Mission Statement
The Department of Art and Design is dedicated to cultivating a learning environment rich in creative opportunity, one that fosters innovative problem solving, critical thinking, diversity and equity, and interdisciplinary investigation. The department promotes the value and power of art as a vehicle for individual creative expression, as a tool for examining diverse cultures and time periods, and as a path to a greater appreciation of our world and the human experience overall.
All societies and peoples have contributed to the rich mix of artistic expression and the development of our collective humanity. We believe that diversity and the inclusion of multiple perspectives is key to the advancement of knowledge, educational excellence, and individual growth. To this end, we are committed to creating a culture of compassion, empathy and understanding that recognizes and embraces our differences, both individually and societally. This process is active and ongoing. We strive to affirm inclusion, equity and social justice. We do not tolerate racism, sexism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, xenophobia or other social pathologies.
Through experiential learning rooted in an awareness of tradition, our students collaborate with a faculty of teacher-scholars who encourage them to experiment, to cultivate a diversity of thought, to critically engage with and to challenge definitions and assumptions about art, both formally and conceptually. Our graduates are equipped with the skills needed to succeed as culturally engaged professionals and self-reflective agents of change in our rapidly evolving and increasingly globalized world.
SIUE holds NASAD accreditation (National Association of Schools of Art and Design). The Department of Art and Design's studio practices, safety protocols and curriculum meet national standards for teaching art.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville exists in and serves a region that includes the lands of the Kiikaapoi (treaty in Edwardsville, 1819); The Illinois Confederacy, including the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Cohokia, and Tamaroa (treaty in Edwardsville, 1818); Dhegiha Sioux peoples; and others. We affirm their contemporary and ancestral ties to the land and their contributions to this place. In alignment with the academic mission of the institution, we are committed to building responsible relationships with indegenous communities through the development of educational pathways and opportunities for indigenous students and the advancement of research and knowledge about indigenous peoples, cultures, and histories.
