MAJOR

To complete a BA degree in Art History, you will take 36 semester credit hours in art history. Transfer students must meet with the art history undergraduate advisor to review the transcripts for the possible award of art history credits. The curriculum in our program begins with ARTH 2500 Introduction to the History of Art (or equivalent; see below) and ARTH 4000 Good Looking, a course that focuses on the methods of visual analysis. The course sequence closes with one of the senior seminars in Art History (ARTH 4x90, 4x95, or 4x96). The curriculum provides you with flexibility in the choice of upper-division art history courses, and you bear some responsibility for the design of your own program. Those with specific interests can specialize to some extent, and those who seek a relatively broad experience can do so. Read further for an explanation about the various requirements. To track your progress through the program, you may review your unofficial transcript (DARS) by logging into the Campus Information System.

ARTH 2500 Introduction to the History of Art

This course serves as the foundation class for your upper-division courses in the major and should be taken in advance of any other art history course. You will investigate the ways in which works of art and architecture have developed within a culture and how they continue to exert influence upon the present. We discuss how to analyze and interpret these artifacts and to write about them using methods of critical thought. You can become skilled in observing and interpreting your own visual environment. Your goal is to become more aware of art and architecture as visual embodiments of ideas and values.

Credit for Art History Advanced Placement Examination

If you earned a score of 3, 4 or 5, you can be awarded six semester hours of University credit when it is used as a General Education fulfillment. The procedure is handled through the Admissions Office (250 SSB, 801-581-7286). It is necessary to earn a score of 4 or 5 in order to be excused from ARTH 2500 when it is used to satisfy art history major requirements.

ARTH 4000 Good Looking

The course should be taken after you have taken ARTH 2500 and at least one 3000-level course, since it affords you the chance to learn how contemporary perspectives are incorporated in the subject matter of the upper-division classes. The goal of the course introduces you to the multiple ways of discussing art and visual culture. You will develop and polish skills in different writing styles while also discussing texts that address thematic issues in the discipline of visual art. It is taught in the Fall Semester by art history faculty on a rotating basis and satisfies the Bachelor degree (baccalaureate) upper-division communication/writing (CW) requirement.

Upper-Division Art History

The majority of coursework in art history is comprised of upper-division courses at the 3000-level and the 4000-level. The curriculum is designed to provide you with opportunities to learn about art and architecture of many cultures. Areas of concentration include Asia, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque period, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the twentieth century and contemporary art. We recommend that you work closely with the art history undergraduate advisor and your faculty mentor to create a program of study that coordinates your interests. A series of courses successfully completed in multiple areas ensure that you have achieved an appropriate level of competency in art history.

It is important to recognize that courses at the 3000-level serve as broader investigations of a period of art while courses at the 4000-level focus on particular topics and issues. You will receive greater satisfaction from your courses if you complete the 3000-level course before taking the 4000-level course in the same emphasis. A two-course sequence can provide both the fundamental groundwork as well as a more sophisticated exposure to art and architecture from a particular culture.

ARTH 4x90, 4x95, 4x96 Senior Seminar

You should enroll in one of the senior seminars in the academic year in which you plan to graduate, taught on a rotating basis by art history faculty. This capstone class will focus on selected themes in a specific historical time period. In the seminar, you will actively participate in problematizing issues and planning research strategies related to your topic. You will also learn, through readings and discussions, where traditional and contemporary art history methodologies intersect as your particular research project is explored.

Enhanced Capstone Experience

The art history faculty would like to share in your accomplishments in the art history discipline. For this reason, we partner with Undergraduate Studies, the Honors Program, and UROP for the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at which selected research papers by university students are presented before colleagues and friends. We encourage all our majors and minors to participate in this event regularly as they make their way through their course of study. Honors-track majors are strongly urged to consider the event for the publication possibility that enhances graduate school applications and can lead to the Undergraduate Research Scholar designation.

In order to be chosen for a conference session, you should submit an abstract for a twenty-minute paper directly to the Office of Undergraduate Studies (Sill Center). The one-page abstracts are juried for competency and quality, and you will be notified if the abstract for your paper was accepted. The Spring Symposium at which the students will deliver their twenty-minute papers (8-10 pages) will occur normally in early April. It is free and open to the public.

Grading Standards

Art history coursework must be taken for a letter grade. Credit/No Credit is not an option for these classes, as they are required for the art history major. No grade below C- will count toward fulfilling the art history major requirements.

MINOR

Requirements for the art history minor include 21 semester hours in art history. Transfer students must meet with the art history undergraduate advisor to review the transcripts for the possible award of art history credits.The curriculum in our program begins with ARTH 2500 Introduction to the History of Art (or equivalent; see below), and you will complete an additional 18 semester credit hours of upper-division art history classes.

Art history minors should take three courses at the 3000-level and three courses at the 4000-level. The curriculum provides you with flexibility in the choice of upper-division art history courses, and you bear some responsibility for the design of your own program. Those with specific interests can specialize to some extent, and those who seek a relatively broad experience can receive such training.

Read further for an explanation about the various requirements. You may review your unofficial transcript (Degree Audit Report - DARS) by logging into the Campus Information System.

ARTH 2500 Introduction to the History of Art

This course serves as the foundation class for your upper-division courses in the minor and should be taken in advance of any other art history course. In addition, it satisfies one of the General Education Humanities area Intellectual Exploration requirements (HF). You will investigate the ways in which works of art and architecture have developed within a culture and how they continue to exert influence upon the present. We discuss how to analyze and interpret these artifacts and to write about them using methods of critical thought. You can become skilled in observing and interpreting your own visual environment. Your goal is to become more aware of art and architecture as visual embodiments of ideas and values.

Credit for Art History Advanced Placement Examination

If you earned a score of 3, 4 or 5, you can be awarded eight semester hours of University credit when it is used as a General Education fulfillment. The procedure is handled through the Admissions Office (250 SSB, 801-581-7286). It is necessary to earn a score of 4 or 5 in order to be excused from ARTH 2500 when it is used to satisfy art history minor requirements.

Upper-Division Art History

The majority of coursework in art history is comprised of upper-division courses at the 3000-level and the 4000-level. The curriculum is designed to provide you with opportunities to learn about art and architecture of many cultures. Areas of concentration include Asia, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque period, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the twentieth century, and contemporary art. We recommend that you work closely with the art history undergraduate advisor and your faculty mentor to create a program of study that coordinates your interests. A series of courses successfully completed in multiple areas ensure that you have achieved an appropriate level of competency in art history.

It is important to recognize that courses at the 3000-level serve as broader investigations of a period of art while courses at the 4000-level focus on particular topics and issues. You will receive greater satisfaction from your courses if you complete the 3000-level course before taking the 4000-level course in the same area. A two-course sequence can provide both the fundamental groundwork as well as a more sophisticated exposure to art and architecture from a particular culture.

Enhanced Capstone Experience

The art history faculty would like to share in your accomplishments in the art history discipline. For this reason, we partner with Undergraduate Studies, the Honors Program, and UROP for the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at which selected research papers by university students are presented before colleagues and friends. We encourage all our majors and minors to participate in this event regularly as they make their way through their course of study. Honors-track majors are strongly urged to consider the event for the publication possibility that enhances graduate school applications and can lead to the Undergraduate Research Scholar designation.

In order to be chosen for a conference session, you should submit an abstract for a twenty-minute paper directly to the Office of Undergraduate Studies (Sill Center). The one-page abstracts are juried for competency and quality, and you will be notified if the abstract for your paper was accepted. The Spring Symposium at which the students will deliver their twenty-minute papers (8-10 pages) will occur normally in early April. It is free and open to the public.

Art history coursework must be taken for a letter grade. Credit/No Credit is not an option for these classes. No grade below C- will count toward fulfilling the art history minor requirements.