DEPARTMENT Of ART EDUCATION MISSION
The mission of the Department of Art Education is to prepare educators, researchers, administrators and policy makers for research and practice in art education through its integrated, multifaceted programs and collaborations across the University. Our goal is to prepare students to lead through art education towards a critical and informed citizenry committed to advancing the public interest with regard to opportunity, diversity, effective public policy, social justice, and creativity.
Our programs promote understanding of the arts and other forms of visual culture, policy, and education for all students through a curriculum that is research-based, interdisciplinary, and intent on collaboration with communities within the University, state, nation, and world. We emphasize understanding of arts and culture, especially visual culture, in a global, culturally diverse, and technological society. This content is explored through the following: pedagogical theory and practices, critical inquiry of historical and contemporary artworks; the analysis of public and educational policy in the arts and cultures; and inquiry in the philosophical, historical, and policy foundations of art education, arts management, and cultural policy administration. Our curriculum includes attention to understanding multimedia technologies in cultural production, critique of policies, teaching, learning, assessment, and awareness of comparative international practice.
The scope of the Department’s undergraduate offerings includes general education and courses for elementary classroom teachers. In addition to a Bachelor of Art Education degree program that provides undergraduate students with a well-rounded liberal arts education, intensive studies in visual culture, and significant preparatory course work in the theory and practice of art education, the Department also offers a five-year PK-12 teacher preparation program with licensure in the first year of graduate study. The Department is also taking the lead in the development of an undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship and the arts in collaboration with the Fisher Business School.
The Department provides graduate courses for experienced teachers and graduate licensure students; a Master’s degree in arts policy and administration carried out in collaboration with the School of Public Policy and Management; a set of museum education courses; professional development for in-service teachers and school administrators; and advanced graduate study encompassing a wide array of doctoral research specializations.