Faculty

Adam Abrams, Adjunct Instructor
(BA, Philosophy & History of Mathematics, St. John's College) Adam is a filmmaker, educator, obsolete equipment technician, and former board member of Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Since 2000, he's been curator of Jefferson Presents, a micro-cinema. He explores hand-processing, system films, optical printing, re-photography, contact printing – both hand and machine – and other duplicative filmmaking, camera-less filmmaking, direct animation, projector performance, and chance informed time-based experiments in multi-lateral image and audio synchronizations.

Sue Abramson, Associate Professor of Photography
(BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art) Sue exhibits her work nationally and regionally including exhibitions at the Houston Center for Photography, the Visual Studies Workshop and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Her photographs have been published in Extended Frames, Pittsburgh Revealed: Photographs Since 1850 and in the Pinhole Journal. Her work is in numerous collections including the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Allentown Art Museum and the Polaroid Collection. Examples of Sue's work are online here.

Tanine Allison, Adjunct Instructor
(PhD candidate, University of Pittsburgh) Tanine teaches courses in film history, theory and genre. She specializes in media theory, and the history of cinematic technology.

Karen Antonelli, Adjunct Associate Professor
(MFA, Vermont College; BA, University of Wales Institute, UK) Karen is an artist from Bristol, England, where she exhibited at the Arnolfini Gallery, Watershed Media Centre and Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. After completing an artist residency in Omaha, Nebraska, she moved to Pittsburgh where she teaches photography at Filmmakers and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Locally, her work is on permanent exhibition at the Convention Center, and the Tom Museum on the North Side.

Jack Bailey, Adjunct Instructor
(MA, Allegheny College) Jack has over 30 years experience in sound production, as producer/director, audio engineer, soundtrack designer, and studio manager. He has produced over 20,000 tracks in New York, Nashville, Dallas, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. He has been the director of Audio Services for PMI since 1988. He specializes in directing spoken word recordings, and produces professional voice-over demos.

Tim Benedict, Adjunct Instructor
Tim was the director of audio services at Summit Film Lab. He has extensive experience with fundamental recording technologies, editing and mixing for video, film and multimedia. He is certified in audio technology (Brown Institute) and is immersed in the continuing digital evolution.

Mary Jane Bent, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, Mount Holyoke College) Mary Jane is the manager of photographic services at the University of Pittsburgh and a freelance photographer. She has taught photography at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University and privately. Formerly the Director of Photography at Allegheny General Hospital, her work has been published regionally and nationally. She has received several awards for her work including the Addy, the Matrix and PRSA awards. See maryjanebent.com online.

Mike Bonello, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, Pennsylvania State University) Mike is an independent media artist and musician. His work has been screened locally at the Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and on MTV2 in Europe.

Kamen Bonev, Adjunct Instructor
(MFA, Film and TV, National Academy for Theater and Film Arts of Bulgaria) Kamen is a visual media artist, an independent photographer/cinematographer, and lecturer in forensic photography. He is an underwater visual media specialist for UNESCO research team, and a member of Ensemble Palimpsest group, performing internationally.

Jeffrey Boyd, Adjunct Instructor
(BFA, Carnegie Mellon University) Jeff is an award-winning graphic/industrial designer for Grant Paul Design, Inc. and he was the manager of the corporate design group for PPG Industries. Jeff won the first digital imaging award presented by the Printing Industry of America.

Jim Burke, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, Point Park University) Jim is the former director of Photo Services at the University of Pittsburgh. He has taught photography at Community College of Allegheny County and at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, where he also served as a member of the Board of Directors. His post-undergraduate work at the Rochester Institute of Photography included the study of materials and processes of photography, the history of photography and antique photographic processes.

Frank J. Caloiero, Adjunct Instructor
(BA, Duquesne University) Frank is an editor/cameraman for "On Q," a nightly magazine-style show on WQED-TV. He was the editor for The Big Picture, an IMAX film at the Carnegie Science Center. He has also edited several music videos, commercials and documentaries. His television credits include PBS, VH1, TNN, and the Discovery Channel.

John Cantine, Associate Professor
(MFA, Film Production, Ohio University; BFA, Creative Writing, Carnegie Mellon University) John is a freelance video editor and script consultant, an independent film and video artist. His short films have been screened in several regional and national film festivals. He is co-author of the filmmaking textbook, Shot By Shot: A Practical Guide to Filmmaking. See johncantine.com online or contact John.

