West Los Angeles College
Tenure Track Portfolio
Assistant Professor, 2025
Curated selection of Films from West Los Angeles College Inaugural Film Festival, May 6, 2025
Self-Evaluation:
Please turn on the sound above and enjoy films from the West Los Angeles College Inaugural Film Festival. I worked tirelessly to spearhead and complete this event as a collaboration between the WLAC Film Department and many people and departments throughout the West Los Angeles campus. This Film Festival is one of my many achievements during this tenure review period, as shown below in Section 1 of this Portfolio, Achievements:
Section 1, Achievements:
Poster Showcase & Inaugural Film Festival: I am proud that after months of hard work, we held our Poster Showcase & Inaugural Film Festival in the Fine Arts Auditorium and Gallery at West Los Angeles College, featuring the following:
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A keynote address by President Jim Limbaugh.
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An introduction by our chair, Laura Guichard.
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Event decoration by Kevin Considine’s Set Dressing students.
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Programs printed with the help of Michelle Long-Coffee.
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Thirty-two (32) student films across different disciplines, including climate change films, LGBTQIA+ films, Womens' Studies Films, and WLAC advertisement films by Imhotep Coleman’s FLM PRD 100 students.
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Catering, courtesy of Kareen Martin and our Poster Showcase team.
As shown above, this undertaking involved the collaboration of many people and departments who joyously lent their time and hard work to its realization. Below are a sample of my duties:
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Advertised and promoted this Film Festival months in advance.
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Assisted in editing the WLAC website to include a submissions page.
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Gathered film submissions.
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Ensured that students signed exhibition waivers.
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Curated and edited films into a line-up, with notes from the team.
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Acquired the Fine Arts Gallery for our reception.
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Designed and printed programs for the event.
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Ensured that the venue was decorated.
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Ensured that proper signage directed guests to the event.
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Helped to administer the film, poster and Zoom background prize competitions and awards.
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Collaborated with Leo Calderon to ensure that the Fine Arts Auditorium A/V equipment was working properly.
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Served as Master of Ceremonies, presenting speakers Jim Limbaugh and Laura Guichard.
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Helped Jim Limbaugh and Kareen Martin award certificates to the winners at the Poster Showcase Awards Ceremony on May 8, 2025.
The Inaugural Film Festival was such a success that President Limbaugh announced it during our August 2025 Faculty Professional Learning Day. Also, due to the popularity of our WLAC Advertisement videos, we have carried this assignment into FLM PRD 101 in order to replace activities that had previously included Hollywood CPR participation. As a win-win activity, Michelle Long-Coffee is our client, and our students make videos advertising a wide array of WLAC departments and services, such as the Chemistry department, the Career Center, Women’s Volleyball, and the Film Production department, as you will see below and in Graded Assignments.
I am most proud of this event and my Certificate of Achievement in Virtual Production, as both promote and are geared towards stopping global climate change and both will help the Film Department to grow and remain relevant. The Inaugural Film Festival also ensured that the Film Department met our Arts and Performance Division goal of collaborating more with the rest of West Los Angeles College. Please see Videos and documentation below:​​
Designed this West LA College Webpage, including images.
My promo video and call for submissions.
WLAC Film Festival
Coverage of the WLAC Inaugural Film Festival shot and edited by students Jeffrey Kaisershot and Thomas Sayles.
West Los Angeles College Inaugural Film Festival, from Left to Right: Elena Aviles, Jennifer Penton, Kareen Martin, Kimberly Manner, and James Limbaugh.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I designed this playbill, Michelle Long-Coffee paid for the printing, I picked up and folded the finished playbills.
Ongoing WLAC Advertising through FLM PRD 101: As mentioned above, some of the films featured in the Inaugural Film Festival were provided by Imhotep Coleman's FLM PRD 100 students, who had made films advertising WLAC.
In August of 2025, our FLM PRD 101 class was abruptly impacted by the loss of Hollywood CPR participation. At my suggestion, we quickly pivoted, making Michelle Long-Coffee our client, requesting films be made to advertise West Los Angeles College and individual departments, such as the Film Department, The Chemistry Department, Womens' Volleyball, and the Career Center. This project was an overwhelming success, generating excellent films, and helping the students gain invaluable filmmaking experience. Please see below for a video created by our FLM PRD 101 students that Michelle Long-Coffee will use to advertise the WLAC Film Department. For more videos included in this portfolio, please go to Graded Assignments, Fall 2025.
