3 minute read
Undergraduate Studies
Students in the Collaborative Design program broaden their knowledge and perspective by pursuing a required minor in another design discipline. Alumnus Ben Schumitz (‘17), who minored in Graphic Design, displays some of his senior thesis work.
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YOUR EDUCATION: EXPANDED
KCAD seeks to graduate curious, driven, and versatile leaders who can contribute to and shape the future. That’s why, in addition to their major coursework, all students take a wide range of immersive courses that broaden their skills, enlarge their perspective, and help them connect their individual creativity to the world around them.
FOUNDATIONS
Foundations unites first-year KCAD students in a shared experience that strenghtens their core creative skills and fosters community on campus.
The KCAD Foundations Program propels all first-year students toward a deeper understanding of how their individual creativity relates to the world-at-large, helping connect their passion for making to career opportunities from the moment they arrive on campus. Within this shared learning experience, students freely blend traditional, current, and experimental approaches to art and design, giving them agency to build skills and knowledge that are personally and professionally meaningful.
At the same time, they interrogate accepted standards and link history to contemporary practice, exploring how creativity has continually shaped the human experience and imagining what possibilities lie ahead. Students emerge from the program with an enlarged field of vision, a thirst for critical thinking, and a versatile set of tools and experiences to design their future with agility.
SUPPORTIVE ART HISTORY COURSES
KCAD students in all majors take Art History courses that foster a deep understanding of visual creativity and invite exploration of the historical, political, social, and personal forces that influence artists and designers.
UNDERGRADUATE MINORS
Expand your creativity and enlarge your perspective through an abridged course of study, generally totaling 15 semester credit hours, in a discipline outside of your major.
Pathways is the name of KCAD's model for general education courses. It's based on the understanding that the most successful artists, designers, and art historians, are those who stay broadly and endlessly interested in the world around them. That's why KCAD's Pathways model gives you the freedom to pursue an education that sparks your curiosity and stimulates your creativity. Wherever your exploration leads, you'll emerge as a critical and analytical thinker who can both adapt to change and chart new, creative paths forward.
HOW DOES THE PATHWAYS MODEL WORK?
The Pathways model blends 30 credits of broad, integrative study with a deep dive into a focus area of your choice. First, you'll take five foundational courses (15 credits) Writing, Intro to Narrative Studies, Intro to Cultural Studies, Intro to Philosophy, and a Math or Science Elective* that will set the stage for you to immerse yourself in your interests. You'll then select one of three pathways in which you'll take four classes (12 credits) in an area of focus. Each pathway culminates in a capstone course (3 credits) that encourages you to make powerful connections between all that you've learned and experienced along the way.
WRITING INTRO TO NARRATIVE STUDIES INTRO TO CULTURAL STUDIES
INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY MATH OR SCIENCE ELECTIVE
NARRATIVE STUDIES PATHWAY
CAPSTONE
IN NARRATIVE STUDIES CULTURAL STUDIES PATHWAY PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES PATHWAY
CAPSTONE
IN CULTURAL STUDIES
CAPSTONE
IN PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
