Department of Arts

The mission of the Department of Arts is to lead our students to a lifetime of creative production while preparing them for a rewarding professional career. Our curricula combine the humanistic offerings of a Liberal Arts college with a broad and integrated training in the arts.

Our program of study affords students the opportunity to prepare for a variety of professions in a variety of media production. Blending traditional liberal arts with specific career-oriented coursework, students are given the foundations, skills, and ethical perspectives to be successful in either mass media careers or entrepreneurial individual practice, and to be productive members of society. The combination of scholarly search for knowledge, development of essential skills, and the application of these in society guide the major in keeping with the Mission of the College.

Courses span traditional art disciplines alongside developing media, including drawing, painting, art history, computer arts, photography, graphic design, digital media and photojournalism. All courses are offered as part of either a specific content sequence or as a general topics course. A unique feature of our program is the potential for students to “individualize” programs of study in order to best prepare each student to exercise his or her best mix of talents and passions.

One of our primary goals is to ensure that our majors are well prepared to enter their selected career paths. Through required internships, students acquire important hands-on experience that builds on their coursework, and prepares them for success. Through these on-the-job placements students will earn college credit while acquiring applied professional skills.

In order to demonstrate a student’s total accumulation of experience, skill, and integrative abilities in the major, each student must submit a final portfolio of print and/or non-print materials; or research and write a final thesis. Thus, graduates of our program are in the position to present potential employers with an actual portfolio or thesis paper that demonstrates their experiential base of knowledge and skills that will set them apart.

The way our society creates, communicates, and consumes media has evolved at an ever-increasing pace. To thrive in a contemporary arts & media environment, students must learn to function both as conceptually creative individuals and as capable craftsmen.  Our department is constantly adapting to the changes that this exciting field presents; cultivating and perfecting each of these qualities in our students to see them successfully meet their goals. 

Upon completing a program of study in the Department of Arts, students will:

• Effectively communicate original ideas in their chosen medium, visually, spatially, orally or in writing.
• Understand historical and cultural contexts for that original work.
• Use critical thinking, self-guided problem solving, and judicious research to achieve their individual creative goals.

Majors
Art (Traditional Undergraduate Program)

Minors
Graphic Design (Traditional Undergraduate Program)
Photography (Traditional Undergraduate Program)
Studio Art (Traditional Undergraduate Program)