2007-08 Undergraduate Catalog
Indiana, Pennsylvania 15705
 

Dean: Michael J. Hood
        Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Instruction: Michele A. Norwood

Website: www.iup.edu/finearts

The College of Fine Arts has professional degree programs in Art, Music, Theater and Dance, and Interdisciplinary Fine Arts and awards the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees. Programs leading to certification to teach art and music are offered in cooperation with the College of Education and Educational Technology. This partnership leads to the Bachelor of Science in Education degree. The college also offers minors in art, music, and theater and dance.

With one of the largest arts programs in the commonwealth, IUP’s College of Fine Arts offers dedicated facilities for each department augmented by a 1,600-seat auditorium, two theaters, three art galleries, a university museum, a recital hall, a computer laboratory, and a state-of-the-art dance studio. In the fall of 2005, a large, renovated teaching location for sculpture and clay opened for art students, and in the spring of 2006, a newly renovated and beautifully enlarged music building opened for music students and faculty. The music facility is one of the best university music teaching facilities in Pennsylvania, while the new location for sculpture and clay offers large open space providing students the opportunity to increase their undergraduate art experience. The college sponsors two hundred to three hundred arts events annually, and our students, who currently enjoy the strongest academic profile of any of the university’s colleges, have opportunities to develop their talents locally, regionally, and nationally. The college has an active international program for student exchange with a long-established field-based program.

There are no additional college requirements for graduation beyond the university and departmental requirements listed in other sections of this catalog.

Mission Statement

The mission of the College of Fine Arts at IUP is to provide excellent programs of study for all of its majors, balancing high professional standards with rigorous and current educational practice, and to provide coursework and programs of an equally high standard in service to majors in other departments which may require arts classes and, as part of the university’s general studies mandate, to the entire university student body.

The College of Fine Arts takes as its special mission the presentation of arts events including plays, concerts, exhibitions, and recitals, featuring the work of our students and faculty as well as the work of visiting arts professionals, as a gift of enrichment and as a celebration of the human spirit for the university, the community, and the region.

Finally, the college takes as its mandate and its privilege the inclusion in its presentations, studios, and classrooms the works, thoughts, and performances of a culturally and ethnically diverse world of art.

College Majors

• Art (History or Studio Track)–B.A.

• Art Education–B.S.Ed.

• Art Studio–B.F.A.

• Interdisciplinary Fine Arts (Dance Arts or Musical Theater Track)–B.A.

• Music (History and Literature, General Studies, or Theory and Composition Track)–B.A.

• Music Education–B.S.Ed.

• Music Performance–B.F.A.

• Theater–B.A.

College Minors

• Art History

• Art Studio

• Dance

• Entrepreneurship for Fine Arts

• Music

• Theater

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Interdisciplinary Fine Arts Majors

The Interdisciplinary Fine Arts major is available for students desiring to combine coursework within the departments of Art, Music, and Theater and Dance and selected courses within other colleges. Students must enter into a college department through a portfolio review or audition. Students select specific “tracks” which are tailored to the areas of Musical Theater and Dance Arts. This program is designed around core components within the liberal arts and the fine arts and is also specifically designed for the student who has exceptional skill in more than one area of the arts. The newly designed interdisciplinary major also includes the opportunity for an internship. The internships would include work within the performance arena. This interdisciplinary program is coordinated through the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts, where additional information is available.

Musical Theater Track

The Interdisciplinary Fine Arts degree focuses on music theater with a full integration of music, dance, and theater.  Students must audition in music, theater, and dance. In order to be accepted into this track, a student would need to pass the audition in music and a second audition in either theater or dance. As students plan their program, they need to be aware that a State System Board of Governors’ policy states that at least 40 percent of the coursework in a degree must consist of courses numbered 300 and above.

Bachelor of Arts–Interdisciplinary Fine Arts/Musical Theater Track (1)

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Dance Arts Track

The Interdisciplinary Fine Arts/Dance Arts Track focuses on the art of dance with a primary integration of dance and theater and a secondary integration of music and/or art. Students can be admitted to this track after completion of both dance and theater auditions and/or interviews.

Bachelor of Arts–Interdisciplinary Fine Arts/Dance Arts Track (1)

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Minor in Entrepreneurship for Fine Arts

The minor in Entrepreneurship for nonbusiness majors program assumes no prior knowledge of business. Fine arts students are usually involved in starting and running their own business, developing and starting small performing groups, and developing and running nonprofit community theaters. Students would develop the skills necessary to evaluate opportunities within their industry. They would learn, among other things, to 1) analyze their competition, 2) develop marketing and financial plans, 3) explain intellectual property rights, 4) negotiate contracts, and 5) write a business plan that could be used to obtain financing from banks, investors, or other sources of funding. These skills are all central to the creation and development of new ventures. This is a joint effort of four departments and represents an 18-credit minor for fine arts majors. The program is designed to give nonbusiness majors a general background in starting and running a small business.

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