EDMA 10th Anniversary: Part 1 – the history

Early 2000s: The EMDA idea was built on projects like the Applied Multimedia Unit (AMU) and Digital Media Foundations (DMF) courses over a decade of innovation, curriculum development, and a vision for interdisciplinary design at SOU.

2010 – 2011: The Center for Emerging Media & Digital Arts (EMDA) opens its doors at Southern Oregon University with about 200 square feet of space in Computing Services – East* with Robert Arellano as its founding Director. Miles Inada, Warren Hedges, Howard Schreiber, Pete Nordquist, Dennis Dunleavey, and the late, great Don Kay teach the digital-media foundations (DMF) courses that would become the basis for EMDA. Other VIPs our first year are Alissa Arp, Dean; Jim Klein, Provost, and perhaps most of all EMDA’s first student-employee, Austin Gurwell. Even with SOU’s President, Provost, and Dean all on our side, it is this undergraduate student whose hard work is perhaps most integral to our success in launching EMDA. (This teaches us all a lesson that became the slogan of the first Emerging Media Convention, and which still resonates today: By students, for students, welcoming all. Thank you, Austin!

*This blog was originally shared on the EMDA Stories page.*