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Even though history courses are offered through a variety of majors, only courses taken through the art or architectural history departments count towards art history elective credit.

Third-year broadcast design major, Christian Simmons, said, “I want to take History of Film and History of Graphic Design because those courses so closely relate to my field of study. History of Film would be more beneficial to me than a regular art history or architectural history elective for me simply because film is a passion of mine, and I will not only be interested, but will have a much higher likelihood of retaining the knowledge.”

Third-year media and performing arts major, Erin Rachels, said, “I think taking History of Film would be a great option as film and television is my minor and with a minor you only get eight classes to take. To me, it makes more sense to take the tech classes, and have the option of taking History of Film as an art history elective.”

Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Desire Hounges, said that to move courses, such as History of Film, to the art history department, the professor teaching that course would need to be credentialed to teach art history. These courses are currently taught by faculty in the respective studio department.

Art history chair, Celina Jeffery, said “it’s a long standing tradition. Each studio department teaches [their] history from within.”

According to the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the organization that accredits SCAD, at least 25% of professors must have the terminal degree in their discipline. All faculty must have completed at least a master’s degree with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline.

Hounges said that there is a distinction between a doctorate, the terminal degree in art history and an MFA, the terminal degree for most studio departments. The masters’ program is more studio orientated; it doesn’t offer enough art history for the graduates to teach art history.

Simmons said, “perhaps the faculty think we’ll ‘slack’ and only take those history classes? I’m not sure, but I know there must be a happy medium.”

Jeffery said that she would welcome greater interaction with the other departments, but that she doesn’t have the authority to integrate the history courses. “It may happen in the future, but it would have to be an institutional push.”

“I have already taken three traditional art history courses. It seems the obvious course for me now to follow is history classes that further my knowledge of the field I will be entering all too soon,” said Simmons.

Jeffery is trying to offer more courses in the art history department related to new media. Starting in the fall, students will have “three courses in the contemporary field that are media-based, geared towards video, film, performance, and even design.” Digital Art and Culture and Visual Culture will be offered in addition to the existing Survey of New Media Arts.

Jeffery also stated an interest in adding courses focusing on photography. “[It’s] something we’d like to achieve, but there is no professor within the department that’s a specialist.”

Hounges said that art history course offerings are dependent on the concentrations of the faculty members. Professors specialize in a particular aspect of art history, such as African or Asian art. Only if the college hired an art history professor with a specialization in animation would they be able to transfer the history out of the animation department.

However, Hounges said “there are not really many art history programs that offer degrees in [new medias.] It is rare for institutions to offer a PhD in art history in graphic design.” Because of the scarcity of art history programs focusing on new media, there are few faculty candidates who have the credentials to teach the courses.