Programs Offered
Studio Art
Undergraduate
From personal practice to the integration of visual art across disciplines, studio art offers a way of problem-solving through visual thinking, production, and analysis. Studio art prepares students to contribute creatively to the social and cultural discourses that shape contemporary society. The major seeks to promote the growth and development of the student through a range of courses dealing with aesthetics and composition, critical skills, and mastery of both traditional and digital techniques. The interdisciplinary structure of the curriculum encourages students to explore a range of media in pursuit of their educational or career objectives. Students may concentrate their area of study in ceramics, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, or sculpture.
We offer several undergraduate options:
- Bachelor of Arts in studio art (honors track available)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art
- Studio art minor
Undergraduate program in studio art
Graduate
The graduate program is a 3-year Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art. The aim of the program is to educate and prepare qualified, promising students for future professional practice as artists and educators at the college and university level. Studio students concentrate in ceramics, painting, photography, or sculpture, or in a combination of these disciplines.
Art History
Undergraduate
The art history program offers a Major, Supplementary Major, or Minor, with courses in each of the following areas: Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque, and Modern & Contemporary art history. Our diverse and strong faculty bring their own research and passion into the classroom and encourage students to supplement lectures and discussions with invaluable hands-on experience at the Snite Museum, the Special Collections in Hesburgh Library, or the South Bend Regional Museum of Art.
We offer several undergraduate options:
- Bachelor of Arts in art history (honors track available)
- Supplemental major in art history
- Art history minor
Undergraduate program in Art History
Graduate
The graduate minor in Visual and Material Culture (VaMC) complements the work of students enrolled in Ph.D., MFA, and M.A. programs at the University of Notre Dame by providing research experience in the study of art and material culture from a global perspective. Graduate students minoring in VaMC acquire foundational knowledge in the histories and theories of global art through course offerings from faculty in the Department of Art, Art History & Design (AAHD) in ancient, medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary art. The minor introduces students to research methods that intersect with, but are distinct from, those of other disciplines such as film or digital media studies.
Graduate minor in Visual and Material Culture
Design
Undergraduate
Design at the University of Notre Dame lays emphasis on the art, science, and practice of building platforms and experiences that create tangible communication between content and users through traditional and contemporary media. The design programs are established around human-centered design principles that builds deep empathy with stakeholders and solving wicked problems with contextual solutions that derive from a holistic vision. The Visual Communication Design (VCD) program offers instruction in areas of packaging, scale graphics, user experience/user interface design, social design & innovation, visualization of data that explore theory, methods, and creation of visual narratives through story-telling. The Industrial Design(ID) program offers course topics that include social innovation, user experience, design research methods, design entrepreneurship, digital fabrication, visualization, and animation. Both areas emphasize real-world learning through strategic industry partnerships and local/ global community-based experiences.
We offer several undergraduate options in design:
- Bachelor of Arts in design (honors track available)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts in design
- Collaborative innovation minor (a design thinking program for students in majoring in any discipline)
Undergraduate program in design
Graduate
The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in design is offered in two areas: industrial design and visual communication design. A research-driven three-year terminal degree focuses on the discovery and exploration of new concepts and theories that contribute to advancing the discipline of design. Our graduate students are encouraged to investigate contemporary issues and offer a systematic vision that may influence global society. The structure of our graduate program allows MFAs access to faculty with a broad spectrum of research and professional experience, serving as the primary guidance for intellectual connections.