Department of Art Overview

The Department of Art continues to setting transcendent exemplars that speak to our personality as an emergent School of Thought “unique and advantaged” by expressing core values of:

1. Leadership in researching and developing discourse concerning the ascendancy of visual culture and language design from diverse perspectives and perceptions within a leading HBCU (Historically Black College/University),
2. Scholarship in critiquing visual culture studies in relationship to the other arts, humanities, social, and natural sciences,
3. Partnership in assessing and synthesizing cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching/learning models, and
4. Service in delivering its teaching, learning, and entertainment tools and products to the University, the Nation and the global community.

Our purpose continues as follows:

Mission Statement

In harmony with the University's mission, the Department of Art is committed to graduating socially conscious professional artists/designers who can visually and verbally articulate their ideas in a technologically driven world. Empowered by their knowledge of the arts, humanities, sciences and electronic technologies, our artists/designers are prepare to work on a local, national, and global level.

Goal

The Department's goal is to present a multifaceted educational program of study that distinguishes it as unique and advantaged in offering a professional degree program enriched by academic support stemming from: the College of Arts and Sciences; the School of Communications ; and the College of Engineering , Architecture, and Computer Sciences.

Objective

To reach the vision outlined in President Swygert's Strategic Framework for Action, the Department presents a conceptual framework that revolves around the theory and practice of art as the study of visual language systems and design. As a department within “a comprehensive, research-oriented, predominantly African American University,” our research defines visual art/design as the study of an evolving global language system composed of image, text, sound, and motion. In theory, we define this research as Visual Information Design Arts (VIDA) and in practice we support it by introducing a cross-disciplinary studio arts Minor . The networked structure of VIDA provides flexibility and adaptability in enabling the Department to bridge an extraordinary breadth of scholarly and aesthetic experiences through the intricate interweaving of art history and Visual Culture Studies, the University Wide Core Curriculum, General Studies Curriculum, departmental Foundation Studies, Studio Concentrations, the VIDA Minor and Free Electives.