Gastos Generales del Proyecto

Description and Reason for Establishment

Graduate work in Visual Studies offers students the opportunity to conduct advanced research in the history, form, creation, reception, and meaning of visual signs and practices. Courses will examine a variety of media, from fine arts to popular imagery, from architectural environments to material culture, as well as the institutions and discourses that give rise to, authorize, and affect their creation and interpretation.

Analytic techniques developed in the discipline of art history have done much to explain how works of art and cultural artifacts both derive from and constitute particular visual regimes. However, these techniques, as well as the concept of “art” itself, are culturally specific and can be conceptually limiting. Consequently, the methods used to interpret and analyze the diverse array of objects, practices, institutions, and discourses that

constitute our arena of study will incorporate approaches drawn from several disciplines, including art history, cultural anthropology, history, literary studies and cultural studies. Framing graduate studies within the rubric of Visual Culture will allow students to develop research projects that encompass a broad range of cultural practices and contemporary visual forms from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Relationship to Existing Campus Programs

The graduate program in Visual Studies will be formed as an interdisciplinary program in order to draw on the talents of scholars across the UC Santa Cruz campus including members of the faculty in Anthropology, History, Literature, Sociology, American Studies, Women’s Studies, and History of Consciousness, among others. The program will include the participation of all department members, as well as faculty from other academic divisions who share a commitment to the critical study of art and visual culture. What is desired is a multiplicity of voices that can articulate a wide range of theoretical approaches to core issues. Support for such an interdisciplinary Ph.D. was identified as a priority of the Arts Division in long-range planning documents, December 2001.

Resources

We currently have an exceptional group of faculty on the campus who do advanced work in this area. The core curriculum will be taught by faculty on a rotating basis. The core themes reflect the research strengths of the current faculty as well as the interests of other faculty on campus whose participation in the graduate group is anticipated.

We anticipate the need for additional departmental staff support, 0.5FTE. Most resources from faculty to library materials are in place. Graduate student (office/research) space needs will be addressed with release space at Porter and the McHenry Library addition (circa 2009).

Funding

The program will require 2.0 new faculty FTE, included in the draft campus strategic academic plan.

Students

We expect our undergraduate enrollment to adjust with graduate enrollment – there will be no net reduction in service and major enrollment, but slightly fewer electives will be available as resources are rebalanced to accommodate graduate studies. However, undergraduates should not be negatively affected by realignment of resources to the graduate program. In fact, we expect enhancement of the undergraduate experience by the addition of better qualified graduate students.

Employment Implications

Graduate students will be eligible to apply for jobs in a variety of fields. Some of our students will enter departments of Art History, bringing with them new analytic techniques and a revised conception of art practice that locates the art object within a larger framework of visual cultural signs. Other graduate students may enter the fields of visual or cultural Anthropology if their work involves innovative intersections between

fieldwork and the analysis of images or objects. Our students will also find a home in departments of American Studies, Science Studies, or Women’s Studies where there is an increasing interest in the way history, science, and gender have been shaped by visual discourses. In addition to these fields of study, there are a growing number of

departments and centers designed specifically for the study of visual culture where our students may carry on their research or teaching after they receive their graduate degree. Our graduate students will also be able to secure employment in a variety of non-

academic institutions such as museums, the film and television industries or in the private sector where expertise in the study of visual culture is highly sought after. We therefore are confident that our students will be quite competitive in both academic and non- academic markets.

UC Campuses and Other California Institutions Offering Similar Programs

This program of study does not replicate the more traditional approaches to the study of Art History that are already available at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara or UC Berkeley, yet it offers an approach to the study of visual culture that other UC campuses are beginning to explore. Our program is probably most closely akin to the Program in Visual Studies on the UC Irvine campus. However, this program combines art history, media studies and film studies whereas our program will exist in conjunction with the proposed Film Studies Ph.D. program.

Anticipated Campus Review and Implementation Dates

Completion of revisions and campus review – 2006-07 System-wide review – 2007-08

Approval, and recruitment of students – 2008-09 Admission of students – Fall 2009

Current Status

The proposal was approved on campus January 2007 and is pending submission to CCGA and UCOP.

Campus Contact Person

Associate Professor Martin Berger, History of Art and Visual Culture Department, Porter Faculty Services, [email protected], phone: 831-459-3119, fax: 831-459-3535.