Courtney Hermann, associate professor in the School of Film, has been awarded the 2025 Dean’s Council Award for Research, Scholarship and Creativity.
This $4,000 award, funded by the College of the Arts Dean’s Council through the Dean's Fund for Opportunities and Excellence, is awarded annually to celebrate a member of the faculty in the College of the Arts who demonstrates significant contributions to research, scholarship and/or creative activity at the national or international level.
Hermann has also been named the College of the Arts Researcher of the Year, and the recipient of the Kamelia Massih Outstanding Faculty Prize in the Arts for 2025.
An accomplished educator, independent documentary filmmaker and media producer with over twenty years of teaching experience, Hermann has made numerous contributions to her field both in the classroom and on the screen. Her work is distributed by PBS and its affiliates, through educational film catalogs, at film festivals, and through impact distribution to community partners. Hermann co-authored the seventh edition of the textbook Directing the Documentary with Michael Rabiger, which was described by the award’s selection committee as “the most admired text for film students used across the country."
As an independent documentary filmmaker, Hermann aims to create films that are character-driven, centering individuals who strive to create healthier and more expansive ways of being in the face of the social and political contexts that shape their decisions and opportunities. “My ethic is to collaborate on stories rather than to extract them, honoring the perspective of the subjects and communities from which they come,” wrote Hermann. “My goal is to amplify perspectives often absent from popular media.”
Hermann’s most recent directorial work, titled “Outliers and Outlaws,” is a full-length feature film that is part of the award-winning Eugene Lesbian History Project, a digital humanities project that includes an oral history archive, online exhibit and a traveling museum exhibit. The project documents the stories of the lesbian-identifying individuals who migrated to Eugene, Oregon, in the 1960s through the 1980s. “Outliers and Outlaws” uncovers the history of this resilient community through candid personal stories, revealing the power of courageous and creative living. The film premiered to a sold-out audience at the QDoc festival in November 2024, followed by a sold-out run of screenings at Cinema 21 in December.
In making its recommendation for this award, the selection committee commended Hermann as a professor who “reflects the creativity and values of the College [of the Arts] in an exemplary and creative manner,” and it praised the film for “having a significant impact on work across several fields including film, queer archives, documentary film and Oregon history.”
“With her brilliant filmmaking, her commitment to elevate the stories of those who are so often unheard, and her dedication to teaching and mentoring students with warmth, respect, and unwavering compassion, she has made a profound impact on the lives of countless students, educators, and artists,” said Dean Leroy Bynum, Jr. “She is truly deserving of this recognition, and I am proud to call her a colleague.”