Welcome to the College of Fine and Applied Arts, a caring community of global thought and practice leaders.
We are scholars, makers, doers, dreamers, and builders with an unwavering commitment to excellence, advocacy, innovation and inclusion. We demonstrate this commitment by honoring the varied lived experiences of our award-winning faculty, staff, students, alumni and partners; and by supporting diverse interests, ambitions, methodologies and approaches to our disciplines.
Our student-first and transdisciplinary approach to learning combined with a steadfast belief in the power of experiential learning helps us create an interwoven network of scholars and practitioners collectively dedicated to addressing the salient issues that underpin our anchor mission. We illustrate this dedication by actively engaging with local communities in deep and meaningful ways.
A small sample of which includes:
- providing local news in English and Spanish to high country residents
- building sustainable structures for underserved families and communities
- engaging Appalachian youth in theatre and dance opportunities
- preserving regional arts and crafts techniques and traditions through practice and partnerships
- promoting inclusive and sustainable approaches to apparel, furniture and industrial design
- training community organizers, global development leaders, and sustainable agriculture and ecology practitioners
- promoting character driven leadership combined with mountaineer resilience.
I am deeply honored and humbled to lead a college that inspires creativity, encourages critical analysis, and challenges its constituents to know better, and do better. We are one college, comprised of multiple disciplines with a singular mission…to be better. Each day we strive to be better than we were the day before. We show up every day as a collective unit eager to offer our very best because our community, constituents, disciplines, college, university, and most importantly our students deserve no less.
Onward and Upward,
Dean Shannon B. Campbell, PhD
College of Fine and Applied Arts