Mike Adams, Professor, TV-Radio-Film-Theatre Department Chair
M.A., Ohio State University

Mike Adams followed his passion for radio to Ohio University at Athens where he had a hard time attending to his undergraduate degree in the l960s because of his love for broadcasting. But enjoying college radio as an announcer and news reporter paid off because Adams had no trouble finding employment as a "top-40" disc jockey during the "golden age" of rock and roll AM radio, spending 12 years as announcer, production director and Program Director of legendary station WCOL-AM in Columbus, Ohio. Finally becoming bored with commercial radio, Adams returned to college and completed his graduate work in film, with an emphasis on social documentaries, at Ohio State University. Moving to Los Angeles in the 1970's, Adams made documentary films and taught at several universities, among them California State University, Fullerton. Currently, he is professor of radio, television and film and the Chairman of the Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre at San Jose State University. And he is back in college radio, this time as faculty advisor to his department's FM station, KSJS 90.5. Mike Adams has presented papers on broadcast history topics at conferences sponsored by the Broadcast Education Association, BEA, the IEEE, and the Antique Wireless Association, AWA. That organization in 1995 awarded him the prestigious "Houck Award" for historical documentation. Mike is active in the San Francisco Bay Area historical radio community; he is on the Board of the California Historical Radio Society as well as a director of the Perham Foundation Electronics Museum. He has authored numerous articles for historical radio journals and periodicals and two books on radio and television production, and he produced an EMMY-nominated video series for PBS called Radio Collector. He is the producer-writer-director of the PBS documentary: Broadcasting's Forgotten Father: the Charles Herrold Story. His latest book, Charles Herrold: Inventor of Broadcasting, was released in early 2003 by McFarland Publishers.

Buddy Butler, Professor
M.F.A., University of Washington

James K. Culley Jr., Professor
M.F.A., University of Texas at Austin

Jim Culley has a Masters Degree in Technical Theatre from San Jose State and a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Texas at Austin in Theatrical Design. He is the Resident Scenic Designer and the Technical Director for the Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre. Professor Culley teaches courses in theatrical design and scenery construction as well as computer graphics including 3D modeling, web graphics and CAD drafting. This semester Jim is serving on the College RTP Committee and the College Alumni Committee. As resident designer at San Jose State University Professor Culley has designed over thirty main stage productions including All My Sons, Heidi Chronicles, Red Noses, A Piece of My Heart, Into the Woods and Stand Up Tragedy. Culley supervises the Stage Management Fellowship, the training program for stage managers and is the faculty advisor for the student drama club, PAC. Jim designs professionally for the Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose and the California Theatre Center of Sunnyvale. In 2002 he designed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Honk, and Alice in Wonderland for the Children’s Musical Theatre and Arms and the Man, Angel Street, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, and Canterville Ghost for the summer 2002 season of CTC.

Randy Earle, Professor
M.A., Purdue University

Randy Earle has taught at San Jose State University since 1970. Professor Earle teaches stage and studio lighting and supervises lighting and sound design for theatre productions. His past professional credits include lighting design for San Jose Symphony Opera Company, San Jose Dance Theatre, San Jose Civic Light Opera, California Actor’s Theatre, Cameo Productions, and Purdue Professional Theatre Company. Professor Earle is also a partner in Pantechnicon, Inc.where he is Senior Theatre Consultant and Manager of Lighting Projects. Past consultation projects include Montalvo Center for the Arts (Garden Theatre and Carriage House Theatre), Amador Auditorium, The Barn Theatre, The Fox Theatre, Head Royce School Theatre, Harker School / Bucknall Campus Multi-purpose Space, Castilleja School Theatre, Morgan Hill Country School, Fremont Unified School District (five high school theatres) and Santa Clara Unified School District (two high school theatres). Professor Earle’s research interests include lighting systems and luminaires, sound reinforcement, performing arts and stage management, assessibility for the physically challenged, entertainment health and safety, and stage machinery. Professor Earle remains an active member of the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. where he served as President, Vice President for Commissions and Projects, Vice President for Relations and Director. He was elected a Fellow of USITT and is presently the Chair of the Fellows in addition to service on the Endowment Management and Grants and Fellowships committees.

Amy Glazer, Professor
M.F.A. in directing, California Institute of the Arts

Ms. Glazer has an MFA in Directing from California Institute of the Arts and currently heads the performance area and is a Full Professor at SJSU where she teaches acting and directing for stage and camera. Glazer has participated in panels and workshops with Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival, Association of Theatres in Higher Education, and California Educational Theatre Association. Glazer’s Professional credits include world, American and west-coast premieres at The Magic Theatre (where she is an artistic associate) including Rebecca Gilman’s The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Blue Surge and The American in Me, Steven Belber’s Drifting Elegant and Tape, and Barry Gifford’s Wyoming. For Marin Theatre Company she has directed Displaced, Life X 3, My Old Lady, The Music Lesson, Misalliance, Candida, and Indiscretions. For Eureka Theatre, Stonewall Jackson’s House and Trust, and for TheatreWorks, Spinning Into Butter, Pride’s Crossing, An American Daughter, Conversations With My Father, Marvin's Room and Mrs. Klein. Glazer has received numerous Drama-Logue, Dean Goodman, and Bay Area Theatre Critics awards for her direction, and her shows have been chosen as the San Francisco Chronicle’s selection of "Ten Best" for their year in review, she was also a finalist for TCG’s 2003 Alan Schneider Director Award. Glazer has workshopped and directed two world premieres for the Harold Clurman Theatre in New York and the Drama League of New York’s New Directors/New Works Series. She has also directed for Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Center Repertory Theatre, Spreckles Performing Arts Center, San Jose Stage Company, City Lights Theatre Company and Playground Playwrights Festival. Most recently, Glazer directed Wesley Moore's Finder's Fee at the Assembly Theater for the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This season she will direct Sam Shepard’s God Of Hell to open the Magic Theatre’s 40th Anniversary Season , and Frozen at Marin Theatre company in January. For SJSU, Glazer directed a short dramatic film by Barry Gifford, Ball Lightning, shot in HDV which premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, and her feature film, Drifting Elegant, will premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival October 2006. She also directed the short film Missing In Action; The Miyasaki Family, awarded an Annual Golden Eagle Award from the CINE Festival, as well as a JOEY award for Dramatic Short Subject at the Twelfth Annual JOEY Film & Video Festival in San Jose. Additionally, at SJSU she has directed Measure for Measure, The Grapes Of Wrath, Stand-up Tragedy, Prelude To A Kiss, Three Sisters, and Writing Fiction, an American College Theatre Festival Western Region Nominee.

David Kahn, Professor and Graduate Coordinator
Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley
dkahn@email.sjsu.edu

David Kahn received his doctorate from UC Berkeley and taught there and at University of the Pacific before joining the SJSU Theatre Arts faculty in 1985. As a theatre professional he was founding artistic director of Sierra Repertory Theatre, production manager of the Eureka Theatre Co., managing director of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, literary manager of San Jose Rep, consulting director for City Lights Theatre Company of San Jose, and a guest artist with CSU SummerArts, Southern Rep of New Orleans in addition to numerous jobs as a freelance director and dramaturg. He teaches scriptwriting, dramatic literature and theatre history, directing, and graduate seminars at SJSU in addition to his university production work as a director, writer and producer. Kahn has participated in panels and workshops with Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival, Association of Theatres in Higher Education, and California Educational Theatre Association. For many years he served a professional theatres site visitor for the California Arts Council. He is author of Bibliography of Multicultural Theatre Resources (CETA, 1993), numerous articles on new play development, dramaturgy, and computer-based theatre resources, and ScriptWork: A Director's Approach to New Play Development (SIU Press, 1995). At SJSU, Dr. Kahn has directed many world-premiere productions, including his own adaptation War of the Worlds v. 2.0. In 2001, he received the Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival "Excellence in Education" Award. In 2003 he was named as one of seven SJSU Teacher-Scholars.

James LeFever, Director of Technology
B.A., San Francisco State University (Broadcast Communication Arts), Fresno City College (Technical Theatre). CMX Video Editing School

SJSU Theatre Arts Operations Manager and lecturer since 1984. Instructor, West Valley College, active member and Faculty Advisor of SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers) San Francisco section. Recent productions at SJSU: the documentary Broadcasting's Forgotten Father, the sitcom Roomers, and the feature The Blouse from Bangladesh. Independent production supervisor for local commercial and industrial video productions.

