Oh, the stories Gorman Woodfin can tell.
Like the time Hugh Jackman introduced him to Anne Hathaway. Or the card he received in the mail, with a hand-written note at the bottom…from President George W. Bush.
Walking the same red carpet as Queen Elizabeth for a movie premiere in London. Laughing it up with Will Ferrell. Winning film festival awards for an original screenplay. Helping produce the Dove Awards.
Now, he is making new memories as an assistant professor of communications at Anderson University.
Gorman, who spent 18 years as a reporter and producer for the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), joined AU in 2017. His classes in corporate, documentary and general video production have fast become among the most popular for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I had an amazing career in television,” Gorman says. “Yet there came a point where I felt strongly that it was time to leave the industry and mentor students. I want them to have the same amazing journey in television and film that I’m having. I want to share all of my career victories – and, yes, my failures – to help them achieve their dreams.”
But shooting for the stars sometimes means launching from the ground. That’s what makes an AU student’s experience so vital, he said.
“What gets me so excited about our digital media program at AU is its intense practicality,” Gorman says. “At other programs I’ve been a part of, they only teach students how to shoot short dramatic films. While that has its place, here we emphasize corporate and documentary video production as well. 
“With the explosion of social media, every major corporation and business needs employees who have the skills we are teaching our students. I feel our graduates are going to be extremely marketable. And at the same time, our students can use the skills we teach them to shoot film projects also.”
The walls of his office bear testament to a handful of Gorman’s stories. There’s a picture of some of this students on a trip to Los Angeles, where they met Hollywood executives and got a backstage look at making movies. In another, he’s on the set of the popular sitcom Parks and Recreation. And on. And on.
But more important than those, he says, are the stories his future students at AU will one day tell.
“In the next 10 to 15 years of teaching, I want to see 20 of my students in positions of authority in the media, and on a national platform,” he says.
“When I look at my students here at Anderson University, I see so much potential.”
Interested in seeing Gorman Woodfin in action, interviewing some of Hollywood’s brightest stars? Check out the following links that represent his greatest hits.
The stars of The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader