Stuart MacLelland ’87 M.F.A. spent a week at the Korea University of Media Arts (KUMA) teaching courses in television production, after being invited to do so by a KUMA delegation that included Mira Kim ’07 M.F.A., a KUMA faculty member and MacLelland’s former student. MacLelland—an award-winning professor, acting associate provost for academic programs, and former chair of the Department of Television and Radio—is the very first educator outside of Korea that KUMA has asked to teach there for an extended period. Over the years, a number of students from South Korea have received degrees from the Department of Television and Radio. Many of these graduates returned to their homeland and secured highly competitive positions as network television producers and college professors. These alumni meet regularly and keep in touch on social media to share their experiences and network. During his visit, MacLelland attended one of their meetings in Seoul and had the chance to reminisce with them about their ‘glory days’ at the college. “The Korean broadcast/electronic media industry is very sophisticated,” said MacLelland. “Brooklyn College has a great reputation for having an excellent M.F.A. program in television production. Plus, our program is in New York City. They get to live and study in the world’s media capital. These things make the college a very attractive location to these students.” The KUMA delegation that invited MacLelland included the school’s dean, television production department chair, and another faculty member. They visited New York in 2015 in an attempt to establish relationships between KUMA and various universities in the United States. They also visited the Brooklyn College campus, met with MacLelland, and invited him to teach applied media aesthetics courses (television production) at KUMA in July. “I’m very familiar with Stuart’s enthusiasm for teaching,” Kim said. “As a former student of his, I remember how willing he was to educate us not only as a professor, but also as a producer. That helped us tremendously when we went out into the real world of media production. I thought that style of teaching would be of great benefit to the students at KUMA.” MacLelland, who has taught at Brooklyn College for 20 years, helped 20 KUMA students stage dramas, shoot music videos, create commercial product set-ups, and other single- and multiple-camera production exercises. “This was the first invitation I’ve ever received to teach in Korea,” MacLelland said. “I’m very interested in art, culture, and history, and traveling to a region of the world I’ve never been means a great deal to me. It’s very rewarding to work with smart, talented, and diligent students.” Jong Kyu, a student who displayed great promise during MacLelland’s course, applied to the college’s M.F.A. in Television Production Program and was pre-accepted for fall 2017. Kyu will join a long line of students from South Korea who, as MacLelland pointed out, “credit Brooklyn College with launching their professional careers—whether they went into education or broadcasting. And they are deeply appreciative of everything the college imparted to them, so that they had the skill set to create opportunities for their own success.” MacLelland’s course was so popular and successful with students that KUMA invited him to come back next year for an extended two-week instruction.
