Art Graduate Bound for Yale

Doaa Ouf had considered following her parents into a career in engineering, but when she came to Rutgers–Camden from Cairo, Egypt, she decided instead to pursue her love of the arts. Her choice turned out well: The 2020 Rutgers–Camden graduate has been accepted into the prestigious School of Drama at Yale University where she will begin studying in the fall for a master of fine arts degree.

Ouf, a resident of Haddon Township, New Jersey, earned a bachelor of art degree with a double major in theater and animation. She also had a hand in every Rutgers–Camden campus theater production—from acting to directing—in her junior and senior years. “I really enjoyed the process of theater and took on every opportunity to be involved in some capacity,” Ouf said.

Ouf, who cultivated a wide range of interests and skills at Rutgers-Camden, will study projection design at Yale. It is a relatively new field of storytelling that combines animation, theater, and film for applications such as projections at museums and theme parks, and staged theater productions.  

Ouf attributes much of her success to her Rutgers‒Camden mentors, Kenneth Elliott, an associate professor of theater who is chair of the Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts, and Robert Emmons, an associate teaching professor of theater who heads the filmmaking concentration. Her primary career interest is in storytelling, but through the influence of Elliott and Emmons, she also envisions a future as an educator. “I am fortunate to have had mentors invested in my growth,” Ouf said. “I want to provide that experience for others in the future.”