Jennifer Goya-Smith MFA
College of Liberal Arts - Department of Arts, Communications, Languages, and Media
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MULTIMEDIA
Education
MFA Computer Art
School of Visual Arts
New York, NY
BA Video Art
Hampshire College
Amherst, MA
Jennifer Goya-Smith is an Assistant Professor of Multimedia at Hawaii Pacific University. A visual artist born and raised in Honolulu, her work spans multimedia practices including video, web-based projects, and audiovisual programming. Her artworks have been exhibited locally and regionally, exploring themes of place, culture, and technology. Her video game, localhost, which examines tourist souvenir marketplaces, was featured in the CyberFrames exhibition at Boston CyberArts in 2025 and in the Artists of Hawai‘i 2023 exhibition at the Downtown Art Center. In 2021, she received the John Young Award for her interactive multimedia installation addressing Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, presented in the Artists of Hawai‘i Now exhibition at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Goya-Smith brings 20 years of teaching experience in digital media arts. Her teaching practice emphasizes community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration. Notable experiences include guiding middle school students and their grandparents in creating family history websites in partnership with the Holyoke YMCA in Massachusetts; facilitating video editing workshops with youth at the South Bronx Charter School through the Tribeca Film Institute’s Tribeca Teaches program; participating in service-learning initiatives on Kahoʻolawe with the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission and students from Mid-Pacific Institute; and teaching blind contour drawing to service members, veterans, and military families through Hawaii Pacific University’s Military Campus Program.
Courses Taught
MULT 1050: Point, Shoot, Edit
MULT 1100: Foundations of Multimedia
MULT 2460: Graphic Design Studio
MULT 2465: Motion Picture Productions
MULT 3400: Design Systems and Portfolio
MULT 3700: Audio Production
ARTS 1000: Introduction to Visual Arts
ARTS 3051: Photography
COM 6440: Photo, Video, and Post-Production
