The School of Media Arts named Robin Bargar its new dean and Doreen Bartoni’s successor. Bargar was chosen because of his experience in entertainment and technology, according to Louise Love, vice president of Student Affairs.

Bargar has experience as a composer, classical pianist and filmmaker. He created an animated film that was nominated for an Oscar, called “The End.” It is Bargar’s first year at Columbia, but his experience as a college dean goes far back.

“Columbia asked Bargar to accept the position of dean of the School of Media Arts after an exhaustive nationwide search,” Love said. “[Bargar] was selected from an outstanding field of candidates from all areas of media and communication.”

Bargar came to Columbia from The City University of New York’s College of Technology, where he was the dean of the School of Technology and Design. According to Bargar, he went to CUNY Tech because it gave him the opportunity to work with people who were in media, design

and technology.

After six years in NYC, Bargar moved to Chicago to accept his new job. He said there will be challenges, but he is ready

for what the job requires.

“My first challenge will be getting to know the culture, the students and how the students see themselves,” Bargar said. “The other challenge is to prepare students for things we don’t know but can only predict.”

Technology became Bargar’s niche because of the creative projects he was interested in.

However, the tools he had, such as video and film, were not good enough for the projects that he wanted to do.

Back in the ’80s, computers were used for business—not media—according to Bargar. People who wanted to use computers for media had to invent that for themselves, he said.

“I ended up inventing—with friends and colleagues—ways of using the computer to do media that were really not software you can buy,” Bargar said.

He worked on many projects and continued to experiment with technology in college and graduate school, during which he worked on “The End.”

According to Bargar, he tried to create a special relationship between animation and sound with this film. Bargar didn’t intend to make an Academy Award-nominated work of art.

“That’s what happened because the piece turned out very well,” Bargar said.

Once he entered high school, he became more interested in composition. During all his time with music, he was still interested in making movies, he said.

“My passion comes from the realization that creative ideas, or creative projects, can influence the development of new technology,” Bargar said.