Kimberly B. Massey, Professor
Ph.D., University of Utah

Kimb Katz Massey earned her B.S. in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, her M.A. in Broadcast Communication Arts from San Francisco State University and her Ph.D. From the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Prior to her academic career, Dr. Massey was involved in politics working for the Texas House of Representatives. She has professional broadcasting experience—both public and commercial—in sales, programming and audience research in addition to multimedia production, testing and research. Dr. Massey has written numerous communication conference papers and published several communication articles and book chapters. She edited and authored Readings in Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture (Mayfield Publishing, 1999; 2nd ed. 2001), and has co-authored four other books: Introduction to Radio: Production and Programming (William C. Brown Publisher, 1994), Television Criticism: An Introduction to Reading, Writing and Analysis (Kendall-Hunt Publisher, 1994; 2nd ed. 1996), and Introduction to Telecommunications: Converging Technologies (Mayfield Publishing, 2001). Massey is also active in multimedia production by creating podcasts, Web sites, CD, and DVD content.
Dr. Massey is fortunate to have International teaching/research experience. In 1992, 1997 and 2001, she spent time in Bath, England, where she taught media courses to San Jose State students. She also taught multimedia and web design at Bath City College. Finally, while in England, Dr. Massey consulted with Real World Multimedia (Peter Gabriel's brainchild) directing their audience testing and instrumentation for their CD-ROM release entitled Ceremony of Innocence based upon Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine trilogy. In Germany, Dr. Massey was awarded a Distinguished American Lectureship Grant by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. She lectured on topics related to"New Media and Multimedia in the United States" at various institutions across Germany. Dr. Massey's research interests include: mass communication and popular culture, new media technologies: production, performance and effects, broadcast industry performance and practices, assessment of audience interaction with mass media utilizing qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Outside of the academy, Dr. Massey researches and consults on media effects and culture. She periodically takes professional leave from the academy in order to gain “real world” industry experience that she takes back to her students in the classroom.

Alison L. McKee, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., UCLA

Alison McKee earned a B.A. and M.A in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she studied film and literature in the English and Film Studies departments. She went on to get a Ph.D. in film and media studies at UCLA, focusing on film history, narrative, and gender issues in classical American cinema. She has presented and published numerous papers at national and international film and television conferences and been invited to speak in the U.S. and abroad on a range of topics related to film, gender, ethnicity, and politics. McKee is co-editor of a collected edition of articles by established and newer film and media scholars, Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History (forthcoming, Wayne State University Press). She is currently working on a book on narrative films about sensationalized historical events involving murder of and/or by women. The book examines several notorious cases across different historical periods and national contexts, with an eye toward exploring the connections among gender, fiction, history, and cultural politics.
In addition to her academic career, McKee has an ongoing interest in technology and the arts. Prior to her studies at UCLA, McKee worked as a marketing associate for a third-party developer for Apple, Inc., which at the time was one of the only manufacturers of high-quality, low-priced digital scanners for the Macintosh computer. More recently, she was a business analyst and consultant for a web design firm in San Francisco, developing partnerships among prominent Silicon Valley firms, educational institutions, and national and international content providers to develop streaming media applications for the classroom. She credits her interest in technology and education to her early work with Apple products and the influence of one of her former professors at UCLA. As a consultant with IBM, he pioneered early laser disc technologies, partnering them with critical study and commentary in ways that have since become standard for the release of films on DVD.
McKee’s research interests include an interdisciplinary study of the arts and media forms, film and popular culture, film history, classical American cinema, gender, politics, and film theory and philosophy.

Elizabeth Poindexter, Professor
M.F.A., Ohio University

Elizabeth (Betty) Poindexter has taught and designed in the academic world for the past 30 years. Her costume and makeup design credits at San Jose State University number over 100 productions including dance (modern and jazz), video and film, musical theatre, opera, as well as classic theatre repertory.
Betty’s professional costume design resume includes work for American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Opera San Jose, California Shakespeare Festival, Western Stage Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, The Alley Theatre (Houston, TX) and the Jose Limon Dance Company (New York, NY). As a professional makeup artist she is well known in the Bay Area. Betty’s makeup credits include San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera, Pocket Opera of San Francisco, and Opera San Jose. She enjoys a long professional relationship with Kryolan Corporation, USA , San Francisco, CA. Betty illustrated The Kryolan Makeup Manual, a text used in classrooms internationally. She serves as a makeup artist, teacher and consultant for the company. Betty is a member of Local 706, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Betty has been the recipient of numerous design awards - the Dean Goodman and Bay Area Theatre Critics Awards for A Little Night Music and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (AMTSJ); Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Two Gentlemen of Verona (CSF). She has been awarded several American College Theatre Festival awards for excellence in costume design. An active member of the Costume Commission of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology for over 20 years, she has chaired and presented numerous programs at the Institute’s international conferences. Betty is a founding member of the Bay Area Costumer's Alliance.

