Reporter
Jeremy Warner, assistant professor of digital media at CSU Bakersfield, was one of the 25 professors nationwide chosen to attend the Television Academy Foundation’s 2018 Faculty Seminar.
The Television Academy Foundation celebrates the accomplishments of television’s past and educates those who plan to obtain a career in the television industry. The faculty seminar that Warner attended was a four-day event in which professors from all over the world learned from the industry’s top professionals.
Warner says that at this conference, he learned of many new careers that are opening up in the Los Angeles area, such as “Product Launch Strategists.” He states that he has been working with the Department of Communications to “redevelop the curriculum” in order to meet the needs for these new and upcoming jobs. Warner believes that there are “a lot of new exciting things coming to CSUB.”
He has already been incorporating these new ideas into his work at CSUB. Warner has done this through the Hackathon, which took place Oct. 26 through 28. This event aided in “building a community around XR (cross reality; a way of blending digital worlds with our physical realities) and getting students ready for new jobs,” Warner says.
At the seminar, Warner was also able to “tour the Warner Brothers Studio, go behind the scenes at Dancing with the Stars and Jimmy Kimmel Live, and network with companies.” He also spent his time, “working on finding internship opportunities for students at CSUB.”
Warner shared that Ernest Crawford is “looking to work with CSUB to foster development of XR projects” as well. Crawford helps run Cimulated here in Bakersfield, a virtual reality studio, lab, and arcade. This studio helped provide Warner and the students who participated in the Hackathon with computers and XR hardware.
Crawford says that the purpose of this facility is to entertain as well as provide information to those who “want to learn or enter the world of XR.” He also states that it is “open to the public for those who want to experience VR gaming.” Cimulated is located at 4100 Easton Dr. Suite 10.
Warner states that his goal is “to prep students for jobs in the industry.” He hopes to educate students with the knowledge of “producing, technology, and creating content” so that more students from Bakersfield will be considered for high-end television companies.
The professor says that he has “big and lofty goals,” and believes that “big dreams and big goals” can bring success. His goal is to “rebrand Bakersfield from its current brand of agriculture and oil into a new media mecca of progress in California.”
