Undergraduate Program
The undergraduate Art Education Program is designed to prepare art teachers who:
- Are skilled and insightful artists and educators
- Understand the diverse ways in which people create and engage with art and cultures
- Nurture the interests and potential of young people in a range of learning environments
- Organize their knowledge about art into student-centered curricular units and lessons
- Apply a repertoire of instructional and evaluative strategies to facilitate the learning process
- Are responsive to the school's culture and relationship to the community
- Have a commitment to ongoing professional development.
In addition to the strengths of the studio and pedagogical components of the Art Education Program, students participate in 100 hours of fieldwork prior to their student teaching semester. In addition, through the NAEA Student Chapter, the Art Education fieldwork program offers many opportunities for its majors to observe and assist in a variety of art teaching contexts including schools, museums, agencies and organizations.
Graduate Programs
The Art Education graduate program leads to the degree of Master of Science in Art Education (MSEd), and to Professional teaching certification in Visual Art Pre-K - 12 for those students working in New York State under Initial art teacher certification. As a prerequisite for admission, applicants must possess Initial teaching certification for Visual Art Pre-K - 12 in New York State or a certificate to teach art from another state in the U.S. The program also serves students who wish to obtain a master's degree in preparation for doctoral study.
The graduate program in Visual Arts Education challenges both new and experienced art teachers to use their artistry and teaching practice as sources of reflective, critical, and original research. Through a community of inquiry, students clarify their research methods in studio practice, contemporary and historical ideas and issues in artmaking, and effective art pedagogy. Visual Arts Research leads students to develop new insights in classroom practices that engage in meaningful, authentic, and current art content.
The philosophy of the graduate program in Visual Arts Education is rooted in art practice as the source of knowing and engaging with the world. The process of making art is inextricable with reflection, and therefore the studio can serve as a site of inquiry and conceptual thinking. Students in the graduate program discover critical topics of study within the process of artmaking by situating it within culture and society.
New pedagogical practices and understanding lead to teachers-researchers-artists who make significant changes in educational policies, practices, and insights.
MSEd Program Goals:
- Expand knowledge of contemporary practices in art, teaching, and technology
- Develop and articulate self-reflective practices as researchers, artists, and teachers
- Create collaboration and engagement with local and global learning communities
- Build professional networks to support the practice of life-long learning
- Understanding how art mediating between the artist and the world impacts education.
The program encourages active participation in professional art education organizations, national conferences and workshops. As project and course work is completed, and new research is developed, students are afforded opportunities to present their findings in student publications and at national conferences and workshops. Students have often undertaken leadership roles in the organization of these events. This level of professional engagement establishes both a feeling of authenticity and a sense of professional engagement and status in the art education field. In this way, the Art Education Program fosters and develops a group of peers with whom it continues to work. Many successful graduates maintain interaction with the program - as invited speakers in classes and as supervising teachers for our undergraduate field work in the schools.
The graduate program in Art Education does not lead to Initial teaching certification for people with undergraduate degrees in art studio, art history, or other areas. Prospective students who have earned a bachelor's degree in studio art, art history, or another area and who wish to become art teachers may apply as second degree students to the undergraduate Art Education Program. For further information, contact the Art Education Program Office at 845-257-3850.
