New Graphic Design Degree Program Begins Fall 2009

April 14, 2009 - PRLog -- On April 2, the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education approved the Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design degree program.

This 120-hour degree program was based on the standards from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), a national accreditation organization.   The Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design will prepare students to become proficient in art and design that could lead to careers in advertisement, publication, web design, computer animation, video and filmmaking, and freelance graphic design.  

Professor Joel Keener, MFA, MS, Professor Marietta Dantonio-Fryer, MEd, MS, and Professor Helena Domenic were instrumental in working with Provost Ivan Banks to design the approved degree program.  

The Graphic Design degree program serves as an interdisciplinary degree program that will help build the Center of Excellence in Media and Fine Arts.  

The Center of Excellence in Media and Fine Arts builds on the legacy of Cheyney University in industrial arts, fine arts, and theatre arts.  

The Center of Excellence in Media and Fine Arts helps to focus the direction of university assets; it helps to direct grant and fund raising requests; it clarifies the University’s need for internships and scholarships; and it responds to the needs of the region for highly skilled persons in art and design.  

The University community is currently inviting skilled practitioners, alumni, and significant stakeholders to serve on an Advisory Council for the aforementioned center of excellence to ensure its responsiveness to regional needs.  

Graduates who have excelled in Media and Fine Arts include Chairman Robert W. Bogle, news commentator and icon Ed Bradley; anchorman Jim Vance; news commentator Robert Trayham;  art  entrepreneur Mercer Redcross;  artists Latriece Branson; and filmmaker Leroy McCarthy.  

The new students will be able to build a strong art and design skills set upon the broad-based general studies core and to refine their proficiencies in a variety of directions including web design, publications, and video animation.  

The Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design will employ current industry technology.  It will respond to the regional (Philadelphia and New York City) needs for art and design professionals who employ technology in creating cutting edge design in publications, web pages, films, videos, advertisements, and other related media.  

The Bachelors of Science in Graphic Design is a hands-on degree program constructed to attract students with associate degrees in graphic design, with art and design affinities, and with entrepreneurial tendencies.

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). PASSHE comprises Pennsylvania’s 14 public universities, with a combined enrollment of more than 112,500, making it the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study.  Approximately 405,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The 14 PASSHE universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania.

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Cheyney University is the nation’s oldest historically Black institution of higher education. It is also the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. At its inception, the school successfully provided free classical education for qualified young people, and today the university offers baccalaureate degrees in more than 30 disciplines and six master’s degree programs. For more information, please visit the website at http://www.cheyney.edu.