If Roberto Gudiño someday wins an Independent Spirit award for cinematography, and the odds aren’t bad, you can be sure that UCLA will be high on the thank you list, especially Chérie Francis of the Graduate Division and William McDonald, professor of Film and TV.

Roberto was a University of Arizona undergraduate and a McNair achievement scholar when he attended a UC Edge event at UCLA and heard Dr. Francis speak about strategies for getting into graduate school. Talking to her afterward about his interest in UCLA, he learned that he could have campus housing through the Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, "if I had a reason to be out here."

He already had that reason—an internship offer from Disney-NBC Studios—but he needed a mentor. Through a professor at the University of Arizona, Roberto had been introduced to UCLA’s William McDonald via e-mail. Dr. Francis said, "Go knock on his door and say hello," and that’s what he did. Besides getting a mentor for his summer work, he got some feedback that helped him turn his undergraduate thesis project into a 20-minute documentary that won the jury prize of the Director’s Guild of America.

Over the summer, "I fell in love with the campus," Roberto says, "and I made it my goal to get into UCLA for graduate school." There are only three spots each year in cinematography, however, and more than 100 applicants. Coming back to UCLA for a decisive interview, "I was sitting there, nervous, waiting for my name to be called," Roberto says, "and who comes out of the door but Professor McDonald. It was a huge surprise. Knowing he was one of the two interviewers was really comforting and made me relax."

For his first year in the four-year cinematography program, Roberto received a Graduate Opportunity Fellowship allotted by the Graduate Division to students seeking a terminal or professional master’s degree. Then he applied for and won an extramural Jacob K. Javits Fellowship to cover the last three years. Dr. Francis helps administer the Javits program at UCLA, which includes various support activities. "It’s been useful knowing that if I have a question or concern, I can always go to Chérie," Roberto says.

During his time at UCLA, Roberto was director of photography on Burning the Midnight Oil, a short documentary on Bunker Hill Community College in Boston and its program of midnight classes for "spectacularly motivated" nontraditional students. It was one of five films jointly sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and TV. He’s also exploring ways to turn his undergraduate thesis film into a one-hour documentary for PBS. Called Above the Fold—a newspaper term for the top half of the front page—it’s about the first Latinos to win a 1984 Pulitzer Prize, awarded for their multi-part series in the Los Angeles Times on Southern California’s Latino community.

He’s now seeking a Fulbright Fellowship, and "you know who" is helping potential applicants prepare for the process. "If it hadn’t been for Chérie and the Graduate Division," he says, "I don’t think I would have gone to UCLA."

Published in Winter 2011, Graduate Quarterly