Prospective graphic design students may have cause for concern as they register for classes this week at Utah State University. That’s because the number of students allowed into Utah State’s graphic design program is expected to decrease by half following changes made when the Department of Art and Design in the Caine College of the Arts received national accreditation earlier this year.
“Graphic design is the highest demand emphasis area in the Department of Art and Design,” said Bob Winward, the area coordinator of graphic design. “In order to receive accreditation, we had to boost the number of credit hours within the discipline of graphic design and also the breadth of our offerings. We could not do this by adding faculty so our only recourse was to reduce our number of Graphic Design BFA students.”
Instead of the usual 40 students accepted into the program annually, the department is only admitting 20.
“The up side to all of this is that we can be more selective about who may be accepted into the program,” Winward said. “So while our student numbers are reduced by half, quality has increased.”
“I don’t see this as a problem,” said Laura Gelfand, the art and design department head, “but as an opportunity for us to continue improving the quality of all our programs including graphic design.”
Kate Auman, a senior in interdisciplinary studies with a focus in graphic design, has been working with the department for over three years and has seen the faculty trying to make changes.
They are “switching it and making it harder,” Auman said. But “the changes they’re making are going to make it so good.”
