Alison Mayer, of Carlisle, 'paving the way' as one of Clark University's inaugural LEEP Project Pioneers

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Alison Mayer is a LEEP Project Pioneer at Clark University

WORCESTER, MA (01/14/2013)(readMedia)-- Alison H. Mayer, of Carlisle, is one of 46 Clark University students selected to serve as a LEEP Project Pioneer-the first class of students conducting projects under LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice), Clark's model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences.

The LEEP Pioneers have been working closely with faculty mentors as well as Clark alumni and organizational partners on projects of shared interest or leading-edge research and analysis. The projects, some of which started this summer, and others which will commence during the 2012-2013 academic year, allow the students to creatively address actual problems and apply their knowledge in authentic workplace settings before they graduate. The LEEP Projects span the full breadth of academic studies, from arts/humanities to natural and social sciences.

Mayer traveled cross-country and is producing a feature-length, road trip documentary about the issues surrounding American identity and the myth of the West. The final cut of Mayer's film will address the following question: "In an increasingly globalized and visibly multicultural world, how do Americans imagine and re-imagine the myth of the West and, by extension, alter their own national identity?"

A video of Mayer talking with her advisor about her project is available at http://clarkvoices.clarku.edu/2012/11/05/westing/ .

"Although filmmakers are used to looking at the world through a lens, I found that this trip opened my eyes to the world around me. I was able to see an America that was sometimes beautiful, sometimes frighteningly large, but, more often than not, plainly, normally, going about its own business..." said Mayer.

Mayer now has hundreds of hours of video footage and many still photographs at her disposal as she edits her documentary. A huge fan of science fiction, Mayer hopes to create something with a post-apocalypse theme to it.

"It's very very difficult to shape hundreds of hours of footage of stuff that actually happened into something that seems like a fiction," she said.

Professor Hugh Manon, Mayer's faculty sponsor and associate professor and director of Screen Studies at Clark, said "Alison is clearly a gifted filmmaker having completed several interesting short films while at Clark. What she proposes is novel and edgy, but entirely do-able."

"One of the core LEEP values is the ability to manage complexity and uncertainty, and this is really an exercise in exactly that," said professor Manon.

"Clark's LEEP Project Pioneers initiative is the inaugural run for an exciting new feature of our undergraduate curriculum. LEEP Projects provide opportunities for students to blend academic learning with professional development," said Colin Polsky, associate dean for undergraduate research and active pedagogy and associate professor of geography. "LEEP Projects not only allow Clark students to dive deep into a topic about which they are passionate, but also require students to learn how to communicate about the topic to multiple and diverse audiences."

This spring, Mayer was one of ten Clark undergraduates to receive a Steinbrecher Fellowship Program to support his or her pursuit of an original idea, creative research, or community service project. Mayer used her Fellowship to support this project.

Mayer is a member of the Class of 2013; she is a screen studies major and a computer science minor. Mayer is a Dean's List student and a member of the Clark Cable Network and Clark University EOM (EOM). She interned at Logo TV, one of MTV Networks in New York City; Troma films; CCTV in Concord, and WCCA-TV in Worcester; and served as a camera assistant for the feature film, "Lola Versus" (2012).

The daughter of Kathy and Sid Mayer, of Carlisle, Mayer is a 2008 graduate of Concord-Carlisle High School.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to contemporary challenges in the areas of psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University's motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. www.clarku.edu