Mar 29, 2024  
2011-2012 University Catalog 
    
2011-2012 University Catalog [Archived Catalogue]

2011-2012 University Catalog


Accreditation     Administration     Board of Trustees     History of UArts     Mission     Nondiscrimination Policy


 

The University of the Arts

320 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 215.717.6000 or 800.616.ARTS | UArts Website
CEEB: 2664 | Title IV Code: 00350

The arts have the power to transform society. They play an essential role in ensuring and enhancing the quality of life.

Mission

The University of the Arts is committed to inspiring, educating, and preparing innovative artists and creative leaders for the visual, performing, and media arts of the twenty-first century.

Purpose

The University of the Arts is devoted exclusively to education and training in the arts. Within this community of artists the process of learning engages, refines, and articulates all of our creative capabilities. Our institution was among the first to contribute to the formation of an American tradition in arts education. We continue to develop interpreters and innovators who influence our dynamic culture.

The University

  • Educates and professionally trains artists in the visual and performing arts, in design, in media, and in writing;
  • Grants graduate and undergraduate degrees, diplomas, and certificates in the arts;
  • Provides educational programs centered in the arts to multiple populations;
  • Encourages relationships among the arts;
  • Promotes high standards in creativity and scholarship;
  • Prepares artists who will contribute responsibly to our culture;
  • Challenges students to think critically, joining knowledge and skill to their individual creative vision;
  • Anticipates and cultivates new art forms as they emerge.

We serve the community in which we reside, the professions for which we prepare new members and, ultimately, the society whose culture we both sustain and advance. The University’s goal is to direct each student’s quest for creative self-expression toward a productive role in society. Our programs develop the student’s talent, aesthetic sensibility, conceptual and perceptual acumen, cultural awareness, and professional expertise. The curricula integrate specific knowledge and skills needed for technical mastery of the various arts disciplines with a significant examination of conceptual and humanistic studies.

To this end, the University must gather and retain a distinguished teaching faculty offering a breadth of professional expertise. Their scholarly work and artistic exploration have national and international consequences for the institution. Our educational programs seek to stimulate and influence not only our students but the very disciplines that we teach.

History of the University of the Arts

The University of the Arts is the largest comprehensive educational institution of its kind in the nation, preparing students for professional careers in design, visual, media, and performing arts, and emerging creative fields.

The University of the Arts has evolved from two century-old institutions: the Philadelphia College of Art and the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts.

The Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art was formed in 1876 in order to take advantage of the Centennial International Exhibition held in Philadelphia that year. Comprised of a museum (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art) and a school (now the College of Art, Media, and Design), its mission was to provide training in the industrial arts and exhibit well-designed manufactured goods. Following a series of name changes, the school separated from the museum in 1964 and became Philadelphia College of Art (PCA). Today the college offers curricula in art education, crafts, design, fine arts, media arts, and museum studies.

The performing arts programs of The University of the Arts date from 1870, when three graduates of the Conservatory of Leipzig opened the Philadelphia Musical Academy. In 1877 another Leipzig alumnus founded the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. The conservatory and the academy merged in 1962 and continued under the academy’s name. While still offering only a music program but with a vision in mind, the school changed its name in 1976 to the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (PCPA). The following year PCPA absorbed the Philadelphia Dance Academy, which had been founded in 1944. The School of Theater Arts was added in 1983, thus achieving the college’s ideal program of studies: dance, music, and theater arts.

PCA and PCPA joined in 1985 to become the Philadelphia Colleges of the Arts, and a true visual and performing arts university was in its formative stages. Granted university status by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education in 1987, the University of the Arts became the largest comprehensive educational institution of its kind in the nation, preparing students for professional careers in design, fine arts, crafts, dance, music, and theater arts. In 1996 the University added a College of Media and Communication, offering programs in communication, writing for film and television, and multimedia.

Accreditation

The University of the Arts is authorized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to grant degrees in the visual, performing, and related arts, and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104; 215-662-5606). The College of Art, Media, and Design is also an accredited institutional member of the National Association of the Schools of Art and Design, and the Industrial Designers Society of America. The School of Music is also accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.

