Matthew Gaynor, Head
Nancy Morrow, Director of Graduate Studies

111 Willard Hall
785-532-6605
Fax: 785-532-0334
art@k-state.edu
http://art.ksu.edu/grad/admission.html

As established by the College Art Association and accepted by all accredited universities, the Master of Fine Arts degree is the terminal degree in visual arts education and is equivalent to terminal degrees in other fields, such as the Ph.D. or Ed.D. It is a graduate program wherein the emphasis is placed upon the studio practice of art, with the intent of educating students for professional careers as artists and designers or as university teachers of the visual arts.

First and foremost, the profession demands from the recipient of the M.F.A. a certifiable level of technical proficiency and the ability to make art. When work toward the M.F.A. has been concentrated in a particular medium, there should be complete professional mastery of that medium. The generalist, whose preparation has been broader and less specialized, must still meet the critical demands of the profession by convincingly demonstrating expertise and knowledge in a number of areas. In any case, the need for thorough training of the mind, the eye, and the hand is self-evident.

The Department of Art offers a 60-hour graduate program leading to the Master of Fine Arts degree in the fields of ceramics, drawing, graphic design,DX Media painting, printmaking, photography, metalsmithing and jewelry. There are 18 full-time graduate faculty members who, in addition to their teaching, are active in exhibiting or publishing.

The department has fully equipped workshop facilities as well as provides some individual studios for graduate students. Graduate teaching assistantships are available, with the added benefit of 100 percent tuition remission for full-time GTAs.

The university provides a variety of experiences for learning and development through a stimulating series of exhibitions, lectures, theatre presentations, concerts, and recitals. Additionally, the Art Department sponsors its own regular series of visiting lecturers, artists, and critics-including, Julie Heffernan, Mary Elizabeth Brim, Matthew Shlian, Michael Kline, Eric C. Benson, Roger Shimomura, Bilyana Dimitrova, John E. Dowell, Ryan Bussens, Richard Elaver, William Wallace, Benjamin Edwards, Chris Jungjohann, & Robert Rivers.

Admission procedures

For information regarding admission procedures, please see the Department of Art website at http://art.ksu.edu/grad/admission.html.

Entrance requirements

To be admitted as a graduate student in the M.F.A. program, the applicant must have a B.A., or B.F.A. degree from an accredited institution, adequate undergraduate education in the visual arts, and an undergraduate average of B (3.0) or better in the junior and senior years. The applicant should have at least 60 undergraduate semester credit hours in visual arts, with a minimum of 20 semester hours in the area of concentration.

All international students applying to the M.F.A. program must meet the same level of achievement as U.S. students.

Applicants with the M.A. degree

Students with an M.A. degree from an accredited institution who wish to apply for the M.F.A. program at Kansas State University should follow the same general application procedures outlined above.

Students who hold an M.A. degree may apply up to 10 hours of that degree toward an M.F.A. The number of hours to be accepted will depend on the relevance of the course work to the M.F.A. After the applicant has been accepted into the M.F.A. program, the director of graduate studies will meet with the graduate studies committee, the proposed major professor and the coordinator of the student’s studio area to evaluate the student’s transcript and to determine the number of credits which may be applied to the M.F.A. degree.