Student Information
Academic Misconduct
Academic honesty is required in all academic endeavors. Violations of academic honesty include any instance of plagiarism, cheating, seeking credit for another’s work, falsifying documents or academic records, or any other fraudulent activity. Violations of academic honesty may result in a failing grade on the assignment, failure in the course, or expulsion from the University.
Please see the Student Handbook and Calendar for specific activities identified as violations of this policy and the student due process procedure. This handbook is available online at griff.vn/handbook.
Animals and Pets
Animals and animal pets are generally not permitted within the Department of Art at Missouri Western State University. The only exceptions to this prohibition are:
- Animals used in current teaching and research.
- Licensed and specifically trained assistive, service, or medically required animals for persons with disabilities.
- Animals required by law (e.g., patrol dogs accompanying police or security officers).
- All dogs in outside areas must be leashed, in accordance with Missouri leash laws. Leashed animals must not be left unattended and must not be tied to trees, railings, or similar immovable objects.
Any other animal that you wish to bring on campus, the owner must attain written permission from the Chair of the Department of Art.
SERVICE ANIMALS
Service Animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to respond to an individual’s needs and to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.
HEALTH & SAFETY CONCERNS
Animals in campus buildings can pose sanitary and health related problems to the campus community, including, but not limited to: fear, allergies associated with pet hair or urine, animal to human disease transmission (i.e., fleas, ticks, parasites, viruses, etc.), excessive noise, animal bites, and property damage.
Building Pass Policy
Missouri Western State University normal working hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Use of Missouri Western art facilities at any other time is restricted to art students who have a Building Pass. Conditions for use of any art facility after normal hours are that:
- You will do no harm to any building or its contents. If any damage occurs you will report it to the Building Monitor. The Building Monitor will in turn report it to the appropriate authorities. Department Dean’s Administrative Coordinator, Chairperson, faculty member, or department Administrative Assistant will also be notified.
- You will check in with the building monitor upon entry to the building, provide your ID and building pass and retrieve it from the building monitor when you leave.
- You will clean up any mess that you make.
- You will not allow anyone entry into a building who does not have a Student Building Pass in their immediate possession.
- You will close doors and assure you locked all the rooms you utilized. You will not leave any door ajar so others may enter the building.
- You will use Missouri Western art facilities only for legitimate academic related activities.
- You will display your student Building Pass when asked by Campus Police, staff, or faculty.
- Building Passes are to be used outside of regular Missouri Western working hours.
- No children are allowed in the classrooms, hallways or should they be camped out at night while parents are working in the labs.
Failure to abide by these rules will result in revocation of the privilege to use Missouri Western State University art facilities after normal working hours.
Careers
What can I do with my degree? Art education and students may be certified to teach kindergarten through 12th grade. Many Art education majors earn advanced degrees to become administrators, art critics, teacher supervisors and art therapists.
Art and Graphic Design majors may be self-employed or work for public or private businesses. Artists may design film and theater sets, exhibits, brochures, web sites, fashions, costumes or television graphics. They may become commissioned artists, art materials retailers, art museum assistants, or studio craftspersons. Careers also include photographers, art directors, illustrators or copywriters, animation directors, gaming specialists or filmmakers. The possibilities are as varied as the individuals who graduate from the program.
Is there a demand for artists? People with artistic training are in great demand, especially talented graphic designers and those with multimedia skills. Web and software companies hire thousands of artists each year, and advertising and publishing industries constantly need illustrators and photographers. There is an increasing need for animators and video game artists as well as FX collaborators for film.
How does your program prepare graduates for a career in art? The main objective of the Art program is to provide students with opportunities to express their thoughts and ideas through a variety of media, such as paint, clay and film, to name a few. Coursework is intended to compel students to think and reason to establish skills in conceptual thinking.
The Art Department boasts of fully-equipped painting, ceramic, photography, sculpture and printmaking studios, a foundry, an active art gallery program with visiting professional artists who exhibit, lecture and conduct workshops, and a state-of-the-art computer lab with the latest Mac computers loaded with the most current graphic design and 3-D animation software.
A talented and diverse group of professors who have many years experience as artists, illustrators, animators and designers work with students in upper division studio classes and individually to teach them techniques and professional practices.
Students have opportunities to study abroad and participate in internships, research projects and applied learning to gain a broad range of experiences that prepare them for their career.
