History and Overview

The College of Fine Arts provides instruction for students who seek professional careers in the arts, offers creative opportunities for all students at the university, and presents cultural events and services for members of the community. The curricula in the College of Fine Arts are intended for students who plan to:

• enter professional careers in fine arts, design, music, dance, and theatre
• teach in schools, colleges or universities, and private studios
• work in allied fields
• pursue graduate study

In addition to providing rich educational experiences and programs in the arts, the college brings national recognition to the university through the high level of professionalism associated with the faculty and the competence of students and graduates. The College of Fine Arts mirrors the aspirations set for the University of Florida: to "be among the best universities in the world," and among "the best 15 in this country." Therefore, it is the mission of the college to provide the very best programs in teaching, artistic/creative expression, scholarship, and service.

The college grew out of the School of Architecture, which was established in 1925. In 1975, the College of Architecture and Fine Arts was divided into two colleges, the College of Architecture and the College of Fine Arts. Since its establishment, the College of Fine Arts has become an increasingly vital unit of the university community.

The divisions of the college are:

Libraries

The University Libraries include an Architecture and Fine Arts (AFA) Library, Education Library and a Music Library that contain the largest collections of their kind in the Southeast. Together they provide books, musical scores, leading American and international periodicals, playscripts, videos, subject files, microtexts, CD’s, tape and disk recordings, and other materials for undergraduate and graduate studies. The AFA Library maintains a Rare Books Collection for scholarly research. A rich collection of serials, ephemera and reference materials dealing with the performing arts has been gathered into the Belknap Collection, located in the main library.

Visual Resources Center

This facility serves the faculties of the College of Fine Arts and the College of Architecture as well as the university at large. Students may use the facility when they have been assigned in-class presentations or lectures that require the use of visual resources. The collection includes more than 200,000 slides, photographs and study prints.

Majors, Specializations, Minors

Baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degree programs are fully accredited through the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST).