The BFSDoA is committed to offering quality undergraduate and graduate degree programs that prepare students to become professional artists, designers, art educators and art historians. An accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the unit strives to continuously maintain the rigorous and thorough standards representative of a NASAD institution.

Faculty provide effective classroom instruction and extracurricular experiences that enhance student learning, which fully support the University’s mission to be Student-Centered. The BFSDoA provides safe, healthy and comfortable laboratories of learning for students with the ideal student/faculty ratio of 15-20 students per studio faculty as the standard enrollment recommended by NASAD and the College Art Association. Attention to safety issues and providing state of the art equipment and technologies housed in appropriate facilities is an ongoing concern of all faculty. We strive to ensure our teaching classrooms and studios remain current with Technological Advances in our fields to ensure our graduates are competitive in their field, if not a cut above the rest. In this regard, we strive for Academic Distinction in all curriculum offerings. We also support the University’s mission to provide a liberal arts education to all its students by offering a general art appreciation course, Art in Life, to over 350 students annually. The BFSDoA is committed to reinforcing and extending student understanding of the Transcultural nature of the visual arts by providing ample access to international travel opportunities.

Individual faculty comprise a group of highly regarded professionals well known in their respective fields as exhibiting artists, as well as research-oriented art historians and art educators. Their accolades and accomplishments, which range from holding governing board positions from president to archivist of a national organizations; receiving numerous awards for distinction in service, creativity, and teaching –including being named Art Educator of the Year by peer jurors of the National Art Education Association; exhibiting internationally in competitive venues as award winning artists; and their authorship of multiple textbooks are reasons the BFSDoA Faculty are a faculty of Academic Distinction. Their modeling of scholarly practice not only provides a comprehensive and philosophically sound curriculum, it creates a highly respected faculty, known as leaders in their field. Support of faculty research is paramount in our mission, as we highly regard the principle of model scholar as exemplary teacher.

The BFSDoA is committed to community outreach efforts and we extend our resources as private/public partnerships by offering quality outreach programs, such as monthly gallery exhibitions, the annual Youth Arts Festival, the Grassroots Arts Project and numerous other community programs such as faculty symposia and teacher outreach programming. These service efforts are an essential component to our programs, student development, and outreach to the local and professional community.

In all that it does, the BFSDoA is committed to its role in building and extending the intellectual community in the visual arts, fully recognizing its role in training not only artists and designers, but the next generation of the art professoriate and art teachers. Broadly, our goal is to provide our students with the ability to think critically, communicate effectively, work cooperatively, be comfortable with technology, and be committed to sharing their many talents with an increasingly global community.

Introduction

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is intricately involved in the education of all undergraduate students at the university. Students develop essential skills in written and oral communication, critical thinking, analysis and synthesis, cultural and language appreciation, and an awareness of the value of the fine arts. This foundation is central to the University’s mission to “provide society with graduates who are both equipped to thrive in a competitive environment and educated to build a better civilization.” Our undergraduate students, across majors, learn to pursue their aspirations with a sense of their place in the world with a perspective on the past, and with an awareness of the ideas that can enrich their future, while our graduate students build on those developing skills to gain increased mastery in their respective disciplines, strengthening their own competencies and enhancing their personal and professional lives.

College Mission

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is at the core of one of Georgia's most comprehensive universities. The primary goal of the college is to shape a dedication to investigation and creativity within liberal arts and social science disciplines and through general education offerings. This dedication involves all members of the College in a fundamental concern for excellence, innovation, and the pursuit of knowledge. The College encourages students to address the analytical, historical, cultural, and philosophical foundations of their disciplines. The faculty and administration of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences believe that such dedication and encouragement will result in graduates who will be vital, contributing members of the community who will, in turn, foster closer ties between the university and the public that supports it.

In its scholarship, research, and creative activities, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences demonstrates its commitment to a range of issues, applied and theoretical, public and private. The College accepts its mandate as an intellectual resource for southern Georgia and seeks to enrich the lives of those inside and outside Georgia Southern University by offering, through various media, the fruits of artistic, creative, and thoughtful expression. Faculty members also work in partnership with and serve as consultants to local, regional, and national groups. The disciplines represented within the College have historical roots that stretch back for centuries. Future-oriented, advanced work combines the best of this heritage with the complex modern world to provide students with a perspective of past experiences, present developments, and future possibilities. The humanities, social sciences and fine arts cooperate in the task of interpreting and understanding the human experience. This task brings together the liberal arts and social sciences to provide a central place within the university to investigate, ponder, and express creatively what is truly human.

Mission Summary Statement

Georgia Southern University is a predominately undergraduate university devoted to “teaching first,” a student-centered residential campus that nurtures a fulfilling college experience and a comprehensive institute that offers an array of masters’ degrees and selected doctoral degrees. The University’s breadth of nationally accredited academic programs in the liberal arts and professional studies attracts a statewide enrollment of undergraduate and graduate students. Our quest is to uplift our region’s educational attainment, cultural opportunities, economic growth, environmental quality, scientific and technological progress, and social and personal well-being. At the University’s core is excellent instruction, strengthened by research and service. We practice scholarship in many forms, including creative activity, discovery, integration, and application. The Georgia Southern experience promotes the development of students who value honesty, civility, and the dignity of work. Our mission is to graduate students who are knowledgeable, clear-thinking, articulate, and effective in problem-solving.