EDITOR'S NOTE: For this month's Ka'ana Mana'o, John McKee, vice chancellor for academic affairs, has been asked to share some of the highlights of this year's summer program offerings at UH-Maui College. Classes start May 22.
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One of the reasons college and high school students from Maui County, Hawaii, the Mainland and abroad are registering for class this summer at UH-Maui College is to get their college degree faster. And this summer's 2012 class schedule includes new instructors teaching exciting new classes.
One of those new instructors, Jess Cole, is a Hawaii born-and-raised filmmaker who has traveled widely and was a member of the production team on "Lost," "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement." In addition to working on a variety of feature films, Cole has produced and directed several short films on 16 mm and 35 mm film. She holds a Master of Arts from the London Film School and a Master of Fine Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. Cole will be teaching two new digital filmmaking classes at UH-Maui College.
"Transmedia Storytelling: Make your own YouTube movie," brings audiovisual storytelling to life. Through journaling exercises, basic design and improvisation, students will learn the techniques and art of storytelling. The final project will be a short audiovisual production edited by each student and a student collaborator. Potential projects include a music video, visual experimental art, documentary subjects, commercials, cooking demos or fiction films.
Cole's second class, "Short Film and Video Production," starts with the basic foundations of screenwriting and an example of viral short film work, and then investigates themes and short film subjects. Examples of topics covered in class will include budgeting, scheduling, projection requirements and casting. Students will create screenplays to be used for class projects and by the end of the course students will have completed their own short film.
Another new instructor, Denny Tillman, is teaching digital photography. Denny has been taking pictures for more than 40 years, beginning his career in advertising in New York City and fulfilling assignments for many of the Fortune 500's outstanding companies. Not only has he had a long and varied career as a professional photographer, but he's been teaching courses at the School of Visual Arts, New York University and currently as an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City.
Tillman's class, "Elements of Digital Photography," will lead students through the fundamental technical aspects of the digital camera in terms of exposure, metering, lighting and composition. Students also will discover the basic specialty areas of photography: portraits, still life, the environment, objects in motion and nature. In the end, each student will know how to go beyond taking a good picture to creating an image that is fully realized, even extraordinary.
The Summer 2012 schedule also offers a range of subjects such as archaeology field techniques, Hawaiian ethnobotany, food science and human nutrition, as well as business, science and social science classes.
Summer UH-Maui College classes are more affordable with tuition dropping $69 to $248 per-credit-hour for Hawaii resident undergraduates. The summer nonresident tuition rate is $350 per-credit-hour. And perhaps the best deal of all is tuition for our College Readiness courses in English and math, (or classes under 100 level), which are being offered at a lower summer rate of $88 per-credit-hour for residents.
Local residents also may take advantage of EdVenture classes offered in a work-related field or a specific interest or hobby. And even more classes are available online, or through the UH Center, which connects Maui residents to classes offered by UH-Hilo, UH-Manoa and UH-West Oahu.
Classes are filling up quickly, so we recommend that anyone interested register soon. For more info, visit www.maui.hawaii.edu.
* Clyde Sakamoto is chancellor of the University of Hawaii Maui College. Ka'ana Mana'o, which means "sharing thoughts," is scheduled to appear on the fourth Sunday of each month. It is prepared with assistance from UH-Maui College staff and is intended to provide the community of Maui County information about opportunities available through the college at its Kahului campus and its education centers.
