Incoming students to the School of Art and Design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts will have one fewer major to choose from for fall 2010.

VPA announced the decision to merge the advertising design and communications design majors March 11 via a memorandum sent to all School of Art and Design first-year students. The same day, VPA administration met with current advertising design majors and notified department chairs that were asked to share the information with faculty.

Several changes will be made to the communications design curriculum. VPA proposed the Visual Communications Symposium, previously taken for no credit, to be offered as a 1-credit course taken three times over six semesters. A course in motion graphics will also be added for juniors and seniors.

This is the third significant change to a VPA major in the past two academic years. Last spring, the surface pattern design major was cut and the textile design major was merged into the fiber and textile arts program. After each of the three changes, students were concerned that the administration did not thoroughly communicate with the students who would be affected.

Arthur Jensen, senior associate dean of academic affairs in VPA, who sent out the memorandum, said the decision was one made by faculty over many months in an effort to make students stronger job candidates by broadening the scope of the advertising and communications design program.

Students currently enrolled in the advertising design and communications design majors will be able to continue the program and course requirements that were in place when they declared the majors, Jensen said.

“We believe that these