The department acknowledges a commitment to the entire community for providing a comprehensive program of art courses. These are designed to stimulate and encourage visual experience as it relates to culture, past, present and future. Further, the course offerings emphasize knowledge of the relationships between the arts, and bring to each student a greater awareness of his or her potential as a unique human being. The program offered by the Department of Art stresses the study of Art both as a subject and an activity. This approach provides the flexibility necessary to maintain both a rigorous and a personal training. Courses and course sequences are designed to develop the student's powers of observation and aesthetic awareness. Simultaneously the student is given the opportunity to develop the discipline of technique and craft with which to use these powers creatively. The faculty encourages the student to explore and experiment. Whether the student's goals are vocational or personal, the recognition of art as a qualitative concern characterizes the philosophy of this department. Ultimately, the Art Department's program seeks to give the student every opportunity to develop his /her potential for aesthetic awareness, aesthetic expression, and critical analysis. The department offers 70 courses, (2) certificate programs (Arts Graphic Communication, Electronic Publishing) and (3) associate of arts degree programs (Arts Graphic Communication, Electronic Publishing, Art-Transfer). Several programs and courses are under development (T.E.A.M. program Technology, Entertainment, Animation and Multi-media). The Art Department strives to provide up-to-date accurate, and functional educational experiences of high quality to every student so that those who do not major in other fields are prepared at a world-class level.