Rankings & Awards

Best Film School 2019

- Variety Magazine

One of only 13 accredited four-year colleges to offer a degree in ASL.

#1

Top 20 Animation and Game Design Schools in the Midwest 2019

- Animation Career Review
  • #1
    College for Aspiring Comedians 2019 - College Magazine
  • #3
    Music School Worldwide for Composing for Film and Television 2019 - the Hollywood Reporter
  • #6
    College for Video Game Design 2018 - College Magazine
  • #8
    Animation School in the Midwest 2020 - Animation Career Review
  • #8
    College for Playwriting 2017 - College Magazine
  • #11
    Graduate Photography Program 2016 - US News and World Report
  • #13
    Most Innovative School in the Midwest 2019 - US News & World Report
  • #17
    Best College Locations in America, 2020 - Niche.com
  • #19
    Film School in the Nation 2019 - the Hollywood Reporter

Alumni Awards

Aidy Bryant ’09 

is a mainstay on Saturday Night Live and has been nominated for two Emmys for her work on the legendary show.

  • Len Amato ’75 is the President of HBO Films and won a Primetime Emmy for Recount.
  • David Cromer won a Tony Award for Best Direction of The Band’s Visit.
  • Nick Drnaso ’11 is an American author and graphic novelist, best known for his books Beverly and Sabrina, the latter being the first graphic novel nominated for a Man Booker Prize in 2018.
  • Mauro Fiore ‘87 won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Cinematography for Avatar.
  • Tiffany Griffith ’92 won two Emmys for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series for her role as dialogue editor on Stranger Things.
  • Heather Gross ’97 won a Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie or Special for her work as foley editor on the HBO series The Night Of.
  • Tonika Johnson ’03 was named 2017 Chicagoan of the Year for her social justice work through photography.
  • Janusz Kaminski ’87 is a cinematographer who won an Oscar for Shindler’s List and Amistad.
  • Beth Morgan ’02 has been nominated twice for an Emmy for Outstanding Costume Design on GLOW and HBO’s Deadwood.
  • Iliana Regan ’05 is writer and chef. In 2019 she received a National Book Award for her memoir, Burn the Place. Her restaurant, Elizabeth, was ranked #6 in Chicago’s Top 50 restaurants by Chicago Tribune.

Lena Waithe ’06

won an Emmy for Comedy Writing for a Television Series for Master of None, becoming the first African American woman to win the award. Time named her among the 100 most influential people of 2018

Faculty Awards

Photography Professor Dawoud Bey received a 2017 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, known as the “Genius Grant.”

Alex Fruchter, Business and Entrepreneurship assistant professor and producer, was recently named one of Chicago Tribune’s “Chicago Artists of the Year.”