Chris Martin has gathered the students from his Web Video Production class in the hallway outside their classroom to demonstrate how to set up an interview shot. One student—a burly guy with a baseball cap and gray beard—has affably agreed to stand in front of the camera as the “interviewee.”

“Now let’s think about camera height, because you can change things a lot depending on the angle you shoot your subject at,” Martin says, adjusting the camera’s tripod. “Do we want to set it lower and look up at him to give him that godlike angle? Because we all know Steve has a bit of a god complex—just kidding! Just kidding!”

The whole class, Steve included, cracks up, and then Martin continues, raising the tripod as he speaks. “You can do stuff like that,” he says. “You can look down on them, too. But typically, we want to meet the subject at their own level, to give them that human feeling.”

In many ways, that last line is an apt summation of Martin’s teaching philosophy—and the secret to his popularity with students, who nominated him in droves for Clark’s prestigious 2013-14 Exceptional Faculty Award.

“His patience and approach in bringing out the abilities in all his students, from the novice to the advanced, encourages respect for all,” wrote one nominator. “His emotional integrity allows him to act as a mentor and to also mirror the importance to students that he is also learning the ever-changing aspects of technology.”

“If you don’t care about who your students are or where they come from or what they actually know—and they know a lot—then you can’t help them,” says Martin, who teaches both Computer Technology and Computer Graphics Technology classes as an adjunct at Clark, as well as general business courses at Warner Pacific College. “What I like about teaching at Clark is you really get to know the students. When they go through hard times, you know about it.”

Martin also gets strong praise for his real-life experience as a web designer and videographer. He has spent more than eight years running his own multimedia studio, creating videos and web content for businesses, nonprofits, and artists. He also produces a regular online documentary video series called Innovators of Vancouver that showcases leaders in Southwest Washington.

Martin, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts and Animation from the Art Institute of Portland and a master’s degree in Management and Organizational Leadership from Warner Pacific, regularly shares stories from his professional career to illustrate class material. A self-described “big experimenter,” he often tries out new tools and methods in his teaching—including Twitter, which Martin has used to create online discussions about class material among his students.

“It’s just a way of being accessible,” Martins says. “I think it helps students feel connected to me a little more.”

Or, to put it another way: It’s Martin’s way of giving his students that “human feeling” in the digital age.

Learn more about the other 2013-14 Exceptional Faculty Award recipients.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Still from John, a short film by student Anni Becker to be shown at the Clark College Student Video Festival on May 29.

Clark College will hold its first public screening of student videos at the historic Kiggins Theatre on Thursday, May 29, at 6 p.m. in an event that will be free and open to the public.

The 90-minute program will feature more than two dozen short-form videos (between one and ten minutes long) produced by students in Clark’s Time-Based Art and Web Video Production classes, as well as a selection of work from students at other area educational institutions including the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University, Washington State University Vancouver, and the Northwest Film Center.

“This event will feature the best video and time-based artwork from Clark College students,” said Clark College art professor Lisa Conway. “These exciting art forms push the boundaries of traditional gallery or print-publication settings, and we are thrilled to have a venue like the Kiggins Theatre in which to showcase this work. Hopefully this is the start of an annual event for the college, our students and the larger community—one that will continue to grow as our course offerings in this area grow.”

Clark College has offered classes in Time-Based Art and Web Video Production for the past three and two years, respectively. The Web Video Production class was introduced two years ago when Clark transitioned its Graphics Communication and Printing program into a redesigned Computer Graphics Technology program, which teaches valuable modern-day skills like web design and computer animation. The Time-Based Art class was developed three years ago with the start of new Associate of Fine Arts degrees in Graphic Design and in Studio Art.

The students’ videos range from whimsical works of stop-motion animation to emotional mini-documentaries and personal stories.

Kiggins manager Dan Wyatt said he was pleased to host this event. “As a former student of film, I not only enjoy supporting other student filmmakers, but think it is important that their works be screened in the best possible environment conducive to evaluating film–a movie theatre,” he said. “Some of the best learning and growth as artists happens while screening your project and getting feedback from peers.”

The Kiggins Theatre is located at 1011 Main St. in downtown Vancouver, Wash. (Phone number: 360-816-0352.)

Individuals who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in these events should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services (DSS) Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP). The DSS office is located in room 013 in Clark’s Penguin Union Building.

President Bob Knight receives Clark’s Tree Campus USA award from Ben Thompson of the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

On April 9, Clark College celebrated both the natural and digital worlds at its annual Arbor Day event, as it added two new trees to the campus’s beautiful arboretum and unveiled a new, student-designed website that uses digital technology to catalog that arboretum. The new online map allows visitors to instantly access descriptions of most trees on campus through their mobile devices.

“This website is a great testament to the value of service learning here at Clark,” said Computer Technology Department Chair Robert Hughes at the ceremony, which took place under sunny skies just south of the Chimes Tower. “It showcases the talent of our students, the value of our instruction, and a great part of Clark’s visual landscape.”

