Art & Art History 2010 APR Self-Study & Documents
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GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM REVIEW Department of Art and Art History College of Fine Arts University of New Mexico David Craven, Chair and Editor September 1, 2010 This Report was based on contributions by virtually all of the Faculty and the Staff in the Department, but a small group contributed the most information and time toward the completion of this study: Nancy Treviso, Joyce Szabo, Justine Andrews, Holly Barnet-Sanchez, Ray Hernández-Durán, Patrick Manning, Angelina Skonieczka, Marjorie Crow, and Kat Heatherington. 1 Table of Contents 1. General Program Characteristics: Past & Present A. Introduction 4 B. The Mission, the Goals, and the Organization of the Department 5 C. The History of the Department: Its National & International Standing 9 D. Current Successes of Our Graduates and Two New Hires 32 2. The Degree Programs, Graduate Faculty, and Curricula A. Various Degrees and Certificates Offered (See Appendix One) 42 B. Enrollment Patterns 66 C. Student Profiles, SCH Generation (See Appendix Two) 67 D. Fellowship Programs for Graduate Students 71 3. The Assessment of Student Development and Accomplishments A. A History of Outcomes Assessment at UNM 73 B. Outcomes Assessments of Classes: Case Studies 75 Programmatic Outcomes Assessment: The BA in Art History and the BFA in Studio Art (See Appendix Five) C. The Long Term Success of Graduates in Art History a. Permanent Positions in Museums and Galleries 83 b. Tenure Track Positions at Colleges and Universities 84 D. The Long Term Success of Graduates in Studio Art a. Major Exhibitions and Monographs 86 b. Tenure Track Positions in Colleges and Museums 86 c. The Current Profile of UNM Graduate Students 88 4. Institutional Contributions at UNM A. The Department’s Contribution to Core Courses in General Education 91 B. Interdisciplinary Collaborations with Other UNM Academic Departments & Programs 92 a. The Latin American & Iberian Institute 92 b. The Center for Medieval Studies 96 c. The Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures 99 d. The Sciences 101 C. Common & Cross-Listed Courses for Other Graduate Programs 105 5. National and International Standing of Faculty A. Size of the Graduate Faculty 109 B. Profile of Graduate Faculty by Gender & Ethnicity 111 C. Resumés of Permanent Faculty (See Appendix Three) D. Adjunct Faculty in the Department 112 E. Staff in Department a. Staff List 113 b. Advances in Staff Grades and Numbers 113 c. Staff by Sex and Ethnicity 114 2 6. Institutional Resources and Infrastructure of Department A. The Library Collections at UNM in FAL and Zimmerman 115 B. The Bainbridge Bunting Visual Resources Center 121 C. The Tamarind Institute MFA Program 128 D. The University Art Museum and Art in Public Places 131 E. New Technology for Electronic Arts 133 F. The Necessity of a New Art Building 133 7. Department’s National Standing for the MFA and the Ph.D. A. MFA According to the U.S. News and World Report Rankings Since 1995 136 (See Appendix Four) B. Graduate Programs According to the Association for Latin American Art 138 8. The Department’s Strategic Direction in the Future A. Current Strengths: The Year in Review and Future Prospects 143 B. The Department in 2010 vs. the Report in 2000 147 C. Future Re-Configurations 152 D. Concluding Section: Visions of the Future for Various Areas 154 Appendices— Appendix One—The Classes Taught in Art and Art History Appendix Two—Charts & Empirical Data about Students Applications & Graduations in the Graduate Programs: A Report Prepared by Kat Heatherington (2010) Appendix Three—Resumés of the Permanent Faculty Appendix Four—The Rankings in US News & World Report (1995-2010) Appendix Five—Programmatic Outcomes Assessments for the Programs 3 A. An Introduction Visual literacy in the broadest and most nuanced sense is a special charge of the Department of Art and Art History. The teaching of visual literacy at all levels is in turn related to how creating art and analyzing visual images each presupposes a profoundly interdisciplinary approach to knowledge, cognitively as well as perceptually. Moreover, it is often forgotten how images frequently emerge prior to words in our lives and that to analyze images is to do so as much by means of others images, as by using written texts. As such, the act of looking or seeing has a great deal to do not only with how we situate ourselves in the present, but also with how we understand the cross-cultural history of humanity though the complex visual images that the past has left us and that current artists continue to give us. We explain the world with words, but this can never cancel out how words are frequently at a loss to illuminate the images made by various cultures in history and even in prehistoric times. Visual literacy starts with the assumption that there is always a tension between what we know and what we see, that the