Graphic Communications
A D V I S O R Y C O M M I T T E E M E E T I N G M I N U T E S
S e p t e m be r 28 , 2 0 12 . Si l ve r P e ak Re s t au r a n t.
1 2 : 0 0 p . m. - 1: 1 5 p. m .
Members Present
Ron Marston (TMCC), Greg Mason, (the GMAA design group), Dayan Paul (Antipode Media), William Letcher (CLM), Tim
Miley (One to One interactive), Brian Wells (TMCC)
Members Not Present
Melissa Gillis (AIGA Education Chair), Kurt Hoge (Reno Type), Temma Hammond (Liberty Entertainment Corp.),Stan Byers
(Stan Can Design)
Meeting started at 12:00 pm: Minutes from last meeting were approved.
Old Business
Scholarships:
No new discussion.
Portfolio Day:
The first Portfolio day in May (2012) was successful and we will do one again in 2013. Melissa Gillis has informed
Ron it will be supported by AIGA and is tentatively scheduled for April 18.
Discussion about tracking graduated students to see where (or if) they are working. William suggested telling students in the portfolio class to let the program know when they land a job, or having the employer notify the program.
AIGA student membership:
Melissa also reported to Ron AIGA is trying to get “an authentic AIGA student group launched”.
Articulation with Washoe County School District:
The GRC program is still pursuing articulation agreements, and has three new ones that should be signed this semester.
New Business
BAS and BFA degree opportunities for GRC students:
Ron explained the current opportunities for the GRC program to tie into a four year degree program in-state, with
GBC (BAS) and UNLV (BFA). Some discussion about strengths/weaknesses of both and which would be best for students and the local industry. William asked if a survey could be done to see how many student would be interested in moving to Vegas to complete their degree. Dayan asked if we’d talked to big companies like Apple and Google to see if a four degree is needed. William suggested the best degree is the whichever one will prepare
Page 1 of 2; Graphic Communications Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Created: 7/23/2014; Rev: 8/12/2014
TMCC is an EEO/AA institution. See http://eeo.tmcc.edu for more information.

them best for the industry. Greg said he looks at the portfolio and skill set and doesn’t care too much about the degree, and that having a bachelor’s degree may be more important to the student than the employer. There was agreement that a four year degree does make a statement about the work ethic, wherewithal, communication skills, etc., of the student which is important for landing a job. For large companies or management positions a four year degree is more important. Dayan said there is a huge need for engineering skills rather than design skills.
Discussion about teaching new course(s) for the mobile market, such as content delivery and mobile app. development. This is where everything is going now. A course in Unity or HTML 5 for interactive development.
Discussion about programming vs. design skills. Ron said a class that taught both would be ideal but difficult for a teacher and the students, who generally possess one or the other skill. Discussion about the popularity of a course that taught these mobile device skills (it would be popular with both students and people working in the industry).
Tim has knowledge in this area and would be willing to teach such a course. The GRC program could offer it as a special topics GRC 298 course, maybe in the summer 2013. Tim will email Ron with a brief description of the course as he sees it.
William has money budgeted (AIGA) to pay for design publications for students (such as Print and Communication
Arts). Ron will send him info he has on student discounts for Communication Arts.
The GRC Advisory Committee thanked TMCC for picking up the lunch tab!
Meeting adjourned at 1:15 pm
Submitted by Ron Marston
Page 2 of 2; Graphic Communications Advisory Committee Meeting
TMCC is an EEO/AA institution. See http://eeo.tmcc.edu for more information.
Rev.: 8/12/2014