Working with the CA Center For Climate Change Education: Our Inaugural Film Festival has led to a deepening of our collaboration with Jo Tavares and the CA Center For Climate Change Education, so I am participating in a limited way in the Climate Across the Curriculum (CATC) Initiative. Due to the Tenure Committee's suggestion of limiting myself to one project, I only altered one canvas shell for CATC rather than all of my canvas shells. However, this way, my FLM PRD 200 students can design posters for the Spring Climate Arts Festival. Please see my module below, noting that the assignment is not yet due. Also see Handouts and Goals.
Virtual Production Field Trips: Eric Rigney and I have taken students on many field trips throughout the Spring and Summer of 2025, as follow:
Studio Eleven43
Impossible Objects
Amazon Studios
Sony, Pixomondo, & Amazon Studios
These trips culminated with a grand tour of Sony Studios, including the largest studio scoring venue in the world, the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage, the Pixomondo Virtual Production Volume Soundstage, a private tour of the set of a current television show, the Anthony Quinn Mix Stage, and an opportunity to watch a USC shoot in progress at the Amazon Studios Volume, SoundStage 15, hosted by Head of Virtual Production & Creative Innovation at Amazon MGM Studios, Ken Nakada. This shoot resulted in offers to our students to crew for the Amazon shoot.​
Virtual Production Classes: Our Virtual Production classes have been going well and have led to intense, world-class teaching opportunities. In FLM PRD 203, Eric Rigney and I have hosted leading experts in Virtual Production via Zoom, including Cinematographer, Erik "Wolfie" Wolford, Virtual Producer & Virtual Production Field Guide Author Noah Kadner, VFX guru, Mauricio van Hasselt, and many more. These Zoom meetings have been recorded with closed captioning. ​
Internships and SIGGRAPH Student Volunteers: Eric Rigney and I have placed students in internships, two specifically with Libec Camera at NABShow, Las Vegas, and one with TCL Chinese Theater. This year, I have placed two student Volunteers with SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Canada. ​
Willa Neary, one of our talented BRIC Summer Unreal Engine students. We placed her with TCL Chinese Theater. Check out her incredible portfolio. Image and Portfolio used with permission from her father.
Section 2, Self-Reflection Questions:
As this Tenure Review session includes a list of Self-Reflection Questions, I have ​divided this Self-Evaluation into eleven (11) sections, to address each question.
Please click on a section heading to jump to that section. To return to this list, click on the section heading within the section you are reading:
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How do you interact or stay in communication with your peers?
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How do you maintain records for your teaching and your classes?
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Do you participate in the regular SLO assessment cycle? How so?
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How have you addressed recommendations made in your last evaluation?
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How have you grown as a teacher since your last evaluation? (if applicable)
1. How do you stay current in your discipline? Below is a sample of activities that keep me current in my discipline:
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Nabshow:
I went to NABShow Las Vegas last April, and gained tremendous information regarding Virtual Production, Editing, Camera, and AI. Please see documentation below:
Mo-Sys
The Eternaut on Netflix Mo-Sys Virtual Production Technology Demo
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LARC Entertainment Strategic Session:
On September 16, 2025, Jeanette Moreno King and I attended this event, and it was here that I gathered this attached helpful information, and met Carlos Vasquez, Manager of Talent Acquisition at SONY PICTURES ANIMATION | JOBS, who would like to hire our students.
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Continually Research jobs and their pay in these fields:
Every week, I research Virtual Production jobs and entertainment publications to ensure that our students will be employable. I post helpful articles in Canvas and let my students know about job opportunities.
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AMD Virtual Production Mixer:
I went to an AMD Virtual Production mixer recently at Baja Cantina in Venice, California where I networked with people from NantStudios, Cal State Northridge, AMD, and Epic Games.
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WACOM Mixer:
On September 24, 2025, I went to a WACOM mixer with Eric Rigney, where I met colleagues who can fund free Cintiques.
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KeyCode, The LED Wall Playbook: Design & Installation Essentials:
On October 14, 2025, I attended this webinar.
2. How do you fulfill your committee service responsibility? In scaling down my participation and committee activities, I am a member of the Student Success Committee, only. We have successfully helped students in the past, by setting up an Adobe and Avid Lab in the HLRC and most recently with our members requesting that the Wildcat Café be reopened. My recent duties are as follows:
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Increasing Student Voices:
As one of my subcommittee duties, I discussed plans for increasing student voices, and the Inaugural Film Festival was part of this solution.
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Food Options for Evening Students:
On July 9, 2025, I met with Jerry Di Felice, Edna Chavarry, Vered Mirmovitch, and Victoria Sanders to discuss food options for evening students.
3. How do you contribute to the department? The Inaugural Film Festival contributed to the Film Department because as mentioned above, it ensured that the Film Department met our Arts and Performance Division goal of collaborating more with the rest of West Los Angeles College. With that said, I contribute in many other ways, examples as follow:
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Hiring Committees:
I have served on hiring committees for the Film Department, most recently in January of 2025.
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Careers in Entertainment Expo:
On April 25, 2025, Imhotep Coleman, Laura Guichard, and I worked at a booth the Careers in Entertainment Expo, an event that attracts students from 38 high schools across 11 school districts, community college students, California State University students, and early career professionals. We recruited attendees and passed out flyers that I designed.
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Program Review Participation:
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Laura Guichard and I attended the Program Review Workshop hosted by Artour Aslanian. Throughout the summer, I offered to draft a program review document. Gary, Charlie, Imhotep, Laura, and I met on Friday, September 19, 2025. While Laura noted that we did not need to complete a program review document, we discussed department needs.
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Invited all faculty to field trips:
Eric Rigney and I invited all Film Production faculty to all of our field trips, above. Gary Dagg, Dave Cannon, Rina Klanfer, and Jeanette Moreno King came to our field trips when they could. They really enjoyed these excursions.
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Editing Advisory Board:
In June of 2025, I served on the Editing Advisory Board. Eric Rigney invited Dana Mulligan, a veteran assistant editor of highly acclaimed feature films such as Into the Wild and The Talented Mr. Ripley.
4. How do you interact or stay in communication with your peers?
I email and text my peers, meet with my peers in person, or on Zoom. Sometimes we meet at Father's Office or other locations, just for fun. I am careful to respect my peers' work hours, and use Schedule Send for emailing, when appropriate.
5. How do you maintain records for your teaching and your classes?
I am organized as follows:
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All of my students' assignments are submitted through the Canvas LMS.
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My Work Experience Education students' records are also maintained by the Work Experience Education Team, so that they are auditable and adhere to Title 5 by following state regulations for credit hours, credit/non-credit course options, student documentation, and the district's specific Work Experience Education plan.
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All other records are organized, stored, and managed through Microsoft Office and backed up often.
6. How do you fulfill your professional development (“flex”) responsibilities? I engage in more flex responsibilities than required and many of the aforementioned activities are flex activities, yet I have included a partial list for your convenience:
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IDEA FIG:
I am involved in Tim Welch's IDEA FIG and Workgroup, and it was in this FIG that Elena Aviles and I developed the Zoom Background contest for the Poster Showcase and Inaugural Film Festival:
7. Do you participate in the regular SLO assessment cycle? How so? Yes, I do participated in the regular SLO assessment cycle. All of my SLO Assessments have been completed:
8. How have you addressed recommendations made in your last evaluation? As shown in my three previous Tenure Evaluations, my students are generally very happy with my performance. With that said and as mentioned above, I have scaled back in order to perform even better, as shown below:
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Make fewer commitments outside the college: As of Spring 2025, am focusing all of my energy to teach at WLAC, with a small additional adjunct assignment at LACC, and nothing more.
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Inside the college, prioritize in terms of importance:
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Grading: I now grade all assignments in every class within one week and often within one day of assignment completion.
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Department/Division: I am and have always been attentive to completing tasks related to my department and division and have met deadlines ninety-nine percent of the time.
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Curriculum Development: I have been planning for the curriculum that I have already created and have paused on creating new curriculum. As the film industry is rapidly evolving, Virtual Production is more popular and our classes are more relevant. The Certificate of Achievement in Virtual Production is actionable and viable.
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Committee: I have limited myself to one Committee, the Student Success Committee. I have limited myself to one project, the 2026 Poster Showcase and Film Festival.
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Demonstrate a Knowledge of the Programs: While I previously possessed a knowledge of the programs, Laura Guichard has made an excellent pdf describing our current programs which I have verbally shared with all students, announced in all Canvas shells, and uploaded to the Canvas shells of all classes, within their own modules. I have included this PDF as a sample handout.
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Developer and Implementer Suggestion:
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As shown above, I developed and implemented a highly successful Film Festival at West Los Angeles College.
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As shown above, I developed and implemented a way to ensure highly successful completion of both FLM PRD 101 classes this semester when we abruptly lost Hollywood CPR, resulting in a total final count of 59 deeply inspired students who would have otherwise been devastated.
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Laura Guichard, Jason Librande, Film Department colleagues and I developed our new Work Experience Education classes and in Spring of 2025, I taught the "Maiden Voyage" of these classes, FLM PRD 901 and 911. Through hours of my repeatedly calling students and site supervisors and wrangling data, and with the support and collaboration of the Work Experience Education Team, Tiffany Miller, Laura Guichard and Dave Cannon, we were able to help most of these 42 students to succeed.​ Now for Fall 2025, I am doing the same without assistance. This is important because through my efforts, I am ensuring auditable adherence to the regulations for Work Experience Education outlined in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations and in the Los Angeles Community College District Work Experience Plan.
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9. How have you grown as a teacher since your last evaluation?
As a teacher, I have grown quite a bit since my last evaluation. Please see below:​​​​​
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Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI):
I have embraced Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI) and am working hard to integrate it into my Canvas Shells, as you will see in this portfolio in Handouts and in my exams, in which I have incorporated essay questions, which I grade quickly, so that students can have a second chance to improve their exam grade. You will also see evidence of this in my actual Canvas Shells, as I have completed the RSI training. While I was always responsive to students, I am even more responsive now.
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Accessibility:
Thanks to Miryan Nogueira's guidance, I am working hard to improve the accessibility of my Canvas shells, and have been adding captions in Adobe Premiere and Canvas Studio, as well as using Popetech to ensure that my Canvas pages have no Accessibility Errors or Alerts.
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Grading:
I am also grading every class more quickly, within one week and often within two days of assignment completion. In my Work Experience classes, I have been continually reaching out to students and site supervisors to ensure adherence to the regulations for Work Experience Education outlined in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations and in the Los Angeles Community College District Work Experience Plan.
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Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF) Work:
Throughout all classes and especially in FLM PRD 901 classes, I have also worked to ensure that students complete Certificates of Achievement, in order to meet Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF) requirements, as you will see in Assignments/Rubrics.
10. Is there anything else you would like for me to know? As you have seen by my work over the last six years, I am highly committed to West Los Angeles College and would be very grateful to be granted Tenure.
I have always worked to promote and contribute to a diverse, respectful, inclusive, and equitable environment for students, colleagues, and community members:
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Teaching practice:
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LACCD | ODEI | CTE Employees Training: Attend LACCD | ODEIA Training related to Title IX, DHR (Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation), and DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility).
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Access to Resources: Imhotep Coleman and I give our FLM PRD 101 students tours of Campus Resources on the first day of class. We begin with the Welcome Center, then go to DSPS, EOPS, Admissions and Records, the Counseling Department, Basic Needs, including the Food Pantry, and Wardrobe Services. We also guide students to the Child Development Center and Mental Wellbeing and Health services.
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Mental Health: I have also incorporated a discussion of mental health awareness into my in-person classes, in which we take a deeper dive into campus and community resources such as Timely Care, and local mental health resources outside of WLAC.
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Service to the college or district:
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Student Success Committee (SSC): Knowing how important mental health and other resources are to students in addition to giving tours of WLAC resources mentioned above, I worked with the SSC to incorporate a list of these resources in a module at the top of all Canvas Shells, as is already standard at LACC.
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SSC Exploring Opportunities to Capture and Amplify Students’ Voices Subcommittee: As mentioned above, We brainstormed ways to encourage students’ voices to be heard, and this was realized by the Inaugural Film Festival.
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IDEA FIG: I regularly attend Tim Welch’s IDEA FIG meetings where we continue to explore how we can support and promote inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility for students and colleagues in our campus community. We are now exploring ways to protect our students from ICE.
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Community:
I have spent the last year attending DEIA events that promote my progress toward proficiency in DEIA-related competencies. One example is my recent attendance of The Librarians, a documentary profiling the lives of librarians who have been attacked due to the book banning movements across the United States. I am now more than ever committed to promoting and contributing to a diverse, respectful, inclusive, and equitable environment for students, colleagues, and community members. As such, I am a member of Indivisible, and have actively participated in most related protests.​​​​​​​​​​