Digital Arts Center Instructional Team

The Digital Arts Center instructional team is comprised of professional, award-winning graphic and web designers currently working in their respective fields. They are committed to sharing their industry design expertise and digital proficiency in the classroom as part of a mentorship-style program. Collectively, they represent literally hundreds of years of professional experience and working knowledge.

Christopher Cavanaugh, B.A., is president of The Christopher Company, a San Diego marketing and design company founded in 1990. The company focuses on industrial and business-to-business firms and develops corporate identity, print and interactive marketing tools. His specialties are marketing and business development.

Simona Cherlin, M.S., LCSW, is an executive and job search coach for individuals interested in developing or changing their career. She has managed employee career services and delivered counseling and training to over 17,000 employees. Simona has taught educational courses through U.C.S.D., S.D.S.U., and many local colleges. Some of the industries that she has been involved with include healthcare, biotechnology, consumer goods, retail, building, education and human services. Simona is the author of San Diego Job Search. She has co-produced a local TV show and has created and produced an audiotape entitled "Getting Your Career in Gear".

Henry Hikima, M.S., comes to us with extensive teaching experience at the San Diego Art Institute, UCLA Extension, Art Institute of CA in Orange County, and Coleman College. He has been an Art Director and Project Manager for several local companies.

Shannon Jordan, M.A., is an instructor specializing in career transition and career management topics. She founded UCSD Extension's career development department and served as its full-time director for 10 years before moving to consulting and teaching work. Prior to her work at UCSD, she provided career services for MBAs and business undergraduates at UC Riverside. Shannon currently serves on the adjunct faculties of UCSD Corporate Education, University of San Diego and the Art Institute of California. She is also a senior consultant for Zero Boundary, a leadership development firm. Shannon is a National Certified Counselor, a Master Career Counselor, and a California Registered Professional Career Counselor.

Bonnie Kristell is a Certified Trainer for Apple Pro Products in Final Cut Pro. She has been an educator for eight years. Bonnie's television background covers many years and areas of production from studio live shoots while working at Universal Studio creating syndicated sitcoms to remote live shoots in sports programming for ESPN. She is on the Board of Directors for the Visual Arts Foundation sponsoring BestFest America's student film festival. She has two EMMY nominations to her credit.

John Lane, B.A., is the faculty/program advisor and lead instructor for the Digital Arts Center Program, Digital Graphics/Visual Communications at UC San Diego Extension. In addition, John is the principal owner of J. Lane Designs, a local award-winning design studio, maintaining a national and international client base. John provides his clients with design consultation, evaluation, training and production of collateral material including publications and web page layout.

Carolyn O’Barr, B.S., is an Apple Certified Professional. She has been teaching more than 9 years and is proficient in a number of software programs including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver, Apple Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack and DVD Studio. She's a judge at the San Diego County Fair Student Showcase, and a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.

Max Maple, B.S., received his degree in television, radio and film production from SDSU. He is a Managing Producer in the corporate communications department of SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), a global high-tech research and engineering company with headquarters in San Diego, Calif. He also works independently, through his own company A Cappella Productions. Over the last 20 years, Max has captured images and sounds for television, cable, and FORTUNE 500 companies. His camera work has taken him across the world to places like Africa, Indonesia and Norway.

Genadi Radiul, M.S., has two Masters degrees—one in music and one in motion graphics. He has taught for Art Institute International, and has extensive experience in working with various audio/video equipment, both analog and digital hardware and software. He is currently teaching motion graphics, compositing and computer applications classes.

Aaron Serafino, B.A., is a photographer, graphic artist, adjunct professor of photography and digital coach. His extensive knowledge of the esthetic and technical aspects of printed media allows him to help bring concepts to life for his students and clients. Whether producing promotional materials for display, advertisements or fine art; Aaron's projects are imbued with an inherent graphic impact and a rare level of attention to visual detail. Aaron Serafino graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography focusing on color technology.

Sam Shpigelman, M.F.A., is an educator and CG Artist with over 10 years of professional experience. He holds a full time lecturer position and heads Animation and Post Production Studies at the school of Theatre, TV and Film at SDSU. Sam has vast experience in various industries such as animation, game development, medical and architectural pre-visualization and product design and modeling.

Rich Underwood, B.S., is the faculty/program advisor for the Digital Arts Center Program, Video, Sound and Motion Graphics program at UC San Diego, Extension. Rich brings to us over 20 years of experience as an award winning Director, Cameraman, Cinematographer, Photojournalist, Author of “Roll!”, Designer of “birdcage” lighting instrument for Chimera Lighting Company and a professor at San Diego State University. He is represented by Stella Films, Los Angeles-as a Director and Cameraman- he has many notable and award winning projects.

Harrison Watts, M.A., is currently serving as Web and Publications Coordinator for Research at UCSD. Mr. Watts is a classically trained graphic designer, he has several years experience teaching design, web design and web technologies at the college level.

Wei Xu, Ph.D., is a computer scientist, mathematician and artist. In the past 5 years he has taught various video game classes in areas of game programming, production and design at the Art Institute of CA, SONY Computer Entertainment America (corporate training), and ITT-Tech of San Diego. He is president and co-founder of Geomy Entertainment LLC that provides technical consulting services for the video game industry.