Humans of Chaffey

Chaffey College Professor Ann Gregory channeled her knowledge of cinematography into teaching as a professor. Gregory is an experienced instructor and director with a demonstrated history of working in both education and film production. Gregory grew up in a small beach town in Orange County called Capistrano Beach, or as Gregory called it “Capital Beach." Gregory's earliest memories of cinema originated as a child where she would memorize each film she loved and would the whole script. She made fake newscasts and short films with the family video camera. Gregory stated:

"It was a big deal because video cameras were quite expensive back in the '90s."

Studying history at Chaffey College made Gregory realize she wanted to be a part of film, and her love for history pushed her into the direction of film history. Gregory attended Chaffey College and transferred to Chapman University where she studied film production. Soon after, she pursued her master's degree in film studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Gregory explained that she wanted to study cinema abroad to understand film from a different perspective that was not American or Hollywood style. When Gregory told her father she was going to study abroad in Ireland, he told her:

“Why would you leave Los Angeles to study film, that would be like leaving Italy to study art.”

Gregory is an adjunct professor at multiple schools, meaning she works the equivalent of a full-time professor's work. Gregory currently teaches at three different colleges and one high school. She has been a professor at Chaffey College since 2016, Orange County School of Arts since 2008 and recently started teaching a cinema lab at Mt. San Antonio College in 2019.

Gregory expressed how lucky she is as an adjunct teacher that all the colleges she teaches at are very close to her home. This made it an easy commute for Gregory. As COVID-19 presented a difficult transition to online learning, Gregory's perseverance made it an easy transition to distance learning. Ideally, she wants to become a full-time professor for one school, but she is happy for now because she still gets to teach her passion: cinema.

Gregory mentions how she misses the in-person connection with students because getting to know them was better through face-to-face conversations. Gregory has been able to balance working at multiple colleges since the start of COVID-19.

"It was a little overwhelming at first," she described.

Her passion for cinema and teaching is what's kept her motivated and determined.

Gregory has an extensive 16 plus years of experience. Being a director and a researcher for National Geographic documentaries. She directed the award winning documentary "The Innocence Project," which she made towards the end of her enrollment at Chapman University. She directed an award winning documentary that screened in festivals nationwide this remarkable documentary screened in festivals nationwide. "The Innocence Project" documents prisoners who were falsely imprisoned and fought to prove their innocence. She explains having a passion for documentary storytelling is important because it takes a lot of time and is not a big financial way of filming "The Innocence Project."

Gregory received tremendous feedback from former students on rateyourprofessor.com. One student said:

“Professor Gregory is so amazing, kind, caring and really wants her students to succeed.”

In response to her feedback from students Gregory stated:

“I genuinely love teaching, and I want to see my students succeed and hearing that is just awesome!"

Gregory can’t wait to get back in the classroom with her students and teach in person because that's what she misses the most.

HoC: Professor Anne Gregory

Humans of Chaffey