Program Faculty

Stacie Chappell

Stacie Chappell has taught in the Multimedia Design and Production program since 2008. Prior to working for Lake Washington Institute of Technology, she had over ten years of teaching experience at the college level, including courses at Boise State University, and the State University of New York at Albany.

Stacie's background includes industry experience with a multimedia company specializing in e-Learning custom course development. She holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, an MFA from State University of New York at Albany, and an MS in Education Media Design & Technology from Full Sail University at Winter Park, Florida. After graduate school, Stacie apprenticed with several internationally known artists before beginning a career in teaching.

Having appeared in numerous group and solo gallery showings in The Netherlands, Portland, Chicago, Seattle, and Kansas City, Stacie's work receives favorable media reviews and hangs in both public and private collections throughout the U.S.

In her spare time, Stacie continues to pursue her passion for painting, and is currently represented by galleries in Seattle and Chicago. You can see her work at  www.staciechappell.com

Robby Gilbert

Robby Gilbert, BFA, M.Ed. comes to Lake Washington with a long history of both developing interactive media as well as teaching and developing game and animation curricula. After earning a BFA in Media Arts and Animation from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, he worked as a commercial animator for clients such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, and many others.

In 1994 he headed up an animation team for Paramount Interactive, creating educational software titles for Cd-Rom. After “Lenny’s Music Toons” won a Parenting Publications Award, he was hired by Broderbund Software, who were at the time publishing “Carmen San Diego,” and  “Myst.” Robby served as senior animator and designer for several award-winning “LivingBooks” titles.

In 1996, Robby was hired by Disney Interactive to direct and develop content for several interactive on-line properties, primarily for children. In 2006, Robby combined his expertise in animation and interactivity with his love for teaching and earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership at Argosy University. He has taught and served in leadership roles at several colleges and has developed and nurtured strong industry relations.

In addition to teaching, Robby has illustrated several children’s books, magazine articles, and enjoys playing the banjo. For more information, visit  www.robbygilbert.com.

Caroline Kapp
Caroline Kapp is a full-time Multimedia faculty member at LWIT. Caroline has extensive experience in teaching and lecturing to a diverse student body in digital and film photography, digital video, drawing, design and printmaking.

Caroline Kapp was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1995 to study at Cornish College of the Arts, where she received a BFA with honors. She earned an MFA degree at the University of Washington with an emphasis in photography, printmaking and video/new media in 2007.

Caroline has studied at The School of the Art Institute, Chicago and County Clare, Ireland, and in 2003 held a fellowship residency at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA. Caroline has held other teaching posts at the University of Washington School of Art, International Academy of Design & Technology Seattle, Northwest School in Seattle, WA, and the Seattle Center Arts Academy.

She is the owner and sole proprietor of PunchList Design, a company providing custom photography and graphic design services for clients such as the City of Seattle, Capitol Hill Arts Center, LoDirecto Skateboards, and other various organizations. Caroline has won artist grants from the Santa Barbara Foundation (CA) 4Culture, and Weyerhaeuser. She has exhibited photography and video based work internationally in China and Bulgaria, and locally and regionally in group shows at Weyerhaeuser Headquarters, Cornish College of the Arts, Bellevue Art Museum, and the Whatcom Museum's Satellite Gallery. She has completed solo shows at the Jem Arts Center in 2004 and at the Harrison Street Gallery in 2007. 

Rob Nyland

Rob Nyland has taught in the Multimedia Design and Production program since 2008. Prior to coming to Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Rob held positions in both media research and production. His production credits include 5 feature films, and Rob has worked on documentaries that took him to such places as New Zealand, Tonga, Thailand, and Germany.

Rob holds a BA in Film as well as an MA in Mass Communications from Brigham Young University (BYU) where he taught classes in Documentary History and Theory and Beginning News Production.  His research interests include Social Media, Documentaries, and Media Literacy.

Jason Sobottka

Jason Sobottka is a professional artist and arts educator. He is Lake Washington Institute of Technology's first tenure-track visual art instructor. His art is represented by Gallery 110 in Seattle.

In addition to expanding the visual arts curriculum at LWIT, Jason will be developing and teaching humanities courses for the Bachelors of Technology in Applied Design (BTAD) degree and also teaching courses for MMDP.

Jason taught drawing and printmaking at the University of Minnesota between 1999 and 2001 and was a part-time drawing, painting and design instructor at Green River Community College from 2001 through 2008. His past experience includes working for Tacoma Art Museum's Education Department, where he designed and built the museum's hands-on art making gallery, the Open Art Studio. Prior to joining LWIT, Jason worked for two years at State Farm Mutual Insurance Company's Learning and Development Department, focusing on adult learning theory, leadership and performance improvement.

Jason earned his Masters of Fine Art degree in visual art (with a minor in related fields-art history) from the University of Minnesota and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from the University of Montana. He also holds an Associates Degree from Grays Harbor College.

Links to his art can be found at Gallery 110  and jasonsobottka.com.