A Tribute to Our Scholars

The Cinema Studies Program officially enrolled its first students in January 2010, but the study of media on the UO campus has a long history. Cinema Studies pays tribute to its founding scholars, to show how their dynamic spirit lives on in our interdisciplinary program and its fantastic faculty. From early collaborations with the Library to lively scholarly and production activity on campus, Cinema Studies is proud of its history and the new faculty members who are building its future.

1929
The first feature-length motion picture made by college students, Ed’s Coed, is filmed on the UO campus. (Photos courtesy University Archives Photographic Collection, UA REF 3, Box 16 C, UO, Eugene, OR).

1946
UO Library establishes an Audiovisual Department to address campus demand; some of these films, audio, and equipment remain part of the library’s collection today. The first AV Department head, Don Hunter, worked as a crew member on Ed’s Coed after school—he was an 8th grader!

 

1951
Acclaimed film director James Ivory graduates from UO. Experimental filmmaker Maya Deren visits campus. (Photo courtesy University Archives Photographic Collection).

 

 

 

 

1953
James Blue graduates from UO. Blue becomes an independent filmmaker renowned for his socially engaged documentaries and teaching.

1956
UO Film Society organizes to present foreign, classic, documentary, and experimental 16mm films that are otherwise unavailable to the public.

1959
Theater professor Horace Robinson teaches “Appreciation of the Motion Picture” in the Speech Department, perhaps the first film class taught on campus.

1967
The AV Department helps the UO Film Society acquire basic film equipment (cameras, editing equipment, microphones, etc.) and eventually becomes the Center for Media & Educational Technology (CMET).

1970
Bill Cadbury teaches “Film as Literature,” the first film class offered in the English Department.  (Photo by:  Michael McDermott)

1976
A Film Studies major emerges in the Speech Department, teaching theory and production to undergraduate and graduate students.

 

 

1977
John Belushi inside the EMU Fishbowl while on campus filming Animal House.  (Photo courtesy University of Oregon Libraries Special Collections and University Archives).

 

 

 

 

 

1981
Film Studies merges with Telecommunications and is renamed Telecommunication and Film (TcF). The impressive TcF faculty body includes Carl Bybee, Bill Cadbury, Kathleen Karlyn, Julia Lesage, Deanna Robinson, Ellen Seiter, Janet Wasko, and Bill Willingham.

1992
Due to state budget cuts, TcF is dissolved. Faculty are re-distributed across campus, and media courses are offered by a variety of units, from the School of Journalism and Communication to the English Department.

1996
Without Limits, a film about the life of Steve Prefontaine, shoots on campus and in Eugene.

2009
The current Cinema Studies Program begins. Kathleen Karlyn is named the program’s first director. Construction of the Cinema Studies Lab begins to provide a shared space for classes, production, and editing. The same year, the Cinema Pacific Film Festival debuts to highlight the University’s exceptional strengths in Pacific Rim film studies. (Photo by:  Michael McDermott)

 

 

 

2010
Cinema Studies officially launches with 58 declared majors; it quickly becomes the fastest growing major on campus. The program is unique: its inter-unit structure unites faculty and courses from the College of Arts & Sciences, Architecture and Allied Arts, and the School of Journalism and Communication.  (Photo by: Amanda Garcia)

 

 

 

2011
Katharina Loew is the first new faculty member hired by Cinema Studies, in collaboration with the German and Scandinavian Department. Loew’s expertise includes silent cinema, film technology, and special effects. She has published on early 3-D cinema (1910s!) and is now working on a book about special effects and early German film. Professor Loew teaches Cinema Studies courses on Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Nazi cinema, and film theory and is planning courses about Charlie Chaplin and special effects. (Photo by:  Joshua Rainey)

 

 

 

 

2012
Sergio Rigoletto joins the Cinema Studies and Romance Languages faculty. Rigoletto’s expertise includes Italian cinema, star studies, and transnational queer cinemas. He is the co-editor of Popular Italian Cinema and recently published the book Masculinity and Italian Cinema: Sexual Politics, Social Conflict and Male Crisis in the 1970s, which explores representations of gender and sexuality in 1970s Italian film. Professor Rigoletto teaches courses including gender and sexuality in European Cinema, Italian post-war cinema, stars and performance, and realism. (Photo by:  Joshua Rainey)

 

 

 

 

2013
With more than 300 declared majors, Cinema Studies expands to include an administrative office in McKenzie Hall.  The Cinema Studies presence remains in Knight Library as the multimedia hub that houses the computer lab, equipment room, and multimedia instructors. (Photo courtesy Adrenaline Film Project)

 

 

 

 

2014
Daniel Steinhart joins the Cinema Studies Program and School of Journalism and Communication faculty. Professor Steinhart received his Ph.D. in Cinema & Media Studies from UCLA and is working on a book about the internationalization of Hollywood production and location shooting in the post–World War II era. His research and teaching include production cultures, film style, and the history and practice of film curation. (Photo courtesy:  Daniel Steinhart)