Purchase College, SUNY is pleased to announce that Oscar winning director, Chris Wedge (Film ’81) and his wife, Jeanne Markel (Visual Arts ’81), have donated $100,000 to the School of Film and Media Studies at Purchase College. Wedge also holds an MA in Computer Graphics/Art Education from Ohio State University. This generous gift will help fund the renovation of the Film Sound Stage at Purchase College.
Chris Wedge is Co-Founder & Vice President of Creative Development of Blue Sky Studios, FOX and an Oscar® winning director. Wedge is the driving force behind the rise of Blue Sky Studio’s prominence as one of the most respected computer animation studios in the world.
Wedge started his career in computer animation at MAGI/Synthavision, where he animated key sequences for TRON. In pursuit of a graduate degree in computer graphics at Ohio State University’s Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD), he created two short films: Tuber’s Two Step and Balloon Guy. He wrote and directed Blue Sky’s first film, Bunny, which won more than 25 international awards for animation excellence, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1998.
Wedge went on to direct Blue Sky’s first two computer-animated feature films, Ice Age (nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, 2002) and Robots. He was executive producer of Ice Age: The Meltdown, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, and the global hits Rio, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Ice Age: Continental Drift. He directed Epic, which was released in 2013. He recently completed his first live action/hybrid film Monster Trucks, released in 2017.
Wedge was awarded with the Presidential Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009 and served on the honorary committee for the Purchase College Arts Gala 2012. On January 26, 2016, Wedge came to Purchase College to speak about his life as a student and his journey through his career and was interviewed by Iris Cahn ’76, professor of film, School of Film and Media Studies.
Agustín Zarzosa, chair of Film and Media Studies at Purchase College, said, “The sound stage is a space of historical significance in which our celebrated alumni have shot their first films. Chris Wedge's generous gift will ensure that our current and future students will have the opportunity to shoot their own films in a state-of-the-art sound stage.”
Wedge said, “When colleges get it right, they produce graduates who are successful in their chosen path. Purchase College set me on my path and because of that I will always have a special affinity for my alma mater. One of the best ways I can demonstrate my loyalty to Purchase is by giving back. I appreciate the education this school provided for me, and I want to make it possible for students in the future to benefit, too. Thank you, Purchase College!”
About Purchase College–SUNY
Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College–SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu.