Evolution is a curious thing, Dean Bob Bassett will tell you. You can’t always see it coming, but you sure can tell when it’s passed by. To be in the midst of it, trying to influence the outcomes of change is a lot like filmmaking—one incredible, creative, challenging, risky ride. Back in the days when Bassett was taking students on location to Death Valley, the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts wasn’t even a dream. But even then, he was making the changes which would lead, in true evolutionary style, to one of the fastest growing, most complete film and media programs in the last 20 years.

“Today it’s all about digital filmmaking,” says Bassett, “anything else is looked upon as a dinosaur. But in another sense, nothing’s changed. It’s still about story.” Which is why Bassett, a producer/director of educational and industrial films and the school’s technology guru, put Visual Storytelling at the heart of the program. Indeed, Bassett’s career and interests are a prime example of the paths that individual evolution can take—keeping the best of the past and moving forward to adapt to a changing environment.