Joseph Delappe Biography

If someone had told thirty-years-younger college student Joseph DeLappe that he would be working with digital media on computers and loving it, he probably would have laughed at them. But times change, and he is not only teaching in UNR’s Digital Media program, but in fact is its head. From his college days to his own performance art in and outside of games to teaching digital media-related classes, Professor DeLappe has come a long way. His main message throughout the interview was that your work should mean something, and should be more than mind-numbing entertainment, particularly for someone interested in working in the field of video games. This idea has driven much of his career. DeLappe got his start in digital media during his college days. His original intention was to go into graphic design, but he found himself becoming disillusioned with the idea of making advertisements for people to buy more things they do not need. One of his professors encouraged him to take a newly-offered class in computer art and design, which he was reluctant to do …show more content…
When asked about his favorite experiences as a professor, it came as no surprise that his immediate answer was seeing them succeed, and how he enjoys keeping in touch with those who have gone on in their careers. He likes seeing his students work on intense, collaborative projects, like a group working on an interactive musical environment. He also described a project where students went out to an illegal shooting range and gathered up the trash there, then decorated white painter’s suits with them and wore them out to downtown Reno, becoming a sort of mock dance troupe and bringing the trash back to where it came from. He even has one of the suits hanging in his office, as well as a poster-size photo of the students under Reno’s arch. These collaborative experiences are among his favorite