The annual Alumni Recognition Reception recently took place in the Steve and Nini Horn Center, with nine projects chosen from more than 70 applicants for funding by the Alumni Grants Committee. More than $35,000 will be given back to the campus, with this year's recipients being:

• Beach Pride Center – for a non-inflatable Prospector Pete mascot
• Film and Electronic Arts – to update and expand film and electronic arts library holdings
• Department of Geological Sciences – for aerial photography of Southern California's coast and mountains
• Kinesiology and Physical Education – for a multimedia cart
• Library – for the completion of database-driven online tutorial
• Marine Lab – to enhance marine lab outdoor holding facilities and support field research
• Department of Physics and Astronomy – for astronomical telescopes
• Senior University – to replace outdated desks with easily movable folding tables and chairs
• Teacher Education – for a projector and camcorder

Film and Electronic Arts
Gets Funding for Books

Davinia Thornley, a member of the Film and Electronic Arts Department since 2004, was pleased and surprised recently when she received a $5,000 Alumni Association grant matched by equal sums from the University Library and her department. Her goal is to update and supplement Film and Electronic Arts' texts to make their department academically as well as creatively competitive.

“I'm very pleased to be one of the grantees,” said Thornley, an assistant professor in the department. “This translates to $15,000 to buy new books. One reason for the success of my proposal, I think, is that the Alumni Association knew whatever they gave would be matched by the department and the library. What I'm trying to do is get newer, more contemporary texts that deal with the many changes in the film industry during the last 10 years. There has been a shift to digital projection, computer-generated imaging and CD-ROMs. I wanted texts that envisioned the industry in a whole new way.”

Her selections also will reflect a broader theoretical background and update certain essential films from tape to DVD.

“The vast majority of the department comes from a more hands-on background but theory ought to be a high priority, too,” she explained. “Past theories of semiotics, psychoanalysis and Marxist interpretations have given way to more tangible perspectives such as historiography and cultural studies. Now the trend is to analyze audiences instead of films. How do audiences interpret films? I wanted texts that reflected that.”

When Thornley first went to look at what books the department had, she found the books that were there tended to be very dated.

“There was a void after the mid-1970s,” she said. “We had one quarter of an aisle. I saw right away the most important thing for the students was to get books as soon as possible. They didn't even have enough resources to do their assignments."