Mission of the College

           The Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts encompasses programs in art, mass communication, music, and theatre.  The primary purpose of the college is to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue careers in these disciplines.  To accomplish this purpose, emphasis is placed on applying classroom learning to process and performance.  The college prides itself on ensuring that its students do what they study:  in its art studios, in its newspaper and television laboratories, and in its concerts, recitals, and dramatic productions.  Moreover, the college is committed to offering individualized instruction in functional, safe, up-to-date surroundings.  Because the college's offerings are devoted solely to undergraduate programs, because its faculty members are committed to effective teaching, and because the ratio of full-time faculty members to fine arts majors is low (approximately 1:13), students are assured frequent, high-quality contact with their instructors.  The quality of instruction is enhanced by the faculty's desire to serve as role models for students through their research and creative endeavors.  Frequently these endeavors directly involve students, thus vitalizing their educational experiences.

            Besides providing knowledge and training that will qualify students for jobs, graduate study, or professional school, the college endeavors to help students develop aesthetic sensibility, cultural awareness, and social responsibility.  Not only are students taught to create within their disciplines, but they are challenged to evaluate the quality of what they have created, to assess the effect of their creations on the wider culture, and to aspire to professionalism and excellence.  The goal is to empower students to use their talents to enrich and advance society.  Thus, the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts adopts a twofold mission designed to produce graduates who are both competent professionals and sensitive, tolerant, reliable, constructive citizens.

Programs and Degrees

            Within fine arts programs, the following degrees are offered:

ART
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts with Teacher Certification

MASS COMMUNICATION
Bachelor of Arts

MUSIC
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music with Teacher Certification

THEATRE
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts with Teacher Certification

               In addition to the above majors, the college offers minors in art, art history, journalism, mass communication, public relations and advertising, speech, and theatre.  To earn a degree, all students must also complete the university's general core curriculum requirements.




Facilities and Equipment

               Midwestern State University is strongly committed to providing attractive, serviceable fine arts facilities.  The theatre wing of the Fain Fine Arts Center includes the recently-refurbished 475-seat Fine Arts Theatre and the flexibly-designed Bea Wood Studio Theatre.  The art wing features spacious, meticulously maintained studios that ensure working environments conducive to creativity and achievement.  Moreover, the recently-refurbished Juanita Harvey Art Gallery is continually active, annually hosting exhibits by visiting professional artists, as well as MSU students and faculty.  The mass communication program features a television production studio that airs programs on Time Warner Cable.  In music, construction is under way on a new Instrumental Music Hall, and additional facilities are currently being acquired to provide further improvements to instructional space for the program.  
             
             Throughout the College of Fine Arts, equipment is continually being added, replaced, or upgraded.  New equipment has regularly been purchased for all the art studios (painting, commercial art, printmaking, ceramics, photography, sculpture, and metalsmithing).  The MSU2 television studio utilizes an up-to-date digitized production system.  The Fine Arts Computer Laboratory affords applications for journalism, broadcast, digital media, and digital design.  Theatrical equipment includes a laboratory for computer-assisted design of sound, lighting, costumes, and scenery.  In music, instruction is supported by an electronic keyboard laboratory as well as computers with appropriate music software, and the new Instrumental Music Hall will contain a Music Technology Laboratory.  In art, funds have been allocated to create a state-of-the-art computer lab for graphic design and to hire a new faculty member to bolster graphics instruction.