Babak Sarrafan, Associate Professor
M.A., San Diego State University

As the new Director of TV and Film Production, Mr. Sarrafan and his students have produced Surprize Packidge, a professional music video for Beastie Boys member Mix Master Mike, which has been on MTV, VH1, and European television, the Donna's Skintight, and a new music video for the boy band Townsend. Sarrafan's films have won numerous national and international awards. His independent feature films Sting of Chance and Pizza Wars: The Movie are in limited release and successfully opened in the Bay Area and Los Angeles area theaters and international festivals. As an Academy of Television and Sciences' award recipient he was introduced to the Hollywood scene and has accumulated a wealth of experience and recognition in both film and television production. As a filmmaker/editor/designer/special FX artist, he has worked on episodes such as Law and Order, Fame LA, Magnificent Seven, New York Undercover, Ultra Force, Soldier of Fortune, Pinky & the Brain, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Sailor Moon, and Sea Quest. His credits include specials such as the Oscars, the Emmys, Elizabeth Taylor Tribute, Sea World Special, Disney Special, the Ace Awards, American Film Institute Tribute, American Music Awards, and the Kennedy Center Honors. His editing and special FX can be seen in motion pictures such as Independence Day, Fled, Stargate, 2-Days in the Valley, Meteor-Man, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Swift Justice, Moll Flanders, and Steel and in numerous Movies of the Week, commercials and music videos for Henry Rollins and Michael Jackson. His clients have included: Sony Imageworks, MGM, Tri-Star, Michael Jackson Productions, Earthquake Edit, Red Car, King Cut, NBC, CBS, FOX, FOX Sports, Lynch Entertainment, DIC Ent., Warner Bros., Universal, Dick Clark, Playboy Ent., G-Man Productions, MGM-TV, and 20th Century Fox.

Scott Sublett, Assistant Professor
M.F.A. in Screenwriting, UCLA

Prof. Sublett Scott Sublett teaches screenwriting, playwriting and film history. He holds an M.F.A. in screenwriting from UCLA and a B.S. in radio/TV/film from Northwestern. He is the author of ten screenplays and winner of two screenwriting prizes: the Carl David Memorial Fellowship and the David Gattone Award. He wrote the librettos and lyrics for the musical comedies Die, Die, Diana and Bye-Bye Bin Laden. The former was mounted at the New York International Fringe Festival in a production noted in the New York Times,The New York Daily News and New York Magazine. Bye-Bye Bin Laden was named "one the top five premieres of 2004" by The San Francisco Bay Guardian. The independent feature Pizza Wars: The Movie, which he co-authored, was screened at the Cinequest film festival in 2002 and received national DVD distribution. He is currently working on his first independent feature as writer-director, Generic Thriller. For seven years he wrote for The Washington Times in Washington, D.C., where he served as film critic, book reviewer and entertainment feature writer. His free-lance journalism has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle and United Press International.

Beverly Swanson
M.A., San Jose State University

As an instructor in the performance area, Beverly offers her students not only the benefit of her academic training, but her many years experience as an actress, director, producer, playwright and radio personality. In addition to her Storytelling, Oral Interpretation and Acting classes, Mrs. Swanson co-created and heads-up the department's very popular and innovative Summer Voice Academy. She also created and teaches the very successful RTVF Broadcast Performance class offered each Fall. She is Coordinator of our annual Kaucher/Mitchell Event which honors the arts of oral interpretation and storytelling. Her "signature" on this event has thrown the spotlight back on a time-honored tradition.

