Building on relationships established by President Stephen Beal in visits to China last year, representatives from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts visited CCA's San Francisco campus in early December. The visit culminated with Yang Li, director of CAFA's Executive Committee, and Stephen Beal signing a faculty and student exchange agreement.

CCA 2007 Fashion Design alumna Amy Sarabi has been chosen to compete in Season 7 of Project Runway, hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and fashionista Tim Gunn. In this highly competitive hit series, 16 designers battle for three coveted runway shows during New York Fashion Week and a chance to launch their fashion careers.

Howl, a feature film written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, will have its world premiere on the first night of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on January 21. The opening-night structure is new this year. Instead of one single headliner, there will be three, one in each of three categories: short film, narrative, and documentary. Howl will be featured in the narrative category; the jurors selected it for this special honor out of nearly 2,000 submissions.

We are very sad to report that one of CCA's most beloved faculty members, Larry Sultan, died of cancer on Sunday. He was a distinguished professor in both the undergraduate Photography Program and the Graduate Program in Fine Arts and had taught at CCA since 1988.