Assessment Goals ~ Plan ~ Results~ Action

THE ART DEPARTMENT MISSION 

The Art Department of Plymouth State University, through excellence in teaching, artistry, scholarship and service, is committed to developing skilled and competent graduates who excel in creative problem-solving and social responsibility.  To this end, emphasis is placed on critical thinking, critical writing, critical speaking and critical object making.  Leadership skills make our graduates viable and competitive candidates for employment in the workplace, production in the artist’s studio and success in graduate school. 

The Art Department is committed to excellence in teaching, artistry and scholarship as the foundation of its mission to provide an excellent environment for teaching and learning. The Art Department faculty, as a community of artists, scholars and teachers, and its facilities in the historic Draper & Maynard Building, provide a rich educational and cultural environment for the college, the Plymouth community and the northern New Hampshire region.  Through this mission, the Art Department promotes the respect for diverse aesthetic traditions and values and seeks to expose students to the vast riches available from a larger, more diverse society. 

The Art Department recognizes the significance of the visual arts in the holistic development of learners who have the potential to become responsible, productive leaders in artistic communities and who will determine the future of creative exploration through the visual arts in education, the artists’ studio, museums and galleries and businesses in diverse societies in the future.  Through the study of the visual arts, the faculty encourage the mastery of skills and concepts necessary to the artist, art educator, designer and art historian. 

The Art Department is committed to advancing technological innovation for students through the full integration of new media into the curriculum.  Through the careful balance of traditional visual arts media with the latest technological developments, students will recognize the continuum of visual technology in which artists, educators, designers and art historians have created.  Students, prepared with the attitude that the visual arts and media have timeless qualities, will experience art as a universal language through the development of a foundation for life-long exploration of the visual arts.  The exhibitions program in the Karl Drerup Fine Arts Gallery and the Silver Cultural Arts Center present quality visual arts experiences to the university and community as well as exhibition opportunities for students in a variety of venues across campus. 

The faculty of the Art Department is committed to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service within the context of the disciplines of art education, art history, ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, printmaking and sculpture at the undergraduate level.  In addition, the faculty is also committed to excellence through its courses in art education to the program of Childhood Studies and the Master of Education in Integrated Arts and its academic minors to students studying outside the department.  Summer initiatives such as the Arts in Education Institute, the Visiting Artist series and community interest courses expand the boundaries of the department to non-traditional learners.  Internship experiences provide real-life opportunities to students. 

The visual arts at Plymouth State University have a well established position in the mission of the university and are integral to its history.  The visual arts provide a rich vitality to the campus and the Plymouth region and it is through the mission of the Art Department that its excellence continues into the 21^st century with renewed potential and great possibilities.