tense relation between the two calls out for ever more astute visual analysis in conjunction with critical thinking and cultural sensitivity—all of which are central to our educational mission. In preparing students for careers as artists and/or as scholars of the visual arts, our department also gives them a solid grounding in the traditional Liberal Arts—the trivium (language arts) and the quadrivium (mathematical arts), which are crucial to the making of art and to the documentation of it. Yet, we also understand the Liberal Arts in a contemporary sense to cover more than just the traditional “language arts.” This new view includes a semiological notion that there is no art in any culture without ‘visual languages’ or ‘visual discourses’ or ‘visual codes’ –and also that none of them are simply illustrative of written texts or daily affairs. Here is the peculiar domain of practicing artists and scholars on which we focus our analysis of the visual environment. In yet another way, our department is unusual if not unique even among all those departments that concentrate both on making visual art and on analyzing it. We are resolutely Trans-Atlantic (and increasingly Trans-Pacific) in how we approach the visual arts. To an uncommon degree, we insist on seeing the art of the Americas in dynamic relation to the art of Europe, not as a mere derivation from it. We recognize that without the one, the other would have been notably different from 1492 forward. Thus, we believe that a probing analysis of art from one side of the Atlantic cannot be done without recourse to the knowledge of art and culture from the other side of the Atlantic, however much the traditional view in Art History and in Studio Art has treated them as separate domains. In this sense, our department is cosmopolitan to an uncommon degree and the work that we do strikingly manifests this position.1 -- The Editor 1 For more on all these issues, see: John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin, 1972); Rudolf Arnheim, Art & Visual Perception (Berkeley: UC Press, 1974); and David L. Wagner, The Seven Liberal Arts in the Middle Ages (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983). 4 B. The 2008 Mission Statement of the Department The Organizational Structure of the Department Goals and Aims of the Department By providing an atmosphere where creativity and intellectual discourse can grow, the Department of Art and Art History demonstrates its strong commitment to its existence as a union of Studio Artists and Art Historians. The Department recognizes the benefits that are gained through the integration of the making of art with its interpretation and history. Creative and intellectual energy from this combination benefits undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. People within the Department itself, in the College of Fine Arts, and throughout the University of New Mexico as a whole all benefit from this integration. The importance of the arts as communication in the past, the present, and the future is pivotal. This understanding is the keystone of our programs, and it is the foundation for our primary goals. Among those goals is to expose students to the multi‐dimensional richness of art through the practices and techniques of making art. We also seek to develop an awareness and practice of critical thought in our classes. Students develop the practices and methods for understanding the history of art. The Department firmly believes in the importance of interdisciplinary studies rather than the isolation of areas of learning and thus encourages the exploration of cross‐disciplinary courses both within and outside the Department of Art and Art History and the College of Fine Arts. In keeping with these goals, the Department’s faculty review and revise curriculum on a constant basis, as they both remain knowledgeable concerning the developments in their fields and adjust with the changing abilities and expertise of the faculty. Individual courses consistently articulate new methods and new content. The Department is dedicated to providing the best education possible no matter what degree a student might be pursuing, whether a major in the Department of Art and Art History or not. While the University of New Mexico is the Department’s most obvious audience, we are also dedicated to city, state, national, and international venues. In order to achieve these aims, the Department is committed to maintaining a faculty that is actively engaged in creative art, criticism, and art history. Vision The Department of Art and Art History will maintain its position as an excellent center of creativity and scholarly pursuits by pursuing new technologies and methodologies in the arts and questioning previously accepted answers. We hold a particularly pivotal position within the university, city and state communities in educating about the visual arts and celebrating the freedom that is essential to a vital program of both Studio art and Art History.