The College of Communication and Fine Arts

RYAN FISHER, Ph.D., Interim Dean
Room 232, Communication Fine Arts Building
(901) 678-2350
http://ccfa.memphis.edu/

The College of Communication and Fine Arts has four primary functions. First, it offers courses of study aimed at preparing its students to work toward careers in architecture and interior design, the fine or applied arts, communication, journalism and strategic media or the performing arts, whether as practitioners, teachers, artists, or consultants. Second, the college affords broad exposure and instruction in fine arts, communication, journalism and strategic media to students of other colleges in the university whose degree programs may be enhanced by such exposure. Third, with a view toward individual professional growth as well as general cultural enhancement, the college vigorously promotes scholarly research, professional practice, and artistic production. Finally, the college seeks to enrich the cultural atmosphere of both the university and the community at large through a continuing variety of public programs, to include art exhibitions, media presentations, dramatic and dance productions, concerts, recitals, lectures, seminars, debates, workshops, festivals, and the like.

Through the diversity of these constituent elements, the college reflects the unity and challenge facing the communicative artist and scholar. Ultimately it is our goal to foster a more intense and profound awareness of the broad range of human experience from which the college derives its pertinence and vitality.

Philosophy

The College of Communication and Fine Arts is focused ultimately upon visual and audible symbols, whose rational and emotional values it is the mission of the college to create and explore. In the belief that perception is largely shaped by experience, The College of Communication and Fine Arts offers a range of symbolically rendered experiences, both individual and collective, in the hope of broadening and sensitizing the perceptions of its students.

The kind of symbolic experience that communicates emerges when, in Ruskin’s phrase, “the hand, the head and the heart of man go together.” Students in The College of Communication and Fine Arts receive individual and small group instruction toward this end. In the hope of furthering the capacity to impose a pattern on experience and to recognize the patterns offered by others, students of the college are exposed additionally to courses drawn from a broad base of the liberal arts.

The faculty of the college represents a diversity of academic and artistic backgrounds and interests, reflected not only in its teaching, but also in research and creative activities. It is a faculty united in the attempt to maintain the highest standards in both classroom and studio work, standards that find their limits at last only in the mystery and wonder of the human experience from which they rise.

Organization

The College of Communication and Fine Arts comprises six academic departments: Architecture , Art , Communication and Film , Journalism and Strategic Media , Music , and Theatre and Dance . The requirements for the majors and minors offered by these departments are listed later in this section.

Degrees Offered

A student may earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, or Bachelor of Arts degree, by majoring in one of the six departments that constitute the College of Communication and Fine Arts. The following is an outline by majors and concentrations areas offered by the departments in the College of Communication and Fine Arts.

A minimum grade of “C-” is required in every course applicable toward a major or minor.

Credit in the College of Communication and Fine Arts may be granted for validated learning from experience or non-traditional instruction. Guidelines for this procedure may be obtained in the office of the Dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts.

Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree Requirements

In Architecture
In Art with concentrations in Art Education, Studio Arts, Graphic Design and Photography
In Interior Architecture
In Theatre with concentrations in Dance, Dance Science, Design and Technical Production, Performance, and Musical Theatre

Bachelor of Music Degree Requirements

In Music with concentrations in Commercial Music Performance, Composition, Jazz and Studio Performance, Music History, Performance, Music Education Instrumental, Music Education Choral
In Music Industry with concentrations in Music Business and Recording Technology

Bachelor of Arts Degree Requirements

In Advertising
In Art
In Communication with concentrations in Communication Studies and Film and Video Production
In Journalism with additional concentrations in Broadcast Journalism and Creative Mass Media
In Public Relations with an additional concentration in Strategic Social Media

Students receiving a Bachelors of Arts must complete the following hours in addition to the University General Education Program requirements.

Foreign Language: 6 hours in a single foreign language at or above the 2000 level or equivalent

Residency Requirements

University residence requirements are explained in detail in the Graduation from the University section. A transfer student in The College of Communication and Fine Arts must earn at least 6 semester hours in residence in the major subject and a minimum of 3 semester hours in the minor. These credits may be earned only through regular class enrollment for a letter grade.

Individual program requirements described in the University of Memphis Undergraduate Catalog are subject to change. Please consult the college level advisor for changes that may occur before publication of the next issue of this catalog.