Graduate Programs

The MA in Art History program offers students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the art and architecture created by the many cultures, civilizations, and artists around the globe from antiquity to today. Students work with and engage faculty who research, teach, and publish in a wide range of periods, styles, and media. In addition, students will find a greater variety of topics with the option to enroll in art history graduate courses at another CUNY campus (including the Graduate Center, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and the City College of New York). Faculty at Queens as well as at the other CUNY campuses take advantage of New York City with its host of world-renowned museums, galleries, libraries, and some of the most prominent edifices and landscapes in the history of world architecture.

The MFA in Studio Art is designed to assist serious artists in the development of their work. The heart of the program is independent work in the fine arts in the student’s chosen specialty, complemented by required courses and electives. Attendance usually is full time, with four semesters required to complete the program. Admission is selective, limited to those who have already demonstrated both a commitment to art and the promise of further development. Students are provided with individual studios and share additional workspace in wood, printmaking, 3-D printing, bronze foundry and metal workshops. Shared ceramics, computer, and photography facilities are also available. MFA concentrations include Painting, Sculpture, Installation, Photography, Ceramics, Media, and Social Practice. The MFA degree is generally recognized as the appropriate academic credential for teaching art in college. The department also provides both art history and studio courses to students seeking the Master of Science in Education degree.

The Certificate

The 24-credit Post-Graduate Certificate in Critical Social Practice is designed for advanced cultural practitioners who can show significant experience with social practice projects in one or more of the following areas: art, architecture, activism, urban studies, public interest law, community organizing, social work or related fields. In order to be admitted, applicants with MAs or MFAs from a U.S. institution or a non-U.S. equivalent institution of higher education shall be preferred. However, we will give consideration to exceptional students with BAs or BFAs. Either a 79 TOEFL score or a 6 IELTS score is preferred.

There are 12 core credits each social practice student must take, followed by an equal number of flexible credit options that together add up to 24 credits. Each admitted candidate is assigned an individual mentor whose research is closest to that of the incoming student. It is this mentor’s responsibility to take a lead role advising students and selecting the flexible seminars and classes best suited for their specific course of study. For example, someone whose research project involves redesigning a blighted urban location might take classes in Urban

Studies, while someone interested in ecological art would be guided toward Environmental Studies. These, however, are only illustrations of possibilities. In theory, a social practice student might engage with sociology, anthropology, law, media, philosophy, education, women’s studies, or a host of potential areas of interdisciplinary focus, subject to the approval of the advisor.