Students must complete the following requirements for the MFA in Visual Arts:
Total of 60 credits, minimum (earned over four semesters, normally two years)
Full-time enrollment (minimum 12 credits per semester)
Eighteen credits of art history (combined undergraduate and graduate)
Final degree exhibition written thesis, and oral defense
Distribution requirements for course work are as follows:
- 10 credits of graduate studio work during each semester in the first year.
- 12 credits of graduate studio work during each semester in the second year.
- 2 semesters of graduate seminar (3 credits each) in the first year.
- 1 semester of thesis seminar (3 credits) in the final semester.
- Elective and art history courses complete the remaining credit hours.
Students and faculty may arrange independent study courses. Meetings are arranged between the student and instructor as appropriate to the projects and credit-hour assignment. One semester hour is assigned for every three hours of graduate studio work, per week, per semester.
Individual programs are arranged with the Director of Graduate Studies. Students work with College & Graduate School of Art faculty according to their fields of interest and affinities
Art Electives are introductions to the materials, techniques, and aesthetic issues of particular disciplines. Available in various media concentrations, art electives complement and expand the graduate studio experience.
Thesis
The thesis requirement for the MFA degree comprises an exhibition of an original work of art or group of such works, and a defense of the thesis work to, and approval of it by, the student's Graduate Committee, together with documentation in the form of slides accompanied by a thesis document pertaining to the work.
