USC John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts


		Eric Hanson Visiting Associate Professor Eric Hanson is a visual effects designer specializing in the creation of digital environments and effects for feature films. Having worked with leading visual effects houses... more about

		Everett Lewis Visiting Associate Professor Everett Lewis is an award-winning independent filmmaker whose graphic, experimental, and narrative films have been screened nationally and internationally at Sundance... more about

		Christine Panushka Professor Christine Panushka is an internationally known award wining artist, filmmaker/animator and educator. Her films have been screened in Japan, Italy, France, Germany... more about

		Kathy Smith Chair and Associate Professor Kathy Smith is Chair and Associate Professor at the Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California... more about

		Sheila Sofian Associate Professor Sheila M. Sofian's independent films are a hybrid of documentary and animation. She recently received a grant from the National Video Resources Program for Media Artists, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship... more about

		Richard Weinberg Research Associate Professor Richard Weinberg, Ph.D., is the Director and Founder of the USC Computer Animation Laboratory, which he established in 1985. He also serves as the Chief Technology Officer of... more about


		Raquel Anderson Administrative Assistant Raquel Anderson, B.A. was born in Brazil and also holds a Portuguese nationality. She earned a Bachelor Degree in Languages and Modern Literatures... more about

		Mar Elepaño Production Supervisor Mar Elepaño was born in the Philippines in 1954. He left for Los Angeles to study film in 1975 at the University of Southern California. He finished his degree in Film... more about

		Eric Furie Network and Systems Administrator Eric has been a part of the USC DADA staff since 1996, working as a systems and network administrator. After receiving his B.S.E. in computer science from Princeton ... more about

		Brad Kean Network and Systems Support Brad Kean moved to Los Angeles after earning his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan. As a graduate of USC... more about

		Daphne Sigismondi Program Coordinator Daphne has been working for the School of Cinematic Arts since 2001 in the Associate Dean’s office, as the Academic Scheduling and Events Coordinator... more about


		Trixy Sweetvittles Instructor of Cinema Practice Trixy Sweetvittles received an MFA in experimental animation from California Institute of the Arts in 1996. For the past four years, she’s served as Animation Dept Chair... more about


		Larissa Bank Adjunct Faculty Larissa Bank received an MFA in Studio Art from California Institute of the Arts in 1998 and an MFA in Painting from the University of Maryland in 1996... more about

		Cornelius Cole Adjunct Faculty Cornelius Cole III, is an animation filmmaker, graphic artist, painter, sculptor, designer, and poet who has worked in the animation industry for the past forty years... more about

		Paul Demeyer Adjunct Faculty Paul Demeyer was born in Bruges, Belgium. He studied animation at the Royal Academy in Ghent and got his Master Degree at the California Institute of the Arts in... more about

		Dariush Derakhshani Adjunct Faculty Dariush Derakhshani is a Creative Director and CG Supervisor with Radium in Santa Monica and an award-winning CG animator and author of several Maya... more about

		Maureen Furniss Adjunct Faculty Maureen Furniss, Ph.D., is founding editor of Animation Journal, the first peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to animation history, theory, and criticism... more about

		Joseph Janeti Adjunct Faculty He discovered Cirque du Soleil and executive produced their first tour ever out of Canada; he has written and produced specials for PBS, medical documentaries and... more about

		ThomasKang Adjunct Faculty Thomas Kang is a senior consultant at Softimage Special Projects and the chief architect of Softimage\|Face Robot. His responsibilities range from biomechanical research ... more about

		Lisa Mann Adjunct Faculty Lisa Mann is an independent filmmaker and visual artist. Since the early '80s, she has created and exhibited installations, performance artworks, photo-based... more about

		Maksymilian Naporowski Adjunct Faculty Born in Kielce, Poland in 1972, Maks studied art, philosophy, and psychology at McMaster University in Canada. In 1996, he graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy... more about

		Michael Patterson Adjunct Faculty Mike Patterson is an experimental film artist and a commercial film director specializing in TV spots and music videos. After graduate studies with Jules Engel... more about

		Candace Reckinger Adjunct Faculty A film artist and director, Candace Reckinger has worked in both the commercial and independent realms blending live action with experimental techniques to produce short films, music videos and commercials... more about

		Daniel Robichaud Adjunct Faculty Daniel Robichaud started his career in 1984 at the Computer Graphics Department of the CBC, after graduating from the University of Quebec with a B. A. in graphic design. more about

		Janusz Sikora Adjunct Faculty Award-winning cinematographer has been intermittently teaching cinematography at USC, UCLA, Rockport-Maine, NYFA, Columbia College. He travels the country... more about

		Tom Sito Adjunct Faculty Tom Sito's screen credits include the Disney classics THE LITTLE MERMAID 1989, BEAUTY & THE BEAST 1991, ALADDIN 1992, THE LION KING 1994, WHO FRAMED ROGER... more about

		Marcel Valcarce Adjunct Faculty Marcel Valcarce received an MFA in Digital Art and Animation from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1997. His Animated film Silence played at the New York... more about

		Willl Weston Adjunct Faculty Mr. Weston has taught college-level courses for 20 years in commercial and fine art departments, while also working as an illustrator, and in Feature and Television animation... more about