Administration

President: Sean T. Buffington 
Provost: Kirk E. Pillow
Associate Provost and Director of Libraries: Carol Graney
Associate Provost: James A. Savoie
Dean, College of Art, Media, and Design: Christopher Sharrock
Dean, College of Performing Arts:  Search in Process
Dean, Division of Continuing Studies: Erin Elman
Dean, Division of Liberal Arts: Peter Stambler
Vice President for Advancement: Lucille Hughes
Vice President for Enrollment, Retention, and Student Affairs: R. Alan Leffers
Vice President Facilities Management and Operations: Phillip Van Cleave
Vice President of Finance and Administration: Stephen J. Lightcap
Vice President of Technology and Information Services: Thomas Carnwath
Vice President for University Communications: Paul Healy
Assistant Vice President & Dean of Students: Gregory Nayor
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs: Maria de Santis
Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions:  Susan Gandy
Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Director of Student Financial Aid:  Chris Pesotski
Assistant Vice President & Controller:  Robert Richardson
Registrar: Margaret Kip

Board of Trustees

Chairman:  Ronald J. Naples
President:  Sean T. Buffington 

George A. Beach ‘58, Roger L. Bomgardner, Ira Brind, Ronald L. Caplan, Jill R. Felix Colton, Joseph F. Coradino, Eleanor L. Davis, Deanna DeCherney ‘66, Mark Donnolo ‘85, Brian Effron, Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, William R. Gast ‘68, Melissa Heller, Richard P. Jaffe, Esq., Scott M. Jenkins, Gail Kass, Dr. Russel E. Kaufman, Al Paul Lefton, Jr., Elaine C. Levitt, Sueyun Pyo Locks, Karen Lotman, Seymour G. Mandell, Dr. Noel Mayo ‘66, Thomas M. Miles ‘75, Francis J. Mirabello, Esq., Adolf A. Paier, Lawrence S. Reichlin, Judith F. Terra, James P. Vesey, Harriet G. Weiss, William Wilson, Albert E. Wolf

Life Trustees
Dorrance H. Hamilton, Chairman Emerita
Sam S. McKeel

Trustees Emeriti
Mary Louise Beitzel ‘51, Irvin J. Borowsky, Anne F. Elder, Sondra Myers

Faculty Emeriti
Jane Bedno, Morris Berd, William Daley (University Distinguished Professor), Inge Druckery, Kenneth Hiebert, Lois Johnson, Robert F. McGovern, Richard Stetser

President Emeritus
Peter Solmssen

Nondiscrimination Policy

The University of the Arts is committed to maintaining an environment in which students, faculty, and staff may pursue academic, artistic, and professional excellence. This environment can be secured only through mutual respect and unconstrained academic and professional interchange among faculty, staff, and students. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, other state and federal laws, and the University of the Arts policy, the faculty, staff, and students of the University are entitled to participate in and obtain the benefits of University programs, activities, and employment without being discriminated against on the basis of race, creed, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or military status.

This policy includes the rights, policies and procedures set forth in the University’s anti-harassment policy, set forth in Section 3.14 of the Faculty Handbook.

The University also strictly prohibits any form of retaliation or reprisal against anyone reporting allegations of harassment or discrimination, or cooperating in an investigation of such a report. Such retaliation shall be considered a serious violation of the University’s nondiscrimination policy and shall be punishable by discipline up to and including termination, regardless of whether the charge of discrimination is substantiated. However, if an employee, student, or faculty member is found to have intentionally lied about a claim of discrimination, or brought a claim in bad faith, knowing that the allegation of discrimination is false, then that employee, student, or faculty member may be subject to discipline or expulsion.

Examples of prohibited retaliation include: threatening reprisals against the person who complained or cooperated in an investigation; unfairly changing a person’s evaluations, assignments, grades, or working conditions; or otherwise continuing any harassment or discrimination against such person.

The University of the Arts gives equal consideration to all applicants for admission and financial aid, and conducts all educational programs, activities, and employment practice in accordance with the policy as stated above.

Inquiries concerning the application of the laws and regulations concerning equal employment and education opportunity at the University of the Arts (including Title VI - equal opportunity regardless of race, color or national origin; Section 504 - equal opportunity for the disabled; and Title IX - equal opportunity without regard to gender) may be referred to: 

The Office of Personnel Services

The University of the Arts
Hamilton Hall, Room 260
320 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA  19102
personnel@uarts.edu
The Office of the Vice President for
Enrollment, Retention & Student Affairs

The University of the Arts
Hamilton Hall, Suite 260
320 S. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-717-6618


This catalog was updated as of August 2011. The University of the Arts reserves the right to revise any information herein at its discretion and without prior notice.

Trademarked names appear throughout this catalog. Rather than list the names and entities that own the trademarks or insert a trademark symbol with each mention of the trademarked name, the publisher states that it is using the names only for editorial purposes and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringing upon that trademark.

The University of the Arts® is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Reg. No. 2,341,258. UArts® is also registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Reg. No. 2,677,865.