One OCCC professor is being honored in recognition of her groundbreaking work in computer gaming and computer animation.

The DaVinci Institute has named Akram Taghavi-Burris, Computer-Aided Technology professor, a 2011 DaVinci Fellow.

A new fellow is named each year, and each fellowship runs for two years.

“I was nominated by the President of Academic Affairs (Dr. Felix Aquino),” Taghavi-Burris said.

“I was very excited and kind of shocked,” she said.

“I’m still like really? I won.”

Tagahavi-Burris will graduate from the University of Central Oklahoma with a master’s degree this spring but has been a part of OCCC faculty for 10 years.

“I started working as a lab tutor in 2001, she said. “I became a professor in 2007.”

She teaches video game and multimedia design, along with computer animation.

“I developed the computer animation program,” she said.

“OCCC didn’t offer that before.

“We’ve totally revamped both curriculums.”

Taghavi-Burris said she mixes classic and new elements in the classroom.

“In the animation program we start students with traditional hand-drawn animation and then we move into computer animation,” she said.

She said she also has been able to obtain grants for the department.

“We got a couple of Success grants for actual animator desks and Wacom tablets for the 2D animation,” Taghavi-Burris said.

She said she has high hopes for the future of the Computer-Aided Technology department.

“My plan is to just build on this program.

Overall, I’d like to see it progress to our students producing animations to send off to the festivals and competitions,” Taghavi-Burris said.

For more information on the classes Taghavi-Burris teaches, go online to www.occc.edu and look at the course catalogue or e-mail ataghaviburris@occc.edu.