Should the name “Time and Interactivity” be changed to “New and Combined media”?
No Responses to “Should the name “Time and Interactivity” be changed to “New and Combined media”?”
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New and Combined Media in the Department of Art
In an effort to better meet the needs of student and faculty, and in order to place the Department of Art at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary pedagogy and research in the arts, the area of Time and Interactivity (T and I) is implementing a repositioning strategy. This effort is motivated by a pervasive desire among the faculty to better support teaching and research that cross discipline boundaries and that reflect the impact of new media across the entire department. The faculty realizes that the ability to provide exciting interdisciplinary opportunities in addition to our impressive discipline-based facilities and resources is crucial to the future success and growth of the department. Conversations in a recent faculty retreat convey unanimous support for a repositioning of T and I that places it at the center of our efforts towards interdisciplinary work. The repositioning reflects current trends in contemporary art, increasing numbers of graduate applicants that exhibit new and combined media, and growing commitments among faculty to multi-disciplinary research.
The repositioning strategy consists of six major principals:
1) A name change of the area to “New and Combined Media”. This name change was unanimously supported by the faculty in the February retreat, and encapsulates the research foci of many faculty members within T and I as well as outside of it.
2) A strong desire to maintain our level of activity in traditional media while extending the scope of T and I to better support interdisciplinary and combined media work. The traditional media, which include Ceramics, Painting and Drawing, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture, but also Film and Video, already have high enrollment and will continue to be a major strength within the department.
3) Close integration with architectural changes in the Regis Center that resulted from the space assessments in the last months. A re-evaluation of space in the Regis Center with head technician Mark Knierem and the building’s architects conveyed a strong desire to direct space allocation and reconfiguration towards increasing the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching and technical resource sharing. This re-evaluation also exposed a need for multi-use, non-area-specific spaces in the department that strongly support technologically aided research and pedagogy. These spaces will support larger classes and more flexible teaching environments, which will in turn augment enrollment in the New and Combined Media and Photography areas. Plans for re-configurations of the space are being submitted to the College within the department’s budget this year.
4) The Department’s Curriculum committee wants to include new and combined media within the undergraduate requirements.
5) The Department of Art is currently undergoing major changes in its faculty composition. There is a strong contingency of junior and recently tenured faculty members who make up half the department. This group is working closely with members of senior faculty to shape the future of the department and to place it at the cutting edge of arts education and research within a top-level research university. This group is unanimously supports interdisciplinary work. The New and Combined Media Area of the department will facilitate this effort.
6) Close integration with the new Interdisciplinary Program in Collaborative Arts (IPCA). A critical goal of this new program is to initiate and support collaboration among faculty and students from different areas of the West Bank Arts Quarter. The New and Combined Media area of the department of art will be home to the department’s latest hire, Ali Momeni, who holds a joint appointment in Art and IPCA. The multi-disciplinary focus of the New and Combined Media area in the Department of Art establishes a nexus of mutually beneficial courses, research and programing of events with IPCA.
The above strategy is in part a response to the issues and questions considered by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Art in the Spring of 2007. A primary focus of that discussion revolved around the outcome of the space assessment that the department undertook in Fall of 2007. The outcome of this assessment was a consensus among the faculty for a need for a number of larger, technologically equipped and non-area-specific teaching classrooms in Regis West. As a part of the analysis the space assessment process, the department also resolved to intensively strengthen the internal communication through a multi-user WIKI web-site that features a continually updated model of activities within Regis. (or some description of the calandar??) This effort will not only dramatically increase the efficiency with which courses are scheduled and spaces are used, it will also create much greater external awareness of the activities within the department. Finally, as our greater goal is to support inter- and multi-disciplinary teaching and research in the department, the New and Combined Media Area will also leverage the expertise of faculty who are now tied to their specific area.
New and Combined Media in the Department of Art
In an effort to better meet the needs of student and faculty, and in order to place the Department of Art at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary pedagogy and research in the arts, the area of Time and Interactivity (T and I) is implementing a repositioning strategy. This effort is motivated by a pervasive desire among the faculty to better support teaching and research that cross discipline boundaries and that reflect the impact of new media across the entire department. The faculty realizes that the ability to provide exciting interdisciplinary opportunities in addition to our impressive discipline-based facilities and resources is crucial to the future success and growth of the department. Conversations in a recent faculty retreat convey unanimous support for a repositioning of T and I that places it at the center of our efforts towards interdisciplinary work. The repositioning reflects current trends in contemporary art, increasing numbers of graduate applicants that exhibit new and combined media, and growing commitments among faculty to multi-disciplinary research.
The repositioning strategy consists of six major principals:
1) A name change of the area to “New and Combined Media”. This name change was unanimously supported by the faculty in the February retreat, and encapsulates the research foci of many faculty members within T and I as well as outside of it.
2) A strong desire to maintain our level of activity in traditional media while extending the scope of T and I to better support interdisciplinary and combined media work. The traditional media, which include Ceramics, Painting and Drawing, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture, but also Film and Video, already have high enrollment and will continue to be a major strength within the department.
3) Close integration with architectural changes in the Regis Center that resulted from the space assessments in the last months. A re-evaluation of space in the Regis Center with head technician Mark Knierem and the building’s architects conveyed a strong desire to direct space allocation and reconfiguration towards increasing the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching and technical resource sharing. This re-evaluation also exposed a need for multi-use, non-area-specific spaces in the department that strongly support technologically aided research and pedagogy. These spaces will support larger classes and more flexible teaching environments, which will in turn augment enrollment in the New and Combined Media and Photography areas. Plans for re-configurations of the space are being submitted to the College within the department’s budget this year.
4) The Department’s Curriculum committee wants to include new and combined media within the undergraduate requirements.
5) The Department of Art is currently undergoing major changes in its faculty composition. There is a strong contingency of junior and recently tenured faculty members who make up half the department. This group is working closely with members of senior faculty to shape the future of the department and to place it at the cutting edge of arts education and research within a top-level research university. This group is unanimously supports interdisciplinary work. The New and Combined Media Area of the department will facilitate this effort.
6) Close integration with the new Interdisciplinary Program in Collaborative Arts (IPCA). A critical goal of this new program is to initiate and support collaboration among faculty and students from different areas of the West Bank Arts Quarter. The New and Combined Media area of the department of art will be home to the department’s latest hire, Ali Momeni, who holds a joint appointment in Art and IPCA. The multi-disciplinary focus of the New and Combined Media area in the Department of Art establishes a nexus of mutually beneficial courses, research and programing of events with IPCA.
The above strategy is in part a response to the issues and questions considered by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Art in the Spring of 2007. A primary focus of that discussion revolved around the outcome of the space assessment that the department undertook in Fall of 2007. The outcome of this assessment was a consensus among the faculty for a need for a number of larger, technologically equipped and non-area-specific teaching classrooms in Regis West. As a part of the analysis the space assessment process, the department also resolved to intensively strengthen the internal communication through a multi-user WIKI web-site that features a continually updated model of activities within Regis. (or some description of the calandar??) This effort will not only dramatically increase the efficiency with which courses are scheduled and spaces are used, it will also create much greater external awareness of the activities within the department. Finally, as our greater goal is to support inter- and multi-disciplinary teaching and research in the department, the New and Combined Media Area will also leverage the expertise of faculty who are now tied to their specific area.