Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

Dyson Year In Review 2012-2013

Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

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Biomer Skelters, Will Pappenheimer (and fellow artist Tamiko Thiel), 2013 Participants walked the streets of Liverpool leaving in their wakes augmented reality flora. Siedenberg students created the vegetation generating system that was controlled by the user's heart rate. CREATIVITY AT ITS BEST PACE PERFORMING ARTS INCREASES ENROLLMENT BY 50.7% It is no secret that Pace Performing Arts has experienced unprecedented growth. From 20102012, applications jumped by an extraordinary 63% and enrollment increased by an impressive 50.7%. Five new programs were added, and the total number of faculty in the department increased by seven. In June, two of Pappenheimer's augmented reality works, Biomer Skelters and FACT Sky Museum, opened at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), the United Kingdom's leading media arts center, based in Liverpool. While the numbers speak for themselves, the department has met another critical challenge—it increased enrollment and, at the same time, it raised the program's academic profile. Through national recruiting and a rigorous audition process, the program attracts and admits only the most highly qualified students. The works were supported by a Thinkfinity grant from the Verizon Foundation and are the result of the collaborations with fellow artists and Julie Gauthier, Alexander Gazarov, and Pat Swinson, students from the Pace Augmented Reality Lab of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS). Typically when admission standards are raised, the number of students eligible for admission drops and enrollment numbers shrink. "It is extremely challenging to achieve both goals—increase enrollment and increase academic quality," said Nira Herrmann, dean of Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, "By setting the bar high, we've shown that the combination of great students, great faculty and great programs results in a thriving program that has exceeded expectations and achieved impressive results." "The augmented reality project has been incredibly rewarding. I've learned skills that are absolutely essential to me as a web developer," said Gauthier, a Computer Science major and Art minor. SEEING THINGS? AUGMENTED REALITY AND ART Art Professor William Pappenheimer's work in augmented reality (AR) is exemplary of the innovative ways technology is being used as an artistic medium. Augmented reality is created when a digital layer is superimposed upon the real world around us. Viewed in real time through mobile devices, viewers see a version of reality augmented by dynamic text, images, and 3D objects. FACT Sky Museum, Will Pappenheimer (and fellow artist Zachary Brady), 2013 A virtual skywriting project. Participants created drawings and messages with virtual airplane vapor trails. 12 • Dyson College of Arts and Sciences Actors Studio Drama School The at Pace University THE ACTORS STUDIO MAKES THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S LIST OF TOP DRAMA SCHOOLS The Actors Studio was named one of the top 25 drama schools in the world by The Hollywood Reporter for the second year in a row. Ranking at number 11, The Actors Studio Drama School shared the list with esteemed institutions such as Julliard, the Yale School of Drama, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. •

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