Sophomore Amanda Duba, an art education major, said she is excited for the formation of the School of Art and Design, which is underway.
The College of Arts and Sciences is combining the Department of Studio Art and the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design to create a new school. In addition to launching new programs and hiring more faculty, Kirkwood Hall is being renovated to increase the school’s size and resources.
“The fact that they’re bringing all of the departments together opens a lot of doors for students,” Duba said. “I think these changes might bring more new things to the community in the art school.”
The school was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2015, and the target launch of the school is July 1, 2016. The renovation of Kirkwood Hall is set for completion in late 2016, and the launching of new academic programs will begin in 2017.
Faculty will develop a five-year strategic plan to ensure a smooth, successful and effective running of the school’s programs. Upcoming additions include the strengthening of current programs, as well as developing new majors, minors and certificates.
Sophomore Will Niezgodski said the new options have opened up the possibility for him to add another major or minor in one of his areas of interest.
“This is a great time because the art and design schools are going to expand so much more,” Niezgodski said. “The design school here is pretty small right now, but there is a lot of time for it to grow and become something better.”
Niezgodski said he came to IU because he couldn’t decide on a major, and he figured coming to Bloomington would allow him to pick from several options. With the School of Art and Design, he said he might add a new area of study, in addition to his Germanic studies major.
“When everything is in one place, they might have the resources and potential to add more classes in the specific areas I was originally interested in studying, such as design,” Niezgodski said.
The new school will initiate partnerships with several other schools and departments across campus, such as The Media School, Department of Anthropology, The School of Informatics and Computing and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
These collaborative efforts work toward an effort to combine multiple disciplines. Students will be encouraged to use their artistic and designing abilities to pursue a career directly linked to a separate field, according to a press release.
The curriculum of fundamental courses will see a shift to a new “Creative Core,” in which both traditional and new technological skills will be explored, in addition to the host of new academic programs planned for the near future.
The School of Art and Design’s new office will be located in Kirkwood Hall. The offices for apparel merchandising and interior design will move to the newly-renovated hall as soon as construction concludes.
“The new school is going to do a lot for the students directly and indirectly involved in the program,” Duba said. “I think there’s a lot of good resources and programs coming up.”
