Faculty
The faculty of Digital Media Arts department bring creative, technical, and industry expertise to the classroom, as well as a passion for teaching and student success.
Suzanne (Suzie) Ama
Suzanne is the Web Design Program Coordinator for the Media Arts Department. She has taught at Cerro Coso Community College since 1998 and has been teaching media arts courses online since 2001. She has 25 years of experience in the field of graphic design, including ownership of a small design firm for 8 years. In addition to producing print design products such as business cards, stationery, brochures, and product packaging, she has designed web sites for companies across the country, including businesses in Washington, D.C.; Petersburg, VA; Spokane, WA; Orange County; Ventura County; and Ridgecrest, California. Suzanne has a Bachelors of Fine Art in Visual Communications from American InterContinental University and a Masters of Science in Education from California State University East Bay.
Email:: sama@cerrocoso.edu
Twitter: WebDesignProf
Lisa Darty
Lisa has an Associate Degree in Digital Animation and teaches courses in Digital Imaging and Retouching, Motion Graphics, and Digital Animation. She has been involved in multidiscipline collaboratives with Art, Theatre, and Music disciplines, including art direction of animation productions as backdrops to theatrical productions.
Email: ldarty@cerrocoso.edu
Fred Hartson
Fred has a Bachelors of Fine Art from Art Center College of Design and has had a career in art direction and graphic design for over 30 years. He was an adjunct professor at Biola University, Cerritos College, and now teaches Desktop Publishing at Cerro Coso. He also teaches computer graphics at Burroughs high school and enjoys creating digital art in his spare time.
Email: hartson@verizon.net
Ray Hocker
Ray has a Masters of Fine Art in Digital Cinema Production from National University. He has recently produced high definition video programming on several cable channels. Ray teaches digital video courses at Cerro Coso and is particularly enthusiastic about the opportunities that Eastern Sierra scenery and community events provide as subject matter for student projects. He also teaches Video Technology at Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest.
Email: rhocker@cerrocoso.edu
Jason Navarro
Jason has been working in the mobile content and entertainment industry for over 7 years. Over the past 5 years he has focused his development around Mobile Communities, Product management, Mobile Marketing and Advertising, Wap/Web/SMS Portal Design and Management, Initiating New Mobile Products, User Generated Content Management, Mobile User Experience, Web/UI Design, internet/mobile marketing and promotions. Jason teaches mobile media courses at Cerro Coso Community College, bringing a high level of industry expertise to our program.
Email: j1medea@gmail.com
Kathleen O'Brien
Kathleen teaches computer science and web scripting classes at various California colleges and universities. She teaches both online and face-to-face classes. She joined Cerro Coso as adjunct faculty in fall 2004 to teach online. Her twin passions are technology and education.
Email: kathleen@laughton.com.
Cori Ratliff
Cori has worked in web design for over eight years now. She has served as the institutional Instructional Design Specialist (webmaster for Cerro Coso) since 1997 with a one year hiatus spent working exclusively with the Media Arts and Child Development programs on their instructional design needs. She then returned to her position as the institutional webmaster and continues to teach web design courses as adjunct faculty. Cori is also involved with freelance web design and digital animation outside of teaching and working for the college. She enjoys the field of web design and finds it very fulfilling to share her knowledge with others. Cori has Associate Degrees in Art, Digital Animation, and Web Design from Cerro Coso.
Email: cratliff@cerrocoso.edu
Home page
: http://home.cerrocoso.edu/ratliff/
Blog: http://digitalcaptive.blogspot.com/
Thane Ratliff
Thane has Associate Degrees in Art and Digital Animation from Cerro Coso. He currently freelances as a digital animator and 3D modeler and is skilled in Photoshop, Flash, Lightwave, Mirai, Nemo, Softimage, Virtools and Maya applications. He currently teaches Digital Imaging for Cerro Coso.
Email: thane.ratliff@verizon.net
Elaine Rudis-Jackson
Elaine has a Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her drawings and paintings have been exhibited in Canada, India, and the U.S., the most recent of which was at the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, California, in November of 2000. She admits to having a serious geeky side which she indulges by building her own PCs. She is also a freelance web designer/developer and has completed several hand-coded websites as well as commercial sites with the Joomla! content management platform.
Email: elaine@pixelsurfers.net
Home page: http://pixelsurfers.net/
Vickie Taton
Vickie has a Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting from the University of Nevada Reno. She also teaches digital imaging and design at Big Pine High School. She loves digital media and enjoys helping students develop their creative skills.
Email: vtaton@gmail.com
Kiana Wyatt
Kiana has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Computer, Imaging and Video. She previously worked as a Hydro Electric Engineer in the mountain community of Big Creek, near Fresno, CA. As her interest in computer graphics grew, she made a career change to computer animation. After obtaining her second degree, she and her husband relocated to Bishop, CA, where she started a small animation/web/drafting company. Most recently, she was hired by Cerro Coso Community College as an Instructional Design Specialist for Cerro Coso Online and occasionally teaches digital media arts courses in the Eastern Sierra.
Email: kiwyatt@cerrocoso.edu