Claremont, Calif. (February 3, 2011) — Alumna, psychologist and documentary filmmaker Diane “Dee” Mosbacher ’72 MD, PhD has donated $1.5 million to establish the Mosbacher Fund for Media Studies and the Mosbacher/Gartrell Center for Media Experimentation and Activism at Pitzer College.
Mosbacher’s gift will support Pitzer’s Platinum LEED Residential Life construction project that will house the new media center. The Mosbacher/Gartrell Center for Media Experimentation and Activism will be named in honor of Mosbacher and her spouse of 35 years, Dr. Nanette Gartrell. Her gift also includes an endowed fund to support guest speakers, workshops, film/ video festivals, curriculum development projects, faculty/student research projects and community outreach programs, among other activities.
“I’m thrilled that Pitzer College is involved in not only artistic filmmaking but filmmaking with purpose,” said Mosbacher, “I hope this program will allow students to experiment with filmmaking with an activism standpoint and learn how to successfully craft the message to reach its target audience.”
In 1993, Mosbacher founded Woman Vision, a nonprofit organization to promote tolerance and equal treatment of all people through the production and use of educational media, including video. She has directed or produced nine documentary films through Woman Vision, each having to do with LGBTQ or women’s rights issues. In 1994, Mosbacher directed and produced Straight From the Heart, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Mosbacher is also a practicing psychiatrist in San Francisco.
