Portfolio Production
Resources
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:
Christie Andersen Career Development Specialist / ceandersen@colum.edu
Miguel Andonaegui Office Administrator / mandonaegui@colum.edu
Chris Davis Program Coordinator / chdavis@colum.edu
Colin DeKuiper Creative Industry Liaison / cdekuiper@colum.edu
Julie Ford Creative Industry Liaison / jalevizos@colum.edu
Rob Funderburk Creative Industry Liaison / rfunderburk@colum.edu
Keesha Johnson Marketing Coordinator / kajohnson@colum.edu
Tim Long Executive Director / tlong@colum.edu
Dirk Matthews Associate Director / dmatthews@colum.edu
Weston Morris Production Coordinator: Web Publishing / wmorris@colum.edu
Christie Andersen Career Development Specialist
I like to joke that deciding on my own career path was too difficult, so instead I devote my time to helping others find theirs. Early aspirations ranged from journalist, to lawyer, researcher, and teacher until I realized that helping others was what made work feel meaningful. Before I joined Columbia in 2008, I worked as Internship Coordinator/Career Counselor at Lake Forest College. I have a master’s degree in Career Counseling from the University of Missouri where I also worked as a Career Specialist with students and the community. All of this has focused on knowing how people make satisfying decisions about their career, what companies look for when hiring, and how to help students articulate their strengths.
My interest is in the journey- identifying what you like and what you do well, exploring possible options, and taking steps to succeed. Starting your career is exciting, but also overwhelming and sometimes outright terrifying. It’s my job to make it feel a little more manageable.
Miguel Andonaegui Office Administrator
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.
Colin DeKuiper Creative Industry Liaison
Colin comes to the Portfolio Center after spending a decade actively performing, recording, and working within the music industry. After moving to Chicago in 1999 to begin his B.A., with a concentration in Media Studies at DePaul University, he quickly found himself immersed in Chicago’s music scene. A few years later, he was performing and recording regularly in Chicago and doing brief tours as a bassist for bands such as Wolfie and Dakota/Dakota.
After graduating from DePaul, Colin helped form Russian Circles and toured extensively with that band playing anywhere and everywhere between basements and London’s Brixton Academy. After a 3 year tenure in that group, Colin transitioned into production work at Chicago venues such as Schubas and The Empty Bottle and continued writing, performing, and recording with the following bands; Office, Old Fake, Male, Follows, Bloodiest, and Lasers and Fast and Sh!t.
After a few years consistently working as a musician and as a production assistant, Colin returned to DePaul in 2008 to begin work on his M.Ed in College Student Development.
Colin helps create programming and provides portfolio review for the following programs: AEMM, Audio Arts & Acoustics, Music, Dance, Theatre (performance focus), Early Childhood Education, Art Education, Elementary Education, Cultural Studies, and Music Composition for the Screen.
Julie Ford Creative Industry Liaison
Julie Ford has been working in the Chicago Film and Television arena for over a decade. She has worked on major features, independent and short films, reality programming and music videos and most recently as a commercial director’s representative. Julie is also an adjunct faculty member in the Producing Concentration in the Film & Video department.
For over a year, Julie has been on the board of Women In Film Chicago as the Student Division Board Chair and the Vice Chair of Internal Communications. In these roles she connects media students throughout the Chicagoland area through networking and events, and also provides articles and interviews for the WIFC newsletter.
Julie thrives working with students and reviewing their work. She is thrilled to be a part of the Portfolio Center as this is a huge opportunity to not only make sure students are using best practice, but to also provide them with networking opportunities and events with industry professionals and to guide in the preparation of their reels and portfolios to show their best work.
Julie holds a B.A. in Film & Video with a concentration in Film Producing from Columbia College Chicago and a M.S. in Broadcast Journalism from Roosevelt University.
Rob Funderburk Creative Industry Liaison
Rob Funderburk marries over a decade of professional design work with so much time quietly drawing or painting. Productive personal output ranges from little framable doodles to immersive wall art. Rob is from Elkhart, Indiana, studied at Indiana University, and is currently in Chicago with his wife, writer Gretchen Kalwinski. Rob reads poetry, wears tools, uses hats. Likes Star Wars & stuff. Fair marksman, drives cars well. Rob wrote this.
Keesha Johnson Marketing Coordinator
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. Through Career Initiatives, I showcase artistic stories from students and industry professionals to promote career and portfolio development at Columbia College Chicago.
Thankfully, my relationship with the art of storytelling has had more highs than lows. Here are a few of them: I am a 2004-2006 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.
Tim Long Executive 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 Associate Director
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.