David Early, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(MEd, University of Pittsburgh) David has appeared in numerous stage productions in Pittsburgh. His television credits include "The Young and the Restless," "Quincy" and "Tales from the Crypt." He has also appeared in several feature films, including: The Silence of the Lambs, Dawn of the Dead, Passed Away, Monkey Shines and Creepshow. He has worked for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit for more than 15 years offering drama workshops to students in all school districts of Allegheny County.

Tim Fabian, Adjunct Instructor
(AST, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh) Tim is the former owner and president of Pro Photo, Inc. He co-authored and was the photographer for the book The Steps of Pittsburgh, Portrait of a City. He is a former president of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, as well as a former vice president and founding member of the Silver Eye Center for Photography. His work is included in numerous public and private collections, and he exhibits both regionally and nationally. See timfabian.com online.

Bryan Froud, Adjunct Instructor
Bryan assists and coordinates the production of high-end Web Sites, Multimedia Presentations, 2D/3D Animations, Motion Graphics and Match Moving Sequences. His passions are technology, music composition/performance and his family and friends. See his google profile online.

Lorraine Heidekat, Adjunct Associate Professor
(BA, Duquesne University) Lorraine is an Emmy-winning freelance writer/producer whose projects have included a documentary about adopting disabled children and a comedy set in a funeral home. She also writes and produces industrial videotapes, television and radio commercials.

Teresa Heistand, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, Film Studies, University of Pittsburgh) Teresa is an independent digital artist, freelance video producer, editor, screenwriter, 2D and 3D graphics artist. Currently she is the Information Technology Coordinator at Filmmakers.

Susan Howard, Director of Filmmakers at the Center
(BA, Pennsylvania State University) Sue is an editor and sound effects editor for independent and commercial film and television. She has worked on projects as diverse as the cult favorite splatter feature film Street Trash and a media installation, entitled Background, now in the permanent collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art. For its last 12 seasons she was the editor of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" at WQED-TV. She is co-author of the filmmaking text Shot By Shot: A Practical Guide to Filmmaking.

Barry Howell, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(MA, University of Pittsburgh. BA, Temple University.) At Filmmakers, Barry teaches courses on film analysis, film theory, and criticism. He has taught courses at the University of Pittsburgh in film analysis, world film history, television analysis, and film-based composition. His doctoral research examined the historical, theoretical, and creative relationship between film and new media. He has worked as an editorial assistant for an internationally acclaimed syndicated cartoonist. Additionally, Barry is an independent artist and writer who has collaborated with Bewegung Nurr, a multi-media arts group based in Berlin and Dresden, Germany.

William Judson, Adjunct Associate Professor
(MA, Oberlin College) Bill is the former curator of Film and Video at Carnegie Museum of Art and teaches in the Art History Department at the University of Pittsburgh. He held a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to France through Yale University for film research. He has served on many selection panels for state and federal agencies and private foundations, and has lectured and published on a range of art history and media arts topics.

Karen Kaighin, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BFA, Philadelphia College of Art) Karen has been exhibiting locally and nationally since 1991, including exhibitions at the Society of Contemporary Photography in Kansas City and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Solo exhibitions of her work have been presented at Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Gallery in the Square and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Richard Kelly, Adjunct Instructor
Rich is primarily a portrait photographer and photo essayist. His work has been published in numerous magazines including: Pittsburgh, Fortune, Time, Glamour, People and Parenting; and he has exhibited at Concept Art Gallery, Silver Eye Center for Photography, and The Nikon House. He is the former director of photography at WQED Multimedia, and is currently the president of Indigo Factory, Inc. See richardkelly.com online.

Brady Lewis, Full Professor and Director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers School
(BFA New York University) Brady is an independent filmmaker and is Director of Education at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. He wrote and directed the feature-length film, Daddy Cool (2002), which has been showcased in many international film festivals. He has presented his short films, which have received more than thirty film festival awards, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Figueira da Foz International Film Festival in Portugal, and on the Southern Circuit. He has received numerous Mid-Atlantic Fellowships as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. His short films have been purchased for the permanent collections of museums and libraries in Australia, Denmark, and the U.S. He is co-author of the widely-used filmmaking text Shot By Shot: A Practical Guide to Filmmaking.

Zsuzsi Matolcsy, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(MFA, photography, Maine Media College; BA, photography, Point Park University) Zsuzsi is a photographer, educator, and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellow. Her work has been exhibited in a variety of regional, national and international galleries, and is in the permanent collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art and the State Museum of Pennsylvania. She has been published in the European photography journal Fotomuvszet. See zsuzsimatolcsy.com online.

William (Buzz) Miller, Adjunct Instructor
(BA, University of Pittsburgh) Buzz is a freelance videographer, editor, AV systems integrator, installation artist and video designer for live performance. His recent collaborators include Attack Theater and Squonk Opera. He has designed and integrated multimedia into live science demonstrations for the Carnegie Science Center.

Jeff Monahan, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Jeff is a professional actor, screenwriter, producer/director, and president of 72nd St. Films. He has appeared on television in ABC's "Target Earth," NBC's "Deep Attack," and PBS's "The War That Made America;" films include John Sayles's Lone Star and George Romero's Bruiser. Two of his screenplays have been produced as feature films: Hits, with Martin Sheen, and Spree, with Michael Ironside. He's the co-creator, co-producer, co-director, and writer of the DVD series, George A. Romero Presents Deadtime Stories. He's taught screenwriting, acting technique and film production at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University and New York University. His company is developing a number of film and TV projects. See 72ndstfilms.com online.

Nancy Mosser, Adjunct Instructor
(BA, Speech Communications: Broadcasting, Penn State University) Nancy is the owner and casting director of Nancy Mosser Casting in Pittsburgh. She has been casting actors and extras for feature films, television movies and programs, national, regional and local commercials, websites, and corporate communications since 1990.

Dean Mougianis, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, University of Pittsburgh) Dean has been an electronic media professional for over 25 years. During that time he has functioned as scriptwriter, producer, editor, digital animator, compositor and designer. He was at one time station manager of WYEP-FM and a regular contributor of radio theatre productions there. He currently operates a digital video post-production business producing work for clients locally and nationally.

Carol O'Sullivan, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, Film Studies, University of Pittsburgh) Carol teaches American and International Film History at both Pittsburgh Filmmakers and LaRoche College. She was assistant curator of Film and Video at the Carnegie Museum of Art for several years. Currently she is Pittsburgh Filmmakers's media relations coordinator, as well as a freelance writer.

Alison Patterson, Adjunct Instructor
(MA, Cinema Studies, New York University) Alison is a PhD candidate in English (Film) at the University of Pittsburgh. She teaches courses on film history, film theory, literature and film/adaptation and popular culture.

Tom Persinger, Adjunct Instructor
(BGS, Kent State University) Tom is a photographer, writer, curator, and the founder of f295, an international organization that believes in the value of a heterogeneous photographic approach, in which digital, historic, and self-made methods are employed. His photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions and are in many private collections in the US and Europe. He has been published in Photographic Possibilities (3rd Edition), Afterimage, Ag, Black and White Photography (UK), PhotoEd, and View Camera. He has lectured at numerous colleges and universities, and is a member of Freestyle Photographic's Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals.

Mark Perrott, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BFA, Carnegie Mellon University) Mark is a fine art and commercial photographer. His work is in the collections of many museums including the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art. His photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries, including the Carnegie Museum of Art and O.K. Harris in New York. He has published two monographs of his photographs, Eliza and Hope Abandoned. See markperrott.com online.

Thomas Poole, Adjunct Instructor
Tom is the former executive director of Pittsburgh Community Television (PCTV21), a cable access network for alternative media. He is a dedicated teacher, facilitator and mentor and has 20 years of teaching experience directing youth programs. Furthermore, he has been an artist in residence at the Wexner Center on Ohio State University, Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia, and Hallwalls Media Center in Buffalo. His production credits include "Positive: Life with H.I.V." and "Signal to Noise," produced for PBS. He is co-founder of the collective Black Planet Productions. Currently, Tom is providing media consultation and educational services to non-profit organizations and is a producer at the local television station, WBGN, developing several pilot shows.

