The basic mission of the Department of Art and Design is to foster a dynamic learning environment that critically embraces traditional artistic areas as well as newly emerging technologies.  Graduates of the department should be capable of making a meaningful contribution to society artistically, undertaking advanced study or, in the case of art education, qualified to teach art in the public schools.  In addition, the department serves the greater university with courses in general education, specifically art appreciation, and both general classroom and special education training in art for general majors in education.  For students in the BFA program, the basic focus is on entry into professional careers in art and/or design or advanced graduate studies.  The quality and breadth of artistic education constitutes the central concern of the Department, while specially instituted courses - senior seminar and capstone – stress the practical and theoretical aspects of what it means to be an artist and belong to the artistic tradition.  For students in graphic design, the equivalents are a required internship and a specific course in portfolio management and professional practice. 

To these ends, the department believes that quality of teaching is of the utmost importance and, furthermore, that creative endeavor/research is mutually supportive element of high quality teaching in the arts.  Moreover, the department and the university strongly support investigation into teaching methodology and/or the “scholarship of teaching” as exemplified by the presence of a Teaching and Learning Center on campus as well as encouragement and reward for involvement in teaching related activities.  The department also offers the most popular general education course on campus, a one-semester introduction to the visual arts, as well as service courses for three other units on campus.  Lastly, the department maintains a broad commitment to public service in the local, regional and national art arenas.

While providing an intensive engagement with the production and exploration of the visual arts, the department simultaneously seeks to uphold and instill the values of a liberal education, as outlined in the University-wide vision statement.  To this end, the department aspires to nurture and develop the broadly transferable skills of inquiry, critical analysis, reflection, dialog, and personal expression.  The department further stresses a willingness and readiness to engage the world actively through self-aware participation in broad cultural discourse.  The development of such skills augments the  capacities of our students, enabling them to participate fully and meaningfully in society.

By applying these various goals to an education in the visual arts, the department strives to foster a dynamic learning environment that critically embraces the integrated study of the technical and intellectual aspects of artistic production.   Combining the intensive engagement, characteristic of a private art school, with the comprehensive resources of a major university allows us to facilitate and promote the creative, conceptual, and professional aspirations of our own students as well as those from other departments on campus.  Teaching encourages the development of specific technical skills, a broad contextual awareness of applied techniques, and the active integration of diverse models of theory and practice.  Skills, such as creative problem solving, visual literacy, and articulate, expressive communication are cultivated by a faculty whose ongoing creative endeavors and research clearly demonstrate their own firm grounding in the true values of a liberal education and the potential of the visual arts to enrich and elevate the human condition.