Alumni Highlights
Shifting Focus
Everything changed for Rubini Naidu (DC 2016) when she enrolled in a black and white photography class during her time at CMU. The psychology major stepped away from her plans to attend medical school, instead founding the Empact community organization. Naidu also maintains a documentary photography practice and is working on collaborative, long-term projects about Parkinson’s disease, transgender visibility and the South Asian diaspora. “ Something that has stayed with me since CMU is that motto, ‘My heart is in the work.’ It resonated with me as a student and I am mindful of it — maybe consciously, maybe subconsciously on other days — and am doing work that I think can help bring about a meaningful change in the world. ” — Rubini Naidu
Oliver Takes Home Emmy Win
Tommy Oliver (DC 2006) received a 2024 Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.” The documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, also won the 2023 Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary Competition. The film follows the life of poet Nikki Giovanni and the revolutionary periods in which she wrote, from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter.
Tommy Oliver speaks at the CMU Alumni Awards celebration.
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 42
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