Mary Rawson, Adjunct Associate Professor
(MFA, Theatre Arts: Acting, Point Park University) Mary is an independent filmmaker, an Emmy award-winner, and a writer/producer of dramas and documentaries shown on PBS and A&E. She is an award-winning actor in film, television, and on the stage. She is also an improv performer, broadcast coach, a member of Pittsburgh Playhouse Repertory Company and a member of AFTRA, EQUITY and SAG. She played Cousin Mary on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" for many years.

Robert Rutkowski, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Robert is a writer, producer, and director. He operates a film and video production company, The Magic Lantern, which specializes in producing audio/visual programs for business and industry. He began his career as a director in the U.S. Army and has produced commercials and industrial films. He was the director of production services at George Romero's Latent Image company where he was responsible for pre and post production of feature films.

Michael Schwab, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(MA, Antioch University, McGregor; BFA, Kansas City Art Institute) Mike is an administrator, producer and animator at Kensington Falls Animation, a Pittsburgh-based animation studio. His studio has won more than a dozen local and regional awards for their animated TV commercials and has had animation presented on MTV Cartoon Sushi, Sundance Film Festival, and Nicktoons Animation Festival. He is an instructor of Hand-Drawn Animation, Acting, Digital Ink & Paint and Production Team in the Media Arts and Animation Department at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Kerry Skarbakka, Adjunct Instructor
(MFA, Photography, Columbia College in Chicago; BA, Studio Art: Sculpture, University of Washington School of Art) Kerry's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Lawrimore Project in Seattle, and Fifty-One Fine Art Photography in Antwerp, Belgium. He has exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art and locally, at the Warhol Museum. His work has also been featured in many publications including Art in America, ArtReview International and the cover of Aperture Magazine (summer 2005 edition). Additionally, he has appeared on live interviews with Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today Show" and on "Today on Sunday" from Australia. See skarbakka.com online.

Brian Staszel, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BFA, New York University) Brian is an award-winning filmmaker and multimedia designer for Carnegie Mellon University. His work has been featured in shows presented by The New York Festivals, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and the BBC. In addition some of his video is currently featured throughout the Discovery Channel's program "Robocars." See brianstaszel.com online.

Kaoru Tohara, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(MFA, Indiana University) Kaoru is a fine art photographer and 3D artist who exhibits and lectures regionally, nationally and internationally. His work was included in the 1996 Biennial at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Digital Image Biennial Exhibition at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery in North Carolina, where he won the Qualex Corporation Award. He is also the exhibition coordinator at Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh.

Dylan Vitone, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BA, St. Edward's University; MFA, Massachusetts College of Art) Dylan is primarily a documentary photographer. He was named the 2009 Emerging Artist at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. His photographs have been exhibited widely and collected by many major museums including; The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, George Eastman House, Portland Art Museum, Harry Ransom Center, Polaroid Collection, Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is Assistant Professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. See dylanvitone.com online.

Ralph Vituccio, Adjunct Associate Professor
(BS, University of Pittsburgh) Ralph is an independent film and video writer, producer and director. He is the Director of Media Development in Communications Design and a Professor in the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. As an independent film and video maker, he has received numerous grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Region Media Arts Fellowship Program and the National Endowment for the Arts. His documentary, Performance: The Living Art, won a 1990 Artist Distinction Award at the 40th annual Berlin International Film Festival.

Bill Wade, Adjunct Assistant Professor
(BFA, Ohio University) Bill is a photojournalist, writer, educator, curator and fine art photographer. He is an award winning staff photographer and photo editor at the daily Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, having been nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize in Photography and three times named Pennsylvania Press Photographer Association's Photographer of the Year. He has exhibited and published internationally, has received a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Visual Arts fellowship, and a Golden Light award from the Maine Photographic Workshops for "Television in Our Culture."

Will Zavala, Assistant Professor
(MA, Stanford University) Will is a freelance media producer specializing in documentaries. He works with business and institutional clients, and has credits on productions for ITVS, PBS, MTV, and HBO. His films and videos have screened in festivals internationally and on public television. He also runs the monthly open screening, Doc Salon.

Nancy Zielinski, Adjunct Instructor
(MA, University of Pittsburgh) Nancy has taught the history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh and has exhibited and reviewed literature on digital imagery. She earned a graduate Certificate in Multimedia from Duquesne University, where her thesis work focused on the role of James A.M. Whistler and the defining of styles of photography in Alfred Steiglitz's publication Camera Work (1903-1917). She interned with The New Media Group.

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