Steve Santello is an Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science at COD.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in Game Art and Design from the Illinois Institute of Art Chicago, he accepted a full-time instructor position at the ITT Technical Institute in St. Rose, La., located just outside of New Orleans. He never applied for the position. Instead, school administrators found his portfolio that included game prototypes and asked if he was interested in teaching Digital Entertainment and Game Design.
“This was during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the area really needed help,” he said. “This was a big motivating factor for me to move out of Chicago and to New Orleans at least temporarily. I really was not interested in teaching, but I decided to try it out anyway.
“I quickly realized that teaching was my calling through the joy I had helping others find their passion. I continue to teach because I genuinely like helping people and gravitate toward opportunities to do so. Teaching gives me a platform that allows me to help people of all walks of life.”
He next moved back to Chicago and worked as an artist for Babaroga, a game developer that has strong partnerships with publishers like Electronic Arts (EA) and Disney Interactive. Santello worked on a dozen games, including the award-winning “Spore: Origins,” “SimCity,” “Pictionary The Game of Quickdraw,” “The Godfather Game,” “Meet the Robinsons,” “Hannah Montana: In Action” and “Plantasia.”
During his time in the game industry, Santello continued to teach game prototyping courses as an adjunct instructor at the Illinois Institute of Art Chicago. He then left the game industry to help spearhead the Game and Simulation Programming degree at DeVry University, working full time for eight years before coming to COD.
Contact Santello at santellos@cod.edu or (630) 942-2654.
I push students to come out with portfolio-quality pieces that they can add to their professional portfolios, which will ultimately help them find careers they are passionate about. In consumer product-based industries like the game industry, employers look for proof of professional quality work.
- Steve Santello, Professor, Computer and Information Science
Areas of Expertise
- Game Development
- Interactive Media
- Immersive Technologies