Radio-Telvision-Film,
University of Texas
It’d be silly to make a website about the work I’ve been lucky to have been involved in without talking about the Department of Radio-Television-Film, RTF, at the University of Texas at Austin. In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that I was hired in 1996 with no film school teaching experience, especially with the charge of remaking UT’s program. But with the help of so many people, we’ve made RTF most affordable top film school in the country, with close to a thousand undergraduate majors every year, over a third of whom are Mexican-American, and a few hundred graduate students in production, screenwriting and media studies, many from around the world. It’s truly been an inspiration working here. 
None of things done here at RTF, in almost three decades, would have been possible without all of my fellow teachers, filmmakers and media scholars, that have made RTF the special place it is. Those I knew best, again in no particular order: Tom Schatz, Andrew Shea, Cindy McCreery, Caroline Frick, Richard Lewis, Mitko Panov, Charles Ramirez Berg, Andrew Garrison, Ya’Ke Smith, Anne Lewis, Don Howard, PJ Raval, Horace Newcomb, Karen Kocher, Ben Bays, Alex Smith, Karin Wilkins, Janet Staiger, Nikhil Sinha, Wenhong Chen, Alisa Perren, Kathy Fuller Seeley, Mary Beltran, Cauleen Smith, Ellen Spiro, Ramona Diaz, John Pierson, Mary Kearney, Craig Watkins, Matthew McConaughey, Micah Barber, Nancy Schiesari, Samantha Krukowski.
Remembering all of the students who’ve gone through or assisted in my documentary classes, it’s amazing the careers they’ve made or are on their way to making. I take no credit in this, it was just fun to have them as my students. In no particular order, some of those graduate students: Annie Silverstein, Heather Courtney, Miguel Alvarez, Naiti Gamez, PJ Raval, Ivete Guerra Lucas, Scott Rice, Ben Steinbauer, Berndt Mader, David Modigliani, Maru Buendia-Senties, Katja Straub, David Hartstein, Huey Bing Law, Shelby Hadden, Tim Tsai, Madli Laane, Geoff Marslett, John Fiege, Ruth Fertig, Amy Bench, Jeanne Stern, Juan Pablo Gonzalez, TJ Martinez, Matt Koshmrl, Kyle Henry, Siobhan Walshe, Diane Zander-Mason, Joel Fendelman, Keith Wilson, Shara Lange, Cristoforo Magliozzi, Taniel Kilajian, Atli Sigurjonsson, Helle Slejborg, Monique Walton, Neil Kammerman, Marianela Vega, John Moore, Rachel Bardin, Nazanin Sabet-Shirazi, Sachin Dheeraj, Dana Reilly, Arturo Jimenez, Laura Dunn, Javier Bonafont, Rogelio Salinas, Rhitu Basu, Ted Gesing, Lisa Kaselak, Marcel Rodriguez, Leah Griffin, Soham Mehta, Pavvo Hanninen, Rose Bush, Ed Hancox, Vanessa Uhlig, JD Ho. There many others, plus the even more undergrads, like Megan Field, Grace Stanley, Maria Luisa Santos, Carlo Nasisse, Ashley Chiles, Joshua Riehl, Laura Jones, Lily Wickstrom, Meredith Barad, Lauren Banta, Jeremy Liebman, Keeley Steenson, Luciana Tanure, Sarah Guzick, Charlie Hyman, Cazden Morrison, Parker Howard and many, many others.
There were the Deans who supported us. Ellen Wartella, who recruited me, and Rod Hart, who I worked with closely for many years. Other chairs, especially Tom Schatz, who co-wrote the plan for remaking things back in 1997, along with JD Downing, Noah Isenberg, and Sharon Strover. Maybe most importantly, the staff who made all things possible, especially Susan Dirks, Michelle Monk, Elana Wakeman, Gloria Holder, Keefe Boerner, Suzanne Kraft, Jeremy Gruy, Vince Hostak, Bert Herigstad, Rachel Walker, Lee Sparks, Wendy Stuessy, Mike Dow. There’s the people I’ve worked closely with in making films in Austin, many with RTF connections. Sandra Guardado, Deb Lewis, Diane Zander-Mason, Megan Field, Miguel Alvarez, Karen Skloss, Heather Courtney, Margaret Brown, Karen Bernstein, Dawn Johnson, Andy Garrison, Louis Black, and others. Mary Beth Rogers and Bill Stotesbery and KLRU. Rebecca Campbell and the friends at the Austin Film Society. The folks at SXSW. And finally, the filmmaking community in Austin that make it such a great place to call home.
