About Us
About Us
Location: 623 S. Wabash, Suite 307
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 9AM - 5PM
Main Line: 312.369.7280
E-mail: portfoliocenter@colum.edu
STAFF:
Miguel Andonaegui, Office Administrator / mandonaegui@colum.edu
Chris Davis, Program Coordinator / chdavis@colum.edu
Keesha Johnson, Resource Developer / kajohnson@colum.edu
Caroline Cook Juhlin, Creative Industry Liaison / cjuhlin@colum.edu
David T. Lewis, Creative Industry Liaison / dtlewis@colum.edu
Tim Long, Director / tlong@cloum.edu
Dirk Matthews, Assistant Director: Portfolio Archivist / dmatthews@colum.edu
Weston Morris, Production Coordinator: Web Publishing / wmorris@colum.edu
I’m an architect from Mexico and a graduate student in the MFA Interior Architecture: Sustainable Design program at Columbia College Chicago. I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana in 2007, where I was awarded an Academic Achievement Scholarship and the Academic Merit Award for highest GPA in my graduating class. In the course of the five year program I had the opportunity to compete in two National Competitions in the cities of Acapulco and Durango, where I received an Honorable Mention and got 4th place respectively. Upon graduating, I worked as Project Designer at a small architectural firm, and my first residential and commercial buildings and interiors can be found in Baja California.
After a mostly technical education, I decided to move to Chicago to pursue a career in sustainable architectural and interior design (hopefully overcoming my red-green color blindness). Besides design, I have a passion for photography, fashion, and Pop Art. I’m an avid moviegoer, concertgoer, and reader of fiction and graphic novels. I can speak English and Spanish fluently, some French, and I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than three minutes.
Chris Davis, Program Coordinator
As Program Coordinator, Chris comes to the Portfolio Center as a comedy writer and film director working in Chicago. In addition to filmmaking, Chris is also an adjunct faculty member in the Film Department at Columbia - where he teaches undergraduate production and aesthetics courses.
Some of Chris's filmmaking achievements include screening his work
at the 2008 Festival Du Cannes and winning a Bronze Plaque at the 2008
Columbus International Film Festival. Chris's work has also screened
at the Chicago Short Comedy Festival and the Chicago International Reel
Shorts Fest. He won the Audience Award and the Best Editing Award at
2005's Big Screen Film Festival. Additionally, he had the opportunity
to show work at the University Film and Video Conference (2007) in
addition to a Special Engagement Screening at Chicago's iO Theatre.
Chris has also worked professionally as voiceover talent for
documentary films. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio - Chris received a
BS in Mass Communication from Miami University in 2003 and an MFA in
Film & Video from Columbia College Chicago in 2009.
Keesha Johnson, Resource Developer
As a graduate of Columbia College Chicago's BA Film program and MFA Creative Writing program, it's no surprise that I am a fan of storytelling. The only thing better than telling stories is hearing them. At the Portfolio Center, I showcase artistic stories from students, industry professionals, and everyone in between, to illustrate portfolio best practices. Thankfully, my relationship with the art of storytelling has had more highs than lows. Here are a few of them: I am a 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 recipient of the Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Fellowship. My fiction has been awarded by the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation. My work has also been published in numerous literary journals including The First Line, Hair Trigger, and South Loop Review.
Caroline Cook Juhlin, Creative Industry Liaison
Caroline has been a respected professional in visual arts for over 10 years. She has worked with some of the industry's most talented and successful visual artists as a studio manager, producer and an artist’s representative. These roles allowed her the opportunity to work with countless ad agencies, designers and corporations throughout the United States. Caroline has been a Portfolio Advisor with the Portfolio Center for 2 years and has a passion for education and helping students make sense of their career goals.
Caroline continues to work as a freelance photographer: www.carolinecookphotography.com. When not looking at images, thinking about images, or making images she’s probably eating, sleeping or moving furniture around.David T. Lewis, Creative Industry Liaison
David has spent the last 10-years of his life pinching himself -- not in a weird masochistic way -- but rather because he has had the honor of working with such a variety of talented people. He has spent time in the trenches as a writer (Time Out Chicago, Planet, Thrasher, Play), as a PR hack, a teacher, and most recently as a father of his son, Harper, whom enjoys throwing food, waking up at 4 am, and yelling nonsense .... much like his dad. Check out the portfolio of his entertainment writing.
Tim Long, Director
I'm a photographer, most interested in architecture and landscape. I have pictures in the Midwest Photographer's Project, at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Mary and Leigh Block Museum, and at the Tweed Museum of Art. In 2003 I was awarded an Illinois Fellowship Grant. In 2008 I received a Graham Foundation grant. I've taught in the Photography Department at Columbia since getting an MFA from University of Illinois at Chicago in 1983 and have worked on staff here for 15 years. I've gathered a lot of information and ideas about portfolios in that time. I'm very interested in how a well-edited and presented body of work so clearly documents an artist's talent and vision and also suggests who they are as a person. You can see my portfolio online at tslong.com.
Dirk Matthews, Assistant Director: Portfolio Archivist
While attending Columbia College Chicago as a student, I was a Film & Video Major with a Cinematography concentration. After freelancing for several years, I began training as a Counselor, specializing in trauma recovery using art and Gestalt therapies. I received my Certified Addictions Counselor certification from the state of Arizona in 1994, and returned to Chicago in 1997 to begin teaching in the Film Department as an adjunct faculty member. My favorite classes to teach draw on my skills as a photographer and cinematographer incorporated with my fascination of the interpretation of images in relation to narrative structure.
Outside of work, I am a freelance videographer, a photographer, and run a small dessert business with my wife. My more notable freelance jobs are filming golden eagle nests for the ABC special America the Beautiful, and the HD concert film The First Waltz. My work has been shown at the Tucson International Film Festival and Columbia College Chicago.
Weston Morris, Production Coordinator: Web Publishing
Here at the Portfolio Center Weston oversees the web publishing system for student portfolios and the Portfolio Center archive. He also instructs workshops that train students on preparing their web portfolio for the web publishing system.
Weston received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently teaches Digital Image Design within the Interactive Arts and Media department here at Columbia.
Outside of work, teaching and making art Weston plays bass for relaxation (currently with the reformed GOUDA). He also collects vintage lounge albums and digitizes them for preservation and loves POP culture.