FEATURED AUTHOR

Cheryl Briggs

Professor
University of Central Florida

Professor and award winning animated short film director, I advise and guide aspiring animators, game artists, and visual effects artists. In Spring 2019, I joined the art faculty at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Since 2009, I have been teaching all aspects of animation production at the undergraduate and graduate levels at UCF. I also taught as Professor of Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design from 2001 to 2009.

Subjects: Animation, Computer Game Development

Biography

Currently part of the art faculty at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, I teach animation and level design at the world's best graduate gaming program. I am a founding faculty and was Program Director for the MFA in Emerging Media – Animation and Visual Effects track (2016-2021) and Area Coordinator of the BFA in Emerging Media – Character Animation track at the University of Central Florida (UCF) (2014-2021). For over 20 years, I have taught a wide variety of courses covering the animation production pipeline at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Since my arrival at UCF in 2009, I expanded awareness of the UCF Character Animation track through film festival entries which resulted in the student films being screened at hundreds of festivals, winning many awards. My leadership history, coupled with expertise in both digital and fine arts, has provided opportunities for cultivating and forming collaborations on various projects among industry partners, alumni, colleagues, and students. When it comes to technologies and emerging trends, I am Motion Capture Engineer for the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and have several Mocap, VR and AR projects in various stages of completion all while collaborating with industry professionals, science, performing arts, and game faculty, as well as undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, I am an Autodesk Certified Instructor and Professional in Maya.

Over the past 6 years, I was awarded over $1 million in internal technology grants to improve the BFA and MFA animation programs, served on various successful hiring committees within animation, digital media, as well as interactive and game design. During this time, I have produced several fruitful strategies for MFA and BFA student recruitment, quadrupling our applicant pools. A recent move of our entire program (3 computer labs, a 2D animation lab, a multipurpose classroom, breakroom, and 4 faculty offices, from Downtown Orlando to Research Park) was successful due to my coordination, organizational skill, and significant leadership. I have sought out and encouraged opportunities for professional development for my colleagues and staff at both internal and external conferences such as the UCF Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, SIGGRAPH, and the Society for Animation Studies. I am an active member of ACM SIGGRAPH, Women in Animation (WIA), the Animation Hall of Fame, and an ANNIE award voting member of ASIFA- Hollywood, serving on the jury for the student Annie nominations. We celebrate the cultural diverseness and individual differences of our students and faculty through our mentoring program, creative work, and semester events. You can find my portfolio of professional work and student work on my website www.cherylcreates.com

Education

MFA, SCAD, Savannah, GA USA, 2001

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

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