Overview
The College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State is a complete arts community including academic programs and museum and performing arts units serving the University and beyond. It is a professional college committed to artistic and scholarly creativity, research, and the preparation of specialized practitioners in all of the arts and design disciplines.
The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the Department of Art History, the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, the Department of Integrative Arts, the School of Music, the School of Theatre, and the Penn State School of Visual Arts. The college also includes the Center for the Performing Arts, the Palmer Museum of Art, and Pennsylvania Centre Stage, which serve as important cultural resources that provide educational outreach programs for Penn State and area communities.
At the undergraduate level, the college offers the bachelor of science degree in architecture, art education, graphic design, music education, and photography; the bachelor of arts degree in art, art history, integrative arts, music, and theatre; the bachelor of fine arts in art and theatre; the bachelor of architecture; the bachelor of landscape architecture; the bachelor of music; and the bachelor of musical arts.
At the graduate level, the college offers the master of science degree in architecture and art education; the master of arts degree in art, art history, music, and theatre; the master of education in art education and music education; the master of fine arts in art and theatre; the master of landscape architecture; the master of music; and the Ph.D. in art education, art history, and music education.
The faculty are dedicated to providing high-quality professional instruction to the approximately 1,900 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in the college. In addition, the faculty, most of whom hold terminal degrees in their professional fields, are charged with the responsibility of providing undergraduate literature, history, and studio courses in the arts for all students at Penn State.
The college is housed in seventeen buildings on the University Park Campus. It includes performance spaces, gallery/exhibition spaces, a lighting and design lab, computer labs, special subject libraries, and a stage lighting archive. Within the college are specialized studios, rehearsal spaces, and classrooms to support the design, visual, and performing arts.
Penn State's College of Arts and Architecture proudly serves as one of the major cultural centers between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Undergraduate Enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment in the College of Arts and Architecture has increased by 33 percent in the last decade. Students enrolled in the college may prepare for professional careers in the following fields: architecture, landscape architecture, planning, art history, painting, sculpting, graphic design, ceramics, printmaking, photography, art education, music performance, composition, musicology, music education, acting, directing, stage and lighting design, and theatre technology.