Department of Art and Design

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Kurt Coppersmith, MFA, Chair

The art and design major at Southern Arkansas University works toward exploring the artistic process of expression in a variety of contexts-historical, philosophical and personal. As an art major, students develop their creative talents to the fullest while preparing for an art related career or advanced graduate studies.

Career opportunities lie in: education, product design, package design, web design, studio, public art, gallery curation, museum curation, merchandise design, advertising design, corporate identity design, and print publication design as Art Director, Creative Director or production artist. Careers are possible in multimedia design, motion design, titles animation, animation creation, and many other promising digital design forms for movie and new media. There is also training for graphic novel illustration, children’s book illustration, and book design,

Degrees conferred are Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees with concentrations in studio art, game, animation and simulation, graphic design, interactive media and marketing, and pre-art therapy.

The Department of Art and Design maintains an active art gallery with approximately 1600 square feet of exhibition space. Works of national and international reputation exhibit regularly along with faculty and student works and cultural artifacts.

Teaching Art in the Schools

Those students who plan to teach art in the public schools may enroll into the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program after earning their BFA degree in Art. The two-year program is comprised of 30 hours of graduate coursework, followed by a year of teaching as a fully employed teacher of record in a public school. The online classes make this a convenient way to achieve the license for teaching art at any grade (P-12).

Educator Preparation Provider (EPP) Conceptual Framework: Attaining Educational Achievement through Collaboration and Reflection
The mission of the education Educator Preparation Program is to prepare candidates who attain educational achievement through collaboration and reflection. To that end the education preparation program (including content departments), collaborates with K-12 schools, Educational Service Cooperatives, Educational Renewal Zones and other local, state, and national organizations to inculcate high standards of educational achievement for all students. The program engages pre-service and in-service teachers, administrators, counselors and other educators to excel in teaching, leadership, scholarship and service.

The EPP holds the established dispositions, as described in the conceptual framework, as critical for all initial candidates pursuing a degree in the EPP. See the College of Education and Human Performance section in the catalog.

The EPP holds the established competencies, as described in the conceptual framework, as critical for all initial candidates pursuing a degree in the EPP. See the College of Education and Human Performance  section in the catalog.

Graduation with an education minor requires admission to the Teacher Education Program.

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