our new curriculum is integral and by definition -  interdisciplinary. We consider these to be hall marks of Animation Education in the 21st century. The reality of modern animation is that the final product can represent a myriad of delivery platforms, but the core will be based on a classical approach to the fundamental aspects of the teaching of animation production.