NASAD Recommended Changes
So what would Dixie need to get those credentials and what exactly was Prof. Parson referring to when he mentioned a “quality offering”? As an example, years ago I worked as an animator at the Walt Disney Company. Once when I was visiting St. George I was asked by a high school friend to review the portfolio of one of his relatives. I’m certain the young man was hoping that I would be blown away by his work and offer him a job on the spot. Unfortunately his work was poor, and he wasn’t employable. I was astounded when he told me he had just completed his Bachelors of Arts degree at one of the universities in the state. I felt that if his instructors had passed him with this low-quality of work, they certainly didn’t give him the tools he needed to attract employment. This is what I felt Prof. Parson was talking about with a “quality offering”, providing students with the level of training that would allow them to compete for and fill creative employment opportunities.
What does a quality offering include? In their efforts to build a 4 year degree program at DSC, the Art and Visual Technologies departments invited Jay Kvapil a consultant for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) to come and review the programs and make recommendations on what the school needed to change and invest in so that it could seek accreditation from the Association, and offer the quality art education students deserved as well as helping them conform to the standards of other art schools nationwide. This is an incredible resource for DSC to use if it seeks to have a program recognized by the association. Inviting Mr. Kvapil to the campus is an indicator that the faculty and program directors are willing to take serious steps in progressing their degree programs toward accreditation by the NASAD. This particular consultant has worked with many institutions helping bring their degree programs in harmony with the NASAD, giving their students the tools they need to transition into strong graduate programs or to enter the private sector with the skills they need to have gainful employment.
The report given by Mr. Kvapil shows exactly which steps need to be taken so that DSC can bring a solid school of arts and design to the campus. And while the recommended changes would require cuts in some areas and investments in others, they are changes that would help diversify and edify the arts programs and the school as a whole. This report can be viewed as a checklist or ‘yellow brick road’ to successfully secure an accredited Bachelor of Arts program. When viewed in that light we see just how close DSC actually is to being able to implement a program with full accreditation.
In his report Mr. Kvapil suggested that the curriculum was limited in scope, and would need to expand to include a full-time tenure-track art historian and a full-time tenure-track sculptor/3D media faculty member (Kvapil). These are great suggestions since DSC is indeed lacking qualified full-time faculty in these departments, particularly in sculpture.
3 Dimensional Media would be a valuable asset to any arts program, and would support the fundamentals of design, and drawing by giving students the ability to understand spatial values and form. Additionally, this would attract students aspiring to learn this skill as a profession in both traditional media and as a fundamental tool for understanding new digital media 3D modeling for video games and film. DSC students would then be capable of competing for those jobs in the games and entertainment industries, as well as product design, where these disciplines are crucial.
Adding two more full-time faculty members means two more salaries. In an effort to help condense that cost as well as to simplify the logistics of addressing some of DSC’s art department staffing needs, Kvapil recommended reducing the number of adjuncts and streamlining the visual technologies department to work more harmoniously with the overall art department. These changes would simplify managing all of the staff involved, keeping them on the same track for student’s success, and focused on the overall department goals. It would also make instructors available to students at more regular times since full-time faculty keep regular office hours rather than just showing up during the allotted time for their classes.
This would help nurture mentorships which are valuable for the growth of creative individuals. Professor Glen Blakely who is both an honored art historian and instructor in the discipline of ceramics began his career at DSC in 1973. He recalls: “At the time there were only 3 full-time art faculty members. Now here we are almost 40 years later and guess how many we have? 3. How’s that for growth?”(Blakely). Blakely also illustrated the discrepancy when he revealed that Utah Valley University employed 34 full-time faculty and 44 adjuncts in its art department (Blakely). If DSC wishes to become a full-fledged university a comparison to another college within the state that has recently become a university shows a glaring discrepancy in the education offering in St. George. In a school committed to the needs of its students and an honest representation of its community values, this lack of growth in the art department is tragic. That oversight is not limited to the neglect of its staffing needs either. It is also evident in the facilities and overall art environment.
Included in his report Mr. Kvapil suggested some alterations to the facilities that would include changes to its aesthetics. He reported “there was a lack of feeling of “place.” The building still appears as a converted supermarket… with little or no landscaping.” “…students, faculty, and visitors would all benefit from a sense of arriving in a place centered around the teaching, making, and display of student and faculty works. Such improvements can have serious positive effect on the general health and strength of a program.” (Kvapil) It is true that you would expect to feel the richness of an art environment when entering into an art teaching facility and funding to beautify and facilitate the motif of that would require some investment. Perhaps the tuition of those ‘hundreds’ that Prof. Parson had to turn away could help with that. This beautification would benefit the school as a whole. Instead of appearing like a bunch of rag-tag satellite buildings pulled together with crosswalks, it would appear as a cultured campus for higher learning.
Professor Del Parson demonstrates mixing paint to a group of students
A solid art education wouldn’t be just about an aesthetically pleasing facility and a larger faculty, Prof. Parson explains that a quality offering would be about the curriculum. “It needs to fulfill the needs of the student, it has to teach them to think and solve problems, how to paint and draw, sculpt and design.” (Parson) Those are all skills that graduate programs are looking for and that any graduate looking to find employment should have. If DSC’s goals are to fund programs that will offer students career sustaining skills then the emphasis that Profession Parson displays is exactly the kind of education we should be investing in.
When asked what he’d like to see in the 4 year program and he responded; “I’d like to teach students how to make a living in art, like say as a gallery artist or a painter.” (Parson) I think that it is that attitude that qualifies Prof. Parson and his efforts to bring a Bachelors of Arts Program to DSC above all else. If it is the administration’s priority to fund education for its students in employable careers, and it is the faculty’s emphasis on teaching skills that would enable graduates to make a living, what more could you ask for? How about the value that art itself brings to an individual and its community?
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