Interim Dean Lawrence Andrews’ Bio
Lawrence Andrews, Professor of Film and Digital Media
Interim Dean of the Arts Division
Professor Andrews has served as the division’s associate dean of Faculty Affairs since 2019. He joined UC Santa Cruz in 1991.
He is a professor and previous chair of the Film and Digital Media department working in non-fiction cinematic modes of production. His major research projects include the animated documentary ownerbuilt¸ which tells the story of citizens assaulted by the police while seeking safe passage across the Danzigar bridge in the wake of hurricane Katrina, and the documentary film we just telling stories, produced in collaboration with the Media Project Theater for Incarcerated Women. His sonically rich audio essay MythicPotentialities expands the subjectivity of Moses Wright, uncle of Emmitt Till, via courtroom testimony and family history, to confront the grief, and the immense loss his family suffered, while simultaneously weaving a tale of personal empowerment.
Professor Andrews’ current research represents a radical departure from previous methodologies, and exist as a small family farm, which deploys concepts of agroecology to develop a food forest system which facilitates the exploration of novel ecosystems, and invasive species, while functioning as a gateways into questions of migration, mutualism and interbeing.
His past work has been supported by the National Endowment for the arts, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and screened at institutions including SF MOMA, the Whitney Museum, Chicago’s Third Coast International Audio Festival, and the San Francisco International film festival.