Bridget Z. Sullivan - Associate Professor - Director Interactive Media Design Center

Department of Art, Center for the Arts 4018
Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252
t. 410/704.2802 + f. 410/704.2810 + im & skype: bzsnbmore

fall 2008

virtual office hours: Wednesdays 1-2 pm contact me through AOL Instant Messaging (BZSnBmore) or via phone in my office 410-701-2802. You can also stop by my office during this time - Center for the Arts building room 4018

meet me in Second Life 8-8:30 Monday evenings - more info http://towsonusecondlife.blogspot.com.
You will need to SL-IM me (bee Zimminy) so that I can send you an invitation to teleport to my location.
NOTE: meeting me will require that you have downloaded Second Life, and initiated an account. If you haven't done so already e-mail me your SL account name and I'll send you an invitation to be my in-world friend.
You can learn more about geting started in SL at TowsonUSecondLife.blogspot.com

other office hours by appointment

Bridget Z. Sullivan is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design in the Department of Art at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Her area of focus is Interactive Media Design which includes multimedia and web design. Prof. Sullivan is the program director and lead project developer in the creation of the fully online graduate certificate in Interactive Media Design at Towson University. Her research also includes the creation of digital artworks that she has published and exhibited nationally. Prof. Sullivan’s digital artworks have been awarded two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist’s Grants: in 2003 in the Photography category for computer generated digital images and in 2002 in the New Genre category for computer generated virtual reality environments.
In 2004 SIGUCCS awarded Prof. Sullivan’s ART100 - Using Visual Information Effectively - online course the distinction of Best Overall Winner in the Electronic Instructional Classroom Materials category for the 2004 SIGUCCS CommAwards. Prof. Sullivan completed her M.F.A. in Studio Art at University and her B.F.A. in Photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland.

Second Life Research and Teaching Activities

For the first time in spring 2008 the Interactive Media Design Certificate Program will offer ART641–Interactive Media Design Concepts and Theory, taught by Associate Professor Bridget Z. Sullivan. As a course activity, students will be instructed to create an avatar (a 3-D game profile) in the online 3-D virtual environment Second Life. The objective is to offer classroom events and activities in the Second Life environment, to expose students to the development of online virtual environments as potential business and educational destinations. The inclusion of SL activities in ART641 will provide students with an opportunity to experience and analyze a 3-D virtual reality environment first hand. Students will immerse themselves in the 3-D SL interactive environment to more fully understand the impact of 3-D simulated environments on current and future trends in interactive media design.
As a first attempt in conducting online learning events in Second Life, Program Director Bridget Sullivan will utilize the New Media Consortium Campus (nmc.org). NMC maintains a virtual campus in the SL environment so that member universities may experiment with Second Life and host educational events. The award of a Teaching Innovation Grant will fund an institutional membership for Towson University in the New Media Consortium, starting January 1, 2008. TU's membership in NMC will support Prof. Sullivan's proposed virtual learning experience for ART641 students as well as afford all Towson University faculty members the opportunity to investigate the Second Life 3-D virtual environment as a learning environment.

You can read more about TU in Second Life at http://towsonusecondlife.blogspot.com.

 

ART610, ART620 and ART365/765 recognized by Quality Matters In 2007 and 2008 three of Professor Sullivan's IAMD online courses were recognized as meeting Quality Matters™ review standards. The Quality Matters™ program is a faculty-centered peer course review quality assurance process for online learning. Review criteria are linked to external standards; criteria and process are supported through instructional design principles; and the process is vetted by faculty experts. Quality Matters is sponsored by MarylandOnline and was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

 

Bridget Z. Sullivan artist's statement

My art making process attempts to escape the everyday chatter of my temporal mind and find a way back to my ancestral mind. Overall, the direction of my work is an exploration of the human relationship to the Earth ecosphere.

Increasingly, we as a culture have become separated from our natural environment. Our experience of nature has been reduced to watching film footage of the wilderness on TV, and looking at roadside views as we drive to our next indoor activity. We are entranced by the weather channel, and rely on quasi meteorologists to interpret radar and satellite images of the earth so that we will know if we should take an umbrella with us in the morning. Our relationship with our natural environment is changing, radically changing; skewing our understanding of our place in the natural Order of the Earth and jeopardizing the survival of our fellow Earth inhabitants and ourselves.

My digital art pieces describe issues of fertility, the struggle for continued survival of the Earth and its inhabitants, and the preciousness of resources such as Water for health and survival for all living things.

Fortunately for us Nature is the Great Healer often providing immediate cleansing and cure when the offensive or violent action stops. The cycles of life are given to us so we can know our relationship to creation and as a guide. 

It is my hope that we will not forget to notice the cycles of the earth and its inhabitants. Through involvement, personal awareness and sensitivity to the environments in which we live, we will empower ourselves to make more sustainable choices.

You can view more of my digital images at http://www.bridgetzsullivan.com