Strategic Goal 1: Academic Excellence
Charge
Maine College of Art & Design will cultivate the highest standards in teaching and learning in art, design, and media, and will be recognized for its students’ cultural contributions. The College will be known as an educational leader in the programs it offers, creating and continually improving a relevant, culturally inclusive, and distinctive curriculum that enables students to reach their potential in an ever-changing world.
Curricula
Maine College of Art & Design graduates will have expertise in their chosen field, as well as a deep sense of curiosity and wonder that ensures they are lifelong learners. They will have the resilience, flexibility, and creativity to overcome unforeseen challenges and to confidently navigate a rapidly changing landscape in art, design, and media.
Our students will be the innovators, leaders, and experts at the forefront of art, design, and craft. Faculty will continue to apply design thinking methodologies throughout our educational programming and develop curricula that encourage curiosity, problem-solving, collaboration, contextualization, and connections. Our educational spaces, studios, galleries, and classrooms, will be developed with methodologies and materials that relate to and reflect our identity, brand, and design methodologies.
Maine College of Art & Design will maintain, reinforce and secure academic excellence across all current and future academic divisions. The College will make every effort to promote, leverage, and/or reinvent current programs, ensuring that they support the educational philosophy and value statements of the College. We will continue to codify and maintain authentic and systematic curricular assessment practices, giving both immediate and long-term feedback and analysis regarding the curriculum’s effectiveness in achieving its goals and fostering student success.
Faculty expertise will be aligned with program size and distribution. The value of Academic Studies will be reinforced through continued integration with studio curricula and faculty hiring. In response to challenging national enrollment trends, we will build pathways for reinventing and evolving our curricula, taking a humancentered approach to change and embracing change management support as needed. We will leverage existing facilities while scanning for external opportunities and expanding interdisciplinary spaces like the Fab Lab to accommodate new curricular needs.
We will increase enrollment or grow to capacity in our current slate of graduate programs; this will include an assessment of discipline-specific tracks. We will continue to improve the educational pathway of current BFA students to the MAT program.
Continuing & Professional Studies will have a new and clearly defined mission and purpose. The slate of offerings in Continuing Studies will be evaluated to ensure the program’s efforts strategically align with the College’s overall long-term goals.
We will further integrate the Artists at Work program into the curriculum and throughout the College. This will be achieved by thoughtfully sequencing our seminar programs and professional expectations for each of the four years. Additionally, we will increase student participation in internships, apprenticeships, mentorships, and independent projects; encourage professionally focused micro classes like “& Lab”; create professional and public initiatives through the 49 Oak gallery; and build on other professional experiences to more fully develop student readiness before graduation.
We will assure that civic engagement is core to our student experience through our Public Engagement, Sustainable Ecosystems: Art & Design, and Art & Entrepreneurship minors. We will formalize and pursue local and global community partnerships for external student experiences and provide ample opportunities for students to develop professionally.
Faculty
The College will prioritize faculty support for pedagogical excellence, scholarship, and outstanding service in recognition that faculty are central to the life of the College and the student experience.
The College will maintain a faculty of excellence through faculty appointments, compensation, and hiring practices. The College will improve the overall experience of part-time faculty. A faculty hiring plan will be created which aligns faculty expertise with current student enrollment while also meeting the long-term diversity and equity goals as articulated in the strategic priority of Develop A Culture of Equity and Belonging.
We further support faculty professional development goals, including expanding opportunities for faculty research, conferences, residencies, travel, and grants; leveraging internal offerings and external professional development opportunities.
Co-Curricula
Maine College of Art & Design firmly believes co-curricular engagement is a vital part of the academic experience and the holistic development of our students. Co-curricular opportunities will be available for all students at Maine College of Art & Design in order to nurture their leadership, create community, support and encourage inclusivity, establish tradition, and ensure that all students feel a part of the College. In this, we are guided by the following core principles: supporting and reinforcing our institutional values, high-impact practices aimed at student retention, and continuing student engagement in all of Maine College of Art & Design’s academic programs.
The College will create a formalized residential curriculum, aligned with best practices in Student Life and informed by broader, well-defined college goals. We will expand our active engagement of students by developing and maintaining College-Sponsored Organizations that are aimed at supporting specific student populations. We will continue to incorporate the Institute of Contemporary Art and other exhibition programming into the student experience.
As part of Maine College of Art & Design’s Foundation curriculum revision, the College will create a comprehensive and integrated First-Year Experience program. Faculty and staff will participate in training and development opportunities that are key to understanding the student population and increasing engagement in the learning environment.Additional time, resources, and staffing will be allocated to increase student support services and the College will evaluate and assess the current counseling model. The College will develop collaborative student spaces welcoming to all cohorts with materiality and design decisions that relate to its identity, brand, and design methodology.
Outcomes
- Reinforced academic excellence across all current academic divisions
- A new slate of academic programs of excellence based on market demand and opportunity
- Promotion of faculty excellence and increased professional development opportunities
- Increased student engagement and retention through a student culture that is deeply engaged socially, institutionally, and civically
- Flexibility to provide access to education that is not site-specific