Karl Toepfer, Dean, College of Humanities and the Arts
Ph.D., University of California-Los Angeles

Author of The Voice of Rapture (New York, 1991) and Theatre, Aristocracy, Pornocracy (New York, 1991), and scholarly articles on postmodern performance, film history, dance history, and dramatic literature which have appeared in The Journal of the History of Sexuality, The Drama Review, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Scandinavian Studies, Seminar, Performing Arts Journal, Theatre Three, Gender and Performance, and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Research in performance history and semiotics supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Harvard University Theatre Collection, the American Academy in Rome, and the Office of Graduate Studies at San Jose State University. Currently completing the editing of a video pilot for German television on The Expressive Body. This video production dramatizes for television audiences ideas introduced and explained in Dr. Toepfer's most recent scholarly publication, Empire of Ecstasy, University of California Press (1997).

Ethel Walker. Professor
Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia

Ethel Pitts Walker teaches courses in dramatic literature, performance, and teaches classes in the Creative Arts and African American Studies Departments. She is co-owner and Executive Director of the African American Drama Company, a 20 year old professional touring company which specializes in the performance of African American history plays. Walker is editor of New/Lost Plays: An Anthology of Plays By Ed Bullins, co-editor of The African American Sceenbook, Consulting Editor for the May/June 2001 edition of Footsteps Magazine, articles reflecting African American theatre history. She has also directed and acted in more than 25 plays. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, she is a graduate of Lincoln University in Missouri and the University of Colorado. Schools at which she has taught include Southern University, Lincoln University, the University of Illinois-Urbana, Laney College in California, Wayne State University, and the UC-Berkeley. Professional affiliations include past President of the Legislative Action Coalition for Arts Education, Past President of the California Educational Theatre Association, Founding President of the Black Theatre Network, board member for the California Alliance for Arts Education, membership in the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, National Conference on African American Theatre, and past president of the Parent's Advisory Board for the Children's Performance Center in San Francisco. Dr. Walker is a screener for the Rockefeller Fellowships in Black Performing Arts and the Humanities Center at Stanford University. She was inducted into the Educational Theatre of America's Hall of Fame and received the Living Legend Award from the National Black Theatre Festival in 2001. Walker was inducted into the American Theatre College of Fellows at the Kennedy Center in 2002. The article "What Every Student Affairs Professional Should Know, Student Study Activities and Beliefs Associated with Academic Success" (co-written with 1999/2000 Teacher/Scholars) was published in the Journal of College Student Development, March/April 2002. She was" Faculty in Residence for Diversity 2002-2004 for SJSU's Center for Faculty Development & Support and serves on numerous Department, College, and University committees. Dr. Walker is Coordinator for Theatre Arts in the TRFT Department; Mermber of the University's Difficult Dialogue Initiative 2007; Named SJSU Outstanding Professor for 2006-2007.

Yen Lu Wong. Professor

Yen Lu Wong was Artistic Director and principal choreographer of TNR/Moebius, a movement-theatre ensemble creating large-scale original works in architectural and natural settings as well as intimate solos for chamber space and video. A pioneer in the field of movement analysis and studies, she was instrumental in designing the movement curricula for the BFA, MFA degrees in Theatre at UCSD and USC. She was on the faculty at both institutions as well as Visiting Professor at the University of South Florida. She has performed and taught in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, and Canada among other countries. Professor Wong also worked in international business. She served under former Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles, as a member of his Business Team (International Sector). Golden Mountain, the seminal work about the Chinese in America, was premiered at the Salk Institute. At the invitation of the Australia Council, she created a major work, Between Silence & Light, and through it trained young artists to integrate the working of art in the community. Shime, a full-length dance-theatre creation, premiered at the Walker Arts Center, and represented the Asian Pacific Festival in Vancouver, Canada. Her collaborators include Francoise Gilot, Herbert Shore, Joel Spiegelman, and George Hurrel. Credits in choreography and movement for the stage include The Oresteia, The Taming of the Shrew, The Music Man, Ashes Dark, Antigone, Blood Wedding, The Magic Flute and How I Learned to Drive. Professor Wong’s fields of expertise and research are arts pedagogy; cognitive neuromuscular patterning; technology and human movement; the performing arts, film, and paratheatrical traditions of Asia and the Pacific Basin in the context of world culture; cultural identity; and the relationship between tradition and contemporaneous expressions. For her research and creative activities, she was awarded grants from the NEH, NEA, ARCO and Rockefeller Foundations.