Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383
For Immediate Release
October 12, 2004
Dateline Los Angeles -- More than 500 entertainment industry professionals gathered on the CBS Studio lot on Sunday evening, October 10 to celebrate five years of Columbia College Chicago's Semester in LA program, which is housed in Bungalow 25.
Hosted by Dr. Warrick L. Carter, president of Columbia, the Midwestern college that boasts the largest film and video department in the world, the event featured music, dancing, food, drink and the ubiquitous LA schmooze.
In addition to the partying and pitching, Carter took the opportunity to introduce the program's new director, Jon Katzman. Katzman, a producer with extensive industry connections, was recently hired after a nine-month nationwide search. He will replace the late Bob Enrietto, who co-founded and directed the program until his untimely death last December.
Carter also announced the establishment of a new scholarship fund for Columbia College Chicago students participating in the Semester in LA program: The Bob Enrietto Scholarship. The fund was endowed with an initial gift from Jean Kralka, Enrietto's sister.
The Semester in LA program is the only academic program with a permanent facility on a studio lot. The program involves five intensive weeks during which students maintain full-time Columbia College Chicago status while acquiring direct experience of what it takes to make a mark in the world's most competitive film production environment. Columbia's active West Coast Alumni Association helps current students to benefit from the success of Columbia graduates, and works closely with the Semester in L.A. administrators to ensure students have every opportunity to test themselves in a real-world environment and make crucial connections for their future careers.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.