The faculty, staff and students of the Interdisciplinary Arts Department are deeply saddened by the death of Jeanine Mellinger on September 1, 2012, after a prolonged battle with cancer. Jeanine Mellinger was an Associate Professor of the Interdisciplinary Arts Department since 2006. She came to Columbia College Chicago in 1994, and was originally a tenured faculty member in the Television Department, where she played a key role in re-designing the curriculum. Starting in 2001, she created the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFA, while working only part-time in the department; she ran the MFA program, almost single-handedly, for four years, until the fall of 2006, when her position was shifted from Television to Interdisciplinary Arts.

Jeanine was actively engaged as a video artist for many years. Prior to 1994, she was the Program Director of the Center for New Television and taught at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as at The Community TV Network. She held a BFA from the University of California, San Diego, and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute. Her connections in the realm of video art brought such distinguished artists as Bill Viola and Mary Lucier to Columbia. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art; The Kitchen; MIT; Anthology Film Archive; Image Union, WTTW; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Walker Art Center; Artists Space, New York; Kunst Video, Norway; Boston Film Video Foundation; Festival Des Files Des Vues, Quebec; Galleri 33, Norway; Women’s Video Festival, Montreal; Video Biennale; World Wide Video Festival, Holland; Women in the Director Chair. She has been awarded recognition from Provost Humanities and Arts Grant and Faculty Development Grant, Columbia College Chicago; AFI/NEA Regional Fellowship; Jerome Foundation, Film in the Cities; Videowall Project, Intermedia Arts/Dayton Foundation; Illinois Arts Council, Artist Fellowship; Neighborhood Arts Project, and the Chicago Council of Fine Art.