Teresa Cheng, the recently appointed Chair of the John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts (Hench-DADA) at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, will be installed as the first chairholder of the John C. Hench Endowed Division Chair at a dedication scheduled for Wednesday, April 25, 2018, it was announced by Dean Elizabeth M. Daley. The dedication will be held in the Mary Pickford lobby of USC’s George Lucas Building. The doors open at 6:30 pm with the program scheduled to begin at 7:15 pm, followed by a reception.

Cheng was appointed Chair of Hench-DADA in October 2017. In this role, she oversees the Division that has been at the forefront of animation and visual effects education since its inception in 1996. In 2006, The John C. Hench Foundation made a gift to SCA to name the Division in honor of the legendary Disney Imagineer who taught at the School and had donated an entire drawing studio to its animation program. The Hench Foundation has now established the John C. Hench Endowed Division Chair, an honor that will allow SCA to continue to attract renowned animation industry talent to lead the Division.

Inaugural Chairholder Teresa Cheng has more than thirty years of animation and visual effects production experience having served as general manager of LucasFilm Singapore and as a senior production executive and producer for DreamWorks Animation in the U.S.

“There is nothing that honors a faculty member more than an endowed chair” stated Daley. “John C. Hench’s work as an animator, imagineer, and humanitarian will forever be remembered at the School of Cinematic Arts because of this gift. When the next generation of great animation minds study under the leadership of Teresa Cheng, they will be following in John C. Hench’s footsteps and honoring his memory.”

The John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts offers BA and MFA degrees in Animation and Digital Arts as well as minors in 3D Animation, Animation & Digital Arts, and Science Visualization. The program covers all facets of animation and digital arts including classical and CG character animation, narrative and visual storytelling, performance capture, visual effects, motion graphics, stop-motion, experimental filmmaking, installations and multimedia, documentary animation, and scientific research visualization.

The John C. Hench Endowed Division Chair is part of a long list of positions at the USC School of Cinematic Arts endowed by entertainment industry luminaries, organizations, and companies including the Dana and Albert R. Broccoli Charitable Foundation, Mark Burnett, Dino and Martha DeLaurentiis, the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation, Electronic Arts, the George Lucas Family Foundation, Hugh M. Hefner, Walter and Marcia Kortschak, Marcia Lucas, Stephen K. Nenno, Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell, Victoria Oakie, the Mary Pickford Foundation, Katherine and Frank Price, Microsoft Corp., Stephanie Rothman, Steven Spielberg, Ray Stark, Time Warner, and the Wunderkinder Foundation. The School of Cinematic Arts currently has 31 endowed positions, a record for cinematic arts programs nationwide.

ABOUT TERESA CHENG
Teresa Cheng is the inaugural Chairholder of the John C. Hench Endowed Division Chair at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In this capacity she helms the School’s John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts. Cheng previously spent more than 30 years overseeing animation and visual effects production, as a studio executive and producer. Most recently, she served as the general manager of LucasFilm Singapore and led production for the joint venture between DreamWorks Animation in the U.S. and the newly established Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai as Senior Production Executive.

Cheng’s feature film credits include Shrek Forever After, Madagascar, Batman & Robin and True Lies. During her 17-year tenure at DreamWorks, Cheng traveled extensively to evaluate CG studios in Shanghai, Nanjing, Taipei, Seoul, Mumbai, Bangalore, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto, culminating in the company’s expansion in China and India in the last few years.

In the visual effects community, Cheng has worked as both a client (Warner Brothers Studio) and a vendor (Rhythm & Hues) and is no stranger to startups (Digital Domain).

A native of Hong Kong, Cheng moved to Seattle where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Washington.