Copyright Policy
Students are required to read and be aware of the provisions and rules of The Copyright Act and the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Students can access this information at www.copyright.gov. A grade of F will be given to any assignment that exhibits undeniable plagiarism.
Grade Appeal
In the event that a student believes that a grade received was based on something other than the performance in the course, that the grade assignment was the result of more exacting or demanding standards than were applied to other students in the course, or that the assignment of the grade was representative of a substantial departure from the instructor’s previously announced standards, an appeal may be made.
- The student must discuss the course grade with the instructor of the course no later than 30 days into the succeeding regular academic semester.
- If the student desires to appeal the grade further, the student must notify the department chairperson in writing. The appeal must be made to the chairperson no later than ten (10) calendar days after the aforementioned 30 days.
- The department chairperson shall notify the student in writing of the departmental decision within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the written appeal.
- If the appeal is not resolved at the departmental level, the student may follow the grade appeal process outlined in the MWSU Student Handbook of Rights and Responsibilities (griff.vn/handbook.)
Internships
All seniors exhibit their works in a gallery show before they graduate. Art Education majors complete student teaching requirements in area elementary, middle or high schools.
All Graphic Design majors complete internships at businesses, design firms, advertising agencies and organizations to gain practical experience in their field before they graduate. Internships offered in the student’s final year, advance the educational process by extending the curriculum into the business world. Students have the opportunity to pursue internships on-campus, locally, regionally, and nationally. The following list contains just a few of the internship experiences our students have completed and that local businesses and organizations have employed interns at:
- Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art
- C3 Creative Concepts International
- Callahan Creek Marketing Agency
- Discover The Phoenix Region Magazine
- EmpowerU Campus
- NPG
- Pipeline Productions
- Saint Joseph Museums
- Salva-O’Renick
- Stormfront Productions
- Toms Shoes (Creative)
Major Review
The Major Review is an evaluation of students’ preparation towards their professional expectation. At the beginning of students third course in the major*(see course list below), typically in the first junior semester, students assemble a portfolio of studio work produced at Missouri Western State University. Faculty members assess the work with the student and may make recommendations for the student to complete. The review starts with a 5-10 minute presentation and should start with an introduction of yourself with a statement of intent indicating what students would like to do after their academic career at Missouri Western. During the presentation, students should focus on their strengths, artistic influences, demonstration of progress over the past couple of years, their vision of their senior year and reflection upon the area of art/design that interests them. Students need to include a resume and studio BFA students need to include an artist statement. Students need to rehearse this presentation and be prepared to present their work in a professional manner. Using technology appropriate to the student major is strongly encouraged for use during the student’s 5 to 10 minute expository presentation. Passing the ‘Major Review’ is required for a student who wishes to enroll into ART 494.
When evaluating their portfolio students need to ask these questions:
- Does the documentation of the work communicate its quality?
- Does the portfolio communicate skill and commitment?
Evaluation Criteria:
The Art Department is concerned about each student’s professional expectations as they relate to their own personal program. The majority of the work presented should be from the area of their concentration. The faculty is looking for evidence of strong promise in the field of art/design. The criteria used to evaluate the review is as follows:
- Conceptual Development.
- Consistency of Quality.
- Technical Proficiency.
- Problem Solving.
- Strong Work Ethic.
- Working Portfolio.
- Presentation of Work.
Portfolios Should:
- Demonstrate a strong focused area of work.
- Demonstrate quality as opposed to quantity.
- Demonstrate thought given to the generation and execution of the work.
- Demonstrate attention to use of materials and processes.
Please fill out and submit the Department of Art Major Review Form before the review.
*list of courses for Major Review.
| Degree | Course |
| BFA Digital Animation | Art 459 Character Animation |
| BFA Graphic Design | Art 395 Graphic Design II |
| BFA Studio: Ceramics | Art 420 Ceramics III |
| BFA Studio: Drawing | Art 410 Advanced Drawing |
| BFA Studio: Illustration | Art 475 Illustration III |
| BFA Studio: Painting | Art 470 Painting III |
| BFA Studio: Photography | Art 460 Photomedia III |
| BFA Studio: Printmaking | Art 440 Printmaking III |
| BFA Studio: Sculpture | Art 480 Sculpture III |
| BSE Art Education | A Semester before student teaching |
