National Ranking | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post, Crystal Baity, is a contributor to ECU News Services.

ECU School of Art and Design recognized for animation program

    East Carolina University's School of Art and Design has been ranked as the 10th best animation program in the South by an industry website.

    The program also ranked 51st in the nation in a list recently announced by AnimationCareerReview.com. It was the first time ECU was invited to participate in the annual evaluation of education programs, said Carl Twarog, professor and faculty chair of art and design and area coordinator of the animation/interaction design program.

    ECU's 10-year-old program was evaluated in two categories, animation and game design, he said.

    "Some of the schools in the rankings have Oscar or Sundance-winning directors, animators, producers and special effects artists on their faculty," Twarog said.

    "Given that we have only two half-time faculty members and two fixed-term instructors, to accomplish a national ranking is something we are quite proud of. We are going up against some schools with bachelor and graduate degrees in game design and in animation."

    ECU offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art with a concentration in animation/interactive design and 13 other areas of concentration. The industry website also noted ECU's BFA-studio in cinematic arts and media production and the Master of Fine Arts in art with concentrations in illustration and painting and drawing. "Students have the opportunity to attend workshops, present their work at conferences, visit galleries and museums around the country, and exhibit and publish their work," the review said.

    Twarog credited ECU's high ranking to excellence in the curriculum and teaching. "The faculty really care about our students' success both academically and professionally," he said.

    The website bills itself as "the source for aspiring animation, design, and gaming professionals seeking information on training programs, schools and colleges, software and technology, career profiles, profiles of the leading industry firms and more."

    Links to the listings can be found here: http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-15-animation-schools-south-2014 and http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/2014-top-100-animation-school-programs-us.

    For more information on ECU, visit http://www.ecu.edu/soad.