The mobile-friendly online map is the product of work done by students in instructor Gus Torres’s spring 2013 Web Design II class. The students worked with the college’s Campus Tree Advisory Committee to identify trees in the campus’s extensive arboretum, which includes such notable trees as a six-decade-old Scarlet Oak and 100 Shirofugen blossoming cherry trees donated to the campus by Japanese businessman John Kageyama in 1990. Students then GPS-tagged each listed tree and added it to the map with information about its genus and species. Additional students contributed to the project in subsequent quarters. Hughes was one of the faculty members who helped support the project, along with Torres, Computer Graphics Technology professor Kristl Plinz, and Computer Technology instructor Bruce Elgort.

The online map documents Clark’s extensive arboretum.

The event also featured the official bestowing on Clark of Tree Campus USA designation by the Arbor Day Foundation for the fourth year in a row. Tree Campus USA colleges must meet rigorous standards in five separate areas to earn this designation. The award was presented by a Washington State Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry Specialist Ben Thompson and received by Clark College President Robert K. Knight.

“It’s very exciting that Clark College has such enthusiasm for urban forestry,” said Thompson, who noted that Clark was helping Vancouver earn a “trifecta” by being a Tree City USA with both a Tree Line USA and a Tree Campus USA. He also noted that Clark’s arboretum might benefit students in unsuspected ways.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many colleges are located on beautiful campuses filled with trees,” he said. “It puts us at ease, at rest. It makes us ready for learning.”

Clark College Bob Knight agreed. “If our students feel comfortable and our faculty feel comfortable, then it opens up their minds and creativity more,” he said, adding that the new arboretum map was a perfect example of that. “It’s exactly what we want to encourage here at Clark College.”

Children from Clark’s Child & Family Studies program get help on their tree-themed scavenger hunt from, left to right, Dean of STEM Dr. Peter Williams, President Bob Knight, and Campus Tree Committee members Tim Carper and Melissa Favara.

Other speakers at the event included Dean of STEM Dr. Peter Williams and Zahid Chaudry, GIS Program Manager of the U.S. Forest Service Region 6. Additionally, two trees were added to the campus arboretum:  an Eastern Hemlock and an Eastern White Pine. These are the official state trees of Pennsylvania and Maine, respectively, and are part of an effort by the college to include all 50 state trees in the campus arboretum; with these two additions, the arboretum contains 39 state trees.

Also present were two classrooms of children from Clark’s Child & Family Studies program, who participated in a tree-themed scavenger hunt and received “seed bombs” filled with seeds of indigenous plants.

Photo: Clark College/Hannah Erickson

The new mobile-friendly arboretum map pinpoints and identifies trees all over Clark’s main campus.

On April 9, Clark College will celebrate both the natural and digital worlds at its annual Arbor Day event, as it adds two new trees to the campus’s beautiful arboretum and unveils a new, student-designed website that uses digital technology to catalog that arboretum. The new online map will allow visitors to instantly access descriptions of most trees on campus through their mobile devices.

The mobile-friendly online map is the product of work done by students in instructor Gus Torres’s spring 2013 Web Design II class. The students worked with the college’s Campus Tree Advisory Committee to identify trees in the campus’s extensive arboretum, which includes such notable trees as a six-decade-old Scarlet Oak and 100 Shirofugen blossoming cherry trees donated to the campus by Japanese businessman John Kageyama in 1990. Students then GPS-tagged each tree and added it to the map with information about its genus and species. Additional students contributed to the project in subsequent quarters, with faculty from both the Computer Graphics Technology and the Computer Technology departments providing guidance and support.

“I look forward to the sight of Clark College denizens and those in the community at large walking across campus consulting their phones and tablets to find the answer to ‘What kind of tree is this?'” said Computer Technology Department Head Robert Hughes, who also teaches in the Computer Graphics Technology program. “Project-based client work has been a component of our graphics and web-related curriculum for a long time. These types of experiences are helpful as our students move into the workforce.”

Hughes was one of the faculty members who helped support the project, along with Torres, Computer Graphics Technology professor Kristl Plinz, and Computer Technology instructor Bruce Elgort.

Members of Facilities Services proudly display Clark College’s Tree Campus USA award during the college’s 2013 Arbor Day event.

In keeping with this year’s Arbor Day theme, “Trees and Technology,” the event’s keynote speech will be presented by Zahid Chaudry, GIS Program Manager of the U.S. Forest Service Region 6. Additionally, two trees are being added to the campus arboretum:  an Eastern Hemlock and an Eastern White Pine. These are the official state trees of Pennsylvania and Maine, respectively, and are part of an effort by the college to include all 50 state trees in the campus arboretum; with these two additions, the arboretum will contain 39 state trees.

The event, which will take place at 11:00 a.m. just south of Cannell Library, will also feature the official bestowing on Clark of Tree Campus USA designation by the Arbor Day Foundation for the fourth year in a row. Tree Campus USA colleges must meet rigorous standards in five separate areas to earn this designation. The award will be presented by a staff member from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and received by Clark College President Robert K. Knight.

The event is free and open to the public.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley