President’s Blog

Left to right: Tracy Trotter, Ernest H. Brooks II, Dr. Roger Andersen, David Litschel. Photo Credit: Justin Miller

Ernest H. Brooks II was the featured speaker at the April 26 commencement ceremony and what a special experience it was for the 33 graduates as well as their family and friends! Mr. Brooks shared with everyone a special video featuring some of his internationally acclaimed underwater photography. He received two standing ovations from the enthusiastic audience. His photographic legacy is the evidence that has illustrated the dramatic changes in our oceans. He remains an influential voice for oceanic exploration and the preservation of our marine environment. “Ernie Brooks Jr.” (as he was commonly known) served as President of Brooks Institute of Photography in 1990 with the passing of his father, the school’s founding president. He served as leader of the school until 1999. I presented Mr. Brooks with the Exceptional Distinction Award at the graduation ceremony in recognition of his major contributions to the profession of photography. The almost 12,000 “Brookies” (alumni) located throughout the world owe at least some of their success to his true passion – both for photography and for what has become an internationally renowned school that is now 63 years old and officially called Brooks Institute.

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Brooks Institute has a coed softball team called “The Brooks Zone Masters.” The Brooks Zone Masters are managed by faculty member Chris Broughton. Chris has a history with the team. He has played on the Brooks team for over 20 years and has been managing it for the past 10. The team is currently composed mostly of students with Chris Broughton and Dean DePhillipo being the only faculty members, but in the past, faculty members Paul Liebhardt, Russ McConnell, and even VP of Academic Affairs, David Litschel played for Brooks. The Brooks Zone Masters typically play at Dwight Murphy Park in Santa Barbara and just won there first game of the season last night. Congratulations Brooks Zone Masters!

Team photo from last season. Photo Credit: Chris Broughton

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Many students have asked this question to me as well as faculty and staff at Brooks Institute: Why do they have to take general education and business courses as part of my Bachelor of Arts degree program? Another frequently asked question: How do GE and business courses help me to become an outstanding photographer, graphic designer, film maker or visual journalist?

Brooks Institute regards general education as an essential, integral part of each of our four undergraduate programs of study. The mission of general education is to expose students to a broadly integrated curriculum focusing on the liberal arts. The GE curriculum encourages and cultivates critical thinking, independent reasoning and ethical responsibility. We strongly believe that, through this comprehensive course of study, successful graduates will attain skills necessary to pursue their career and engage in lifelong learning.

At Brooks Institute, we want to graduate a student who not only has a broad and comprehensive knowledge of all areas of his/her “core” program, we want our students to be able to have strong oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills, be able to analyze problems, master the foundations of information literacy, appreciate diversity and understand the influences of culture, identify and integrate quantitative information into contemporary issues, and practice professionalism based on the standards, competencies, and ethics of the profession.

All of our general education and business instructors have masters degrees in their professional fields. Some have doctorates. All are committed to our general education mission. Most important, all of our instructors are committed to assisting our students become a more “complete” and “balanced” person who not only has a strong mastery of his/her core area but the liberal arts as well.

I am convinced that a major reason the almost 12,000 “Brookies” (alumni) located throughout the world are so accomplished and successful in their career fields is the strong general education foundation they acquired at Brooks – and which supplements and complements their core instruction.

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Photo Credit: Yuhsun Edward Shih

Dr. Wu Guoliang, President of Ningbo Dahongying University located in Ningbo in Zhejiang Province of China, visited with Brooks Institute President Roger Andersen and Vice President of Academic Affairs David Litschel on Thursday, April 9 to explore different educational partnerships between our two schools.
Dr. Guoliang’s visit was arranged and hosted by Dr. Yuhsun Edward Shih, a faculty member from Colorado Technical University Online (not pictured.)

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Visual Journalism faculty member Paul Myers and the 20 students from the Visual Journalism, Professional Photography, and Film & Video Production programs at Brooks Institute premiered their documentary, Svara: A Brooks Institute Documentary of South India last Thursday evening at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. An extraordinary print exhibit followed at Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27. This premiere was followed by the truly amazing Saturday evening event at the Ventura Campus, in which the students created a festive, South Indian atmosphere across the campus with decorations, food, music, and multimedia exhibit stations throughout.

Student documentarians dressed in South Indian style for the occasion

People arrived early to view the print exhibit

In case you missed both of these events, you have one last opportunity to attend a documentary screening: this Thursday, April 9 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Brooks Institute Visions Gallery at the Marriott Ventura Beach hotel.

The print exhibit will be at Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27 from April 2-24, 2009 & May 4-29, 2009. The print exhibit at the Marriott Ventura Beach will run from April 9 – June 20, 2009.

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For more information visit http://documentary.brooks.edu/india

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