Joaquín Alvarado is the Founding Director of the Institute for Next Generation Internet at San Francisco State University. In addition to his leadership role in education, Joaquín Alvarado is also an award winning documentary filmmaker, writer, producer and director. His films have been featured in numerous film festivals, including the AFI Los Angeles International Film, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, and the San Francisco Frameline Film Festival.
Joaquín Alvarado is also a media educator whose work with students began in the 1980's when he developed the first television program in the nation to be produced by Hispanic Youth. Currently, he is a founding member of the Media Application Network Group (MANG). MANG is a consortium of education, software, and media organizations dedicated to building tools and programming for collaborative media over advanced networks.
He is also the author of Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art Volumes I & II, published by Bilingual Review Press. He is a contributing author in Teaching Ethnic Diversity With Film: Essays And Resources For Educators In History, Social Studies, Literature And Film Studies, published by Mcfarland & Co. The Silent Cross, for which he wrote the screenplay, is Joaquín Alvarado's first feature film as a director. It recently made its debut at the Cine-Latino Film Festival in 2004.
Mr. Alvarado holds a B.A. in Chicano Studies from U.C. Berkeley and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Film, Television, and Digital Media.