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Andrea Meditch is the newly appointed director of the Film and Media Arts Initiative in the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Andrea Meditch, a noted film executive producer whose credits include the Oscar-nominated films “Man on Wire” and “Encounters at the End of the World,” has joined the Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Sciences as director of the Film and Media Arts Initiative.

The new initiative is designed to work collaboratively with Michigan’s burgeoning film industry. Specifically, she will serve as a liaison between the college and the film industry, with much of her work focusing on the film industry’s needs related to work force, and what kind of training/education people need if they want to work in the film industry.

“I’m looking forward to working on behalf of the college with the Michigan Film Office and industry leaders to create opportunities for MSU students, while helping to grow Michigan’s film and media arts industry,” Meditch said.

“There is a great deal of film and media arts activity occurring across multiple media platforms at the university. Bringing the activity and energy together is key to creating increased opportunities for students and faculty. This will pave the way for the concentration of expertise to reach out to the broader public and to industry.”

Meditch comes to MSU from Maryland-based Discovery Films, the theatrical arm of Discovery Communications, which she launched and built, overseeing the development and production of Discovery Films' portfolio of theatrically released documentaries. 

In addition to executive producing “Man on Wire,” which took both the jury and audience awards for World Documentary at Sundance 2008, she also executive-produced the award-winning, critically lauded “Encounters at the End of the World.” 

She also executive-produced the Emmy-nominated “In the Shadow of the Moon,” which won the World Documentary Audience Award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and the documentary “Grizzly Man,” which won the Alfred P. Sloan award at Sundance in 2005 and captured the praise of critics coast-to-coast during its theatrical run.

Meditch was at Discovery from 1995 to June 2008 where, prior to being vice president of Discovery Films, she was head of development for the Discovery Channel. There she brought in such hit series as Myth Busters, and such internationally recognized special events as The Real Eve. 1995, she helped launch and build Discovery.com, one of the first big content sites on the Internet, eventually serving as editorial director. 

She has served on select industry advisory boards, including Cinema Eye, and as a trustee for the International Documentary Association. She has juried numerous film festivals, including most recently the U.S. Documentary jury at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Meditch earned a doctorate in linguistic anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science degree in communications from Northwestern University.

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.