Florida State University 2008-2009 General Bulletin Undergraduate Edition
College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance
Dean: Sally McRorie
The College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance was formed in 2005, with the combination of the former School of Visual Arts and Dance, and the School of Theatre. The college has six academic units: the Departments of Art, Art History, Art Education, Interior Design, Dance, and the School of Theatre. These academic units offer an extensive program of instruction in all areas of the visual arts, theatre, and dance. In fact, every level of undergraduate and graduate degree that a university can offer in these areas is represented within the college, including the established terminal degree in each discipline. Accordingly, the college is unique in the state of Florida.
Enhancement of the fine and performing arts is one of Florida State University's specific goals as presented in its mission statement. The comprehensive nature and consistent quality of the college may be credited in large part to the recognition and support of the arts evident in the University. The very idea of arts training within a university context is held to be fundamentally important to an individual's education in today's society. The College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance shares much in common with an independent arts school, but the differences are more important than the similarities. The University strives toward education of the whole person, and it has a great variety of cultural and curricular resources to reach this end. Therefore, our students have the opportunity to benefit from the entire University, a warm and friendly residential college and major graduate research institution. There is no substitute for this environment.
The college promotes the visual arts, theatre, and dance within this community. Its goal is to provide a broad-based liberal arts education for students, while at the same time training them to be dancers, actors, designers, artists, scholars, teachers, or other professionals in the field. It functions to enrich their lives and to provide them with the means of self-expression in an increasingly complex and impersonal technological society—a society ever more dependent upon visual language and information. The study and practice of the arts are therefore viewed as a necessary link in the educational system, both as a learning process and as a means of personal fulfillment. Measures are applied within the college—and indeed throughout Florida State University's campus—to keep the spirit of open inquiry vital and productive.
Regardless of the department of a student's major, the College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance provides an unusual opportunity for working with a distinguished faculty of nationally and internationally recognized artists and scholars, all of whom teach undergraduate as well as graduate students.
Requirements of the College
By and large the college has few requirements that go beyond those stipulated by the University. As appropriate, these requirements are provided in the narratives describing the individual departments and programs. No minor is required by the college. Three programs grant degrees categorized as "limited access" in the sense that they are proficiency based: 1) the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in graphic design and in art (studio) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in art (studio); 2) the BFA and MFA in dance; and 3) the BFA in acting and in music theatre and the MFA in acting. Entrance is gained through portfolio review or audition.
Facilities
In addition to the lecture rooms, general classrooms, seminar rooms, and media-specific laboratories (e.g., printmaking, electronic imaging, ceramics, sculpture, photography, and the like), three specialized facilities merit particular mention. First, art students in designated degree programs are provided individual studios in two large "warehouses" at the edge of campus, making it possible for them to work in a healthy environment that promotes the cross-fertilization of ideas and constructive debate. Students at different stages of development learn from each other as well as from their professors, who regularly come to their studios for tutorials and critiques. Second, dance students train in what are arguably the best university dance facilities in the nation, including seven spacious, comfortable studios and their own fully-equipped professional dance theatre, experimental black box theatre, and grand studio; in addition, students explore dance technology in state-of-the-art labs. Lastly, theatre students train and perform in four specialized venues, including two traditional proscenium theatres, a lab theatre, and a stage for student-produced works.
Honors in the Major
The College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance offers honors in the major in several departmental and interdepartmental programs. For requirements and other information, see the "University Honors Office and Honor Societies" chapter of this General Bulletin.
Study Abroad
The University offers many opportunities for international study open to all qualified state university students. Study-abroad programs range in nature from long-established study centers in Florence, Italy, and London, England, to recently developed programs in countries such as Spain, France, and South Africa. Operated by Florida State University, they provide the opportunity for a truly rewarding educational and cultural experience. Representing as it does a collegial body of students of art, the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance has a particular affinity for the Florence program, one that has led to a history of involvement since the founding of the program in 1966, largely through the efforts of the art history faculty. In every year that it has existed, at least one member of the college faculty has taught in Florence, and the college has significant representation among the students studying there. More recently, greater emphasis has been placed on the opportunities at the London Center. Students of theatre, art, dance, design, and art history flourish in the rich, humanistic environments of these magnificent cities and cultural centers. This they can do usually without disrupting their sequence of courses and without loss of residency, since the Florence and London campuses are true extensions of the Tallahassee campus.
Museum Studies
The College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance is the academic home of Florida State University's museum studies certificate program. Open to graduate students of all departments, the program offers theoretical, practical, and methodological training in museum management, curatorship, fundraising, collections management, education and interpretation, marketing, exhibition development, and other museum topics. The museum studies curriculum includes courses taught by full-time faculty and practicing museum professionals, internships, and special museum projects. Emphasis is placed on career guidance and finding a position in the museum profession. Students have opportunities for firsthand experience at the college's Museum of Fine Arts, the Ringling Museum of Art, and in other regional and national museums. Florida State University's international programs offer museum internships at international institutions in cities such as London and Florence.
On the undergraduate level, students studying art history may obtain a concentration in museum studies.
The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts
The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts is first and foremost an extension of the teaching mission of the college. Large, modern, and spacious, it houses the permanent collection and several times a year hosts student and faculty shows. In addition, the school faculty and museum staff pride themselves on originating shows of national prominence, documented through professional catalogs distinguished for their scholarship. The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts is a community resource of regional significance in the Southeast, and is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Florida State University has been charged by the State of Florida with administration of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. This incredible museum complex with its superb internationally renowned art collection, circus museum, and Ringling mansion, offers multiple opportunities for students in the arts, museum studies, and the humanities. Programs enhance undergraduate and graduate education in the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance, as well as many other areas within Florida State University.
Accreditation
The College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance is fully accredited according to discipline as appropriate by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the National Association of Schools of Dance, the National College Association for Teacher Education, the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, and the National Association of Schools of Theatre.