Graduate
Advising
- Program Requirements
- Advising Information
- Forms & Documents
- Graduate Funding
- FAQ
Program Requirements
Advising Information
The Graduate Program Coordinator, Megan Bartel (mbartel@arizona.edu, 520-621-8518), is the liaison between the graduate students and the School of Art administration and University of Arizona Graduate College. The Program Coordinator is here to help all graduate students from first inquiry to graduation, and to help graduate students understand and navigate the requirements of the graduate programs.
All graduate students are advised by their faculty. Faculty advisors work with their graduate students to determine what courses each student should take and what courses can be used to fulfill the program requirements. All program requirements are listed in the handbook.
Art & Visual Culture Education
Each student will be initially assigned a temporary advisor, a professor from the Division of Art and Visual Culture Education, to help him/her with academic and other education matters. During the first year of study, the student will ask one of the AVCE professors to serve as her/his M.A. thesis or M.A. report advisor.
Art History
In the first semester, Masters students will be advised by the Art History Graduate Advisor. Students must select a major area of concentration by the end of the first year. Students should solicit the agreement of a faculty member to direct the thesis or orals examination, and henceforth should discuss all academic decisions with the major advisor. PhD students will enter the program only with the prior acceptance of a dissertation advisor.
Studio Art
In the first three semesters, all students will be advised by faculty chairs. After Candidacy Review, the student selects a thesis committee. The chair of the students’ thesis committee will be the students’ advisor.
Graduate Student Forms & Documents
- Graduate Student Resources Booklet (PDF)
- Thesis and Dissertation Writing Resources
Graduate Forms
The following forms are all available to you via Adobe Sign. Please contact the Graduate Program Coordinator, Megan Bartel (mbartel@arizona.edu), and she will initiate the form. You will receive the form via email from Adobe Sign. Once it is complete and approved, the Graduate Program Coordinator will process the form.
- Registration (for independent studies, practicums, graduate studio, oral exam, Master’s report, thesis or dissertation) – Please indicate which Faculty member you are working with.
- Internship – Please indicate which Faculty member you are working with, as well as your internship site supervisor
- Graduate Committee Special Member
- School of Art Petition
- School of Art Appeal
Studio Art
Art & Visual Culture Education
- MA AVCE Sample Plan of Study
- AVCE PhD Preliminary Plan of Study (PDF)
Art History
TA & Adjunct Handbook
- TA and Adjunct Handbook (PDF)
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Graduate Program Coordinator at mbartel@arizona.edu or 520-621-8518.
Graduate Funding
The School of Art endeavors to reduce financial stress for our incoming MFA and Ph.D. students as they pursue their passions. We strive to cover base tuition costs, plus an annual stipend. Through Graduate Assistantships and other forms of aid, students may be eligible for three years of full funding.
Marcia Grand Centennial Sculpture Prize Competition
Building on the excellence of its graduate programs, the Marcia Grand Centennial Sculpture Prize Competition is intended to provide MFA-seeking graduate students with up to $10,000 to support the completion of work in the sculptural/3D arts. The work supported by this award can be presented on or off campus; possible projects include:
- Land-art
- Site-specific sculpture/installation
- “Traditional” sculptural work
- Performance-based work incorporating 3 dimensional components.
Helen Gross Award
The Helen Gross Award is a generous gift from Joseph Gross to support talented young artists who have shown remarkable ability in their areas of study, along with a record of exhibitions of their own work as well as others. The scholarship is intended to provide MFA seeking graduates who have passed candidacy review with a $1,000 award to support the cost of their thesis exhibition. This award is presented at an annual luncheon hosted by Joseph Gross for the award recipient and the School of Art Director.
Frequently Asked Questions
A. While we do offer some online classes, our classes are mostly in person and require in person attendance at our Tucson campus.
A. It is best of you can provide letter of recommendation from academic sources, people who know you as a student. For various reasons, we recognize that this is not always possible. If that’s the case for you, please ask the people who can speak best to your abilities as a thinker, learner, student and artists. Please also include a brief note in your artist statement about why you haven’t been able to include 2 academic sources in your letters of recommendation.
A. You will not be required to submit your official transcripts unless you are accepted into the program. If you would like to send your official transcripts ahead of time you are welcome do that, but it’s not required. The faculty will review all the applications online, so you will need to attach some form of electronic transcripts to your application for them to evaluate. If your schools do not offer electronic transcripts and you do not have a copy of your transcripts that you keep for your own records, you can attach scans of your unofficial transcripts, as long as those transcripts are easily readable and have your name, the name of the institution, the dates of the courses, the course names, course numbers and grades awarded.
There are no need-based application fee waivers.
The Graduate College has partnered with a number of organizations and programs that provide application fee waivers. You can see the list of organizations when you first identify which program and semester you’d like to apply to.
Unfortunately, we, The School of Art, do not have any application fee waivers.
A. You can see the University’s English Proficiency requirements here: https://grad.arizona.edu/admissions/requirements/international-applicants#english-proficiency If you are required to submit official English proficiency scores, the University of Arizona institution code is 4832.
A. We do not offer a teacher certification only option. If you have a degree in Art, you might be interested in either an Alternative Teaching Certificate or Subject-Matter Expert Teaching Certification.
Teaching certification is granted through AZ Education department. You may find alternative certificate options and/or requirements through their website as well.
We do offer a Master’s degree in Art and Visual Culture Education with a teacher certification option. You can learn more about the AVCE MA degree here.
A. In general, the reviewers are looking for a short narrative about the work you are submitting, what you would like to achieve in a graduate program and your goals after completion. The statement of purpose should be no longer than 2 pages.
Graduate Coordinator
