Rate My Professor Vertha West

Dr. Vertna West is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Arts at Western Connecticut State University, where she also serves as Director of the Digital and Interactive Media Arts (DIMA) program. She joined the faculty in Spring 2024 and has rapidly established significant connections with local high schools to support recruitment efforts and offer hands-on student opportunities in areas such as animation, 2D basic game design, augmented reality, and generative AI. Her department chair highlighted that she hit the ground running upon arrival, cultivating relationships inside and outside the WCSU community that directly benefit DIMA students and the university. West's academic background includes a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. from The European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, with a focus on Film and Philosophy. Her doctoral dissertation, titled Between the Sprocket Holes: The Voyeuristic Essence & Reflexivity of Identity in Cinema, examines the voyeuristic essence and reflexivity of identity within cinematic contexts.

Prior to her position at WCSU, West held teaching roles at Penn State University and Carthage College, instructing in theory and production courses spanning all facets of Film Studies, along with classes on Gender, Diversity, and the Media. Her research specializations encompass 2D/3D animation, interactive and multimedia production. West has earned four awards from the Triloka International Filmfare Awards in India: Best Animated Short Film and Best Female Director for In the Flow: Episode 1: How It All Began, and Best Documentary Short and Best Actress for Mystic Lotus. She holds Adobe Education Exchange certificates including 'Augment Reality with Your Students' and 'Digital Painting and Drawing in the Classroom,' and was accepted into the invitation-only Adobe Aero – Geo Testing Prerelease Program for developing geospatial augmented reality experiences powered by Google’s Geospatial Creator.