Mission

Consistent with the University's overall mission, the Department of Fine and Performing Arts is dedicated to providing a comprehensive and holistic education that will produce empowered graduates prepared to meet the challenges of their discipline, stay abreast of technology, and embrace diversity. The Department fosters community outreach that perpetuates an overall appreciation of design, visual arts, media arts, music, dance, and theatre and their recognition of their places in the academe and beyond.

Goals

1. To provide a progressive and rigorous curriculum with activities that ground students in the arts holistically, as well in their specific areas of concentration. 
2. To recruit, retain, and graduate academically sound and diverse student populations. 
3. To encourage individual creativity and experimentation in interdisciplinary activities, in arts as a business, and in overall aesthetics. 
4. To cultivate critical thinking through individual and collective examinations of quality in the arts and aesthetics. 
5. To offer the most current technological advances employed in art, design, media arts, visual communication, music, dance, and theatre. 
6. To expose students to a variety of cultural experiences that enhance their artistic repertoire and develop their appreciation for diversity. 
7. To increase departmental support and visibility, through partnerships, alliances, and/or collaborative experiences, 
8. To foster an appreciation of the arts as a cultural force in society, on the campus, and in surrounding communities. 
9. To strengthen viable human and fiscal resources and maintain accountability to both the university and the public. 

Objectives

1. To offer courses that stimulate students to learn about art and creative self-expression, as a part of their cultural growth. 
2. To foster an appreciation for the value of art experiences. 
3. To acquaint students with Fine and Performing Arts practices of various cultures, from prehistoric times to the present. 
4. To show the relationship of the fine and performing arts to other fields of learning. 
5. To encourage students who demonstrate interest and potential for artistic growth to continue the study of art in its various forms. 
6. To provide students with a solid foundation in visual and performing arts, design, media arts, research, entertainment, technology, and professional performance and exhibition. 

Vision

To be recognized as a higher education leader in producing quality artists who are diverse and grounded in the knowledge and experience of creativity, progressive research, and community service.

Core Values

• Promoting the highest quality in teaching, creative expression, research, and service in the arts 
• Encouraging, with integrity and ethics, individual expression, interpretation, and experimentation 
• Perpetuating a spirit of collaboration with various communities through the arts 
• Encouraging diversity in faculty, students, staff, and departmental experiences 
• Facilitating critical thinking, technology fluency, and information literacy