Above image courtesy of Seattle Center
2024 Teaching Excellence Awards
UW Continuum College is recognizing 10 outstanding instructional staff who help UWPCE students succeed in a range of professional and specialized learning programs, from podcasting to programming to project management, and more.
Learn more ahout the 2024 honorees.
Student filmmakers who developed their talents through UW Professional & Continuing Education (UWPCE) made a memorable big-screen debut this summer, thanks in part to a crew of outstanding teachers.
As part of this year’s Teaching Excellence Awards, UW Continuum College is honoring that teaching team — the cinematographers, documentary producers and film editors who create an exceptional learning experience for students in the UW Certificate in Film & Video Production.
The 2024 Team Instructional Excellence Award recognizes instructors Maria Gargiulo and Rebecca DeGeorge as well as instructional assistants Mike Skoptsov and David Schnitzer. Together, they help aspiring filmmakers and video specialists gain the technical and professional skills they need to shoot, produce, direct and edit films and videos.
Sharing Talent With the Local Community
2024 Team Instructional Excellence Award Winners
Learners in this UWPCE certificate program say these instructors don’t just share their cinematic expertise, but they also help students build confidence and go above and beyond to support their artistic endeavors.
For example, this summer, Gargiulo helped arrange a first for the certificate program — five short films by UWPCE students and alumni were featured as part of Movies at the Mural, presented by Prime Video, an outdoor movie series under the shadow of the Space Needle at Seattle Center.
“Students benefit from having their work seen by hundreds of people in an iconic setting, complete with an epic sound system and giant 40-foot screen,” says Seattle Center's Senior Arts Program Specialist Pete Rush. “These student films provide an added benefit for our audience, who delight in innovative, humorous and thoughtful cinematic expressions from the talented students.”
Empowering Students to Make Artistic Impacts
Jessica Fleck is the creator of one of those short films, Out of the Box, a comedy-horror in which a character grapples with what to do when a childhood teddy bear changes in personality.
Directors and UWPCE alums Katrina Vergara (left) and Henry Slater attended the screenings of their films.
“It’s one thing to share your first big project with friends and family, and a whole other thing sharing it with a full audience,” says Fleck, a writer and director who earned a UW Certificate in Film & Video Production. “I’m grateful for the opportunity the Film & Video Production program at UW gave me to make Out of the Box. It was a year of school well spent! I learned a lot, met incredible people and I still work with some of those students on films today.”
Gargiulo, an Emmy Award-winning director-producer, says the UW Certificate in Film & Video Production is perfect for local working professionals who want to build their talents in filmmaking, shooting, editing, storytelling and other aspects of video production.
“There’s no other program like it in the area where you can have a job and make films and be with a cohort of people who are all also really committed to making films,” Gargiulo says. “What I love about film is that it's not ephemeral, like a play — people can watch again and again. That’s why we emphasize in the program that it's worth spending extra time, energy and attention to detail to get it as good as it could possibly be.”
Learn more about the UW Certificate in Film & Video Production and our other courses, certificates and specializations.