Ken O’Donnell
Associate Dean, Academic Program Planning
California State University
Office of the Chancellor

Ken O'Donnell joined California State University in 2007, working in Academic Program Planning in the Office of the Chancellor. Before coming to the CSU he was a faculty member in Chapman University's film school, where he taught screenwriting, film studies, and independent producing. Films he has written or produced have been released around the world, and reviewed in Indiewire, the Weekly Reader, and the Los Angeles Times. His scripts have been finalists in both the Chesterfield and Nicholl (Motion Picture Academy) screenplay competitions.

While on the faculty at Chapman, Ken served for several years as Undergraduate Program Chair and then Assistant Dean of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. He had primary responsibility for catalog revision, class scheduling, admissions, learning outcomes assessment, and adjunct staffing. For his work as an administrator Ken won faculty service awards in 2003 and 2005. He takes particular interest in the way pre-professional education such as the film degree draws on the values of liberal learning.

He holds a BA in French Literature from Northwestern University, and an MFA in Film Production from the University of Southern California.