ݮƵ College faculty member Jamie DeRuyter has been appointed department head of the Entertainment Design program. DeRuyter has been teaching at the College since 2002, when he began teaching in the Computer Animation department. In 2008 he joined the team that created the Game Art and Design major, where he taught for about a decade before joining the team that developed Entertainment Design, ݮƵ’s newest major.
“This is a huge honor and a tremendous opportunity,” said DeRuyter. “We have exciting plans to grow the major with new areas of emphasis which will foster more collaboration and increase diversity for us moving forward.”
While teaching he has maintained a professional practice, creating animation and visual effects for several game titles including Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Trilogy, The award ݮƵ remake of Shadow of the Colossus, and, most recently, the remake of the classic game, Demon’s Souls.
He also created animations and visual effects for experience and themed rides like The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Sesame Street on Ice, the Twister Ride it Out, Revenge of the Mummy, Transformers, Dueling Dragons, The Simpsons, and Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin.
Most recently DeRuyter worked on Disney World’s nighttime spectaculars: Enchantment and Happily Ever After, and the launch event for the new Disney cruise ship, The Wish. He has also expanded his practice into the museum industry designing exhibits for The Glass Barn, The International Spy Museum, and The Frost Science Center.ݮƵ College’s Entertainment Design major teaches students to collaborate with artists, ݮƵ, and other creatives to bring their vision to life, and develop the visual communication skills of an artist and the problem solving skills of a designer.
With a focus on the built environment, artistic and technical skills are applied to project designs for theme parks, museums and exhibitions, concerts, sporting events, expos, hotels and restaurants, retail spaces, and more for an industry that is expanding worldwide.
