Official Department of Art Mission Statement

The Department of Art is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  This accreditation has been in place since 1981.

In today's complex and changing art and design worlds, it is very important to find a comprehensive program that will meet your multi-faceted educational needs as well as your personal and professional objectives.

The U of M Department of Art provides depth of choice, successful professional faculty, challenging programs, and a supportive environment. Flexibility is a given and course offerings are many.

Although The U of M is a major Mid-South university, you'll be treated as a unique individual in our art department. In other words, you'll get to know your teachers and fellow students, and a faculty advisor from your major discipline will meet with you individually to help guide your studies.

Once you are here, you'll discover the boundaries of art disciplines blur as you engage in contemporary issues, ideas, and new technologies. You may start out as a painter, later get excited about sculpture, and then, after taking a course in digital multimedia, integrate all three in an interactive video sculpture in our art museum. The discovery is yours.

In this light, the goal of the Department of Art is to educate the total artist within the cultural atmosphere of a major university. We seek motivated and talented students, and we challenge them to explore with passion so they may become leaders in art and design.

This is a place where imagination is ignited and potential is realized. It's a place where career development is stressed to help create every opportunity for professional success.

At The University of Memphis, art students seek their own vision both simply and directly. It's all about discovering your individuality and seeking new perspectives, not in isolation, but in relation to your professional goals and the world around you. Importantly, it's about gaining confidence and taking risks in a supportive environment wherein individuality is the expected and acceptable norm.

The challenges of the changing multidimensional art and design worlds result in our continual dedication to the reshaping of our programs. This insures the Department of Art's responsiveness to expanding student needs and the education of the whole person. To be successful, today's artists, designers, educators, and art historians need the holistic, forward thinking education that our comprehensive university can provide.

We hope you will discover the significant advantages The University of Memphis Department of Art provides. Please visit our campus and spend time with our students and faculty. It's easy to arrange, and it would be our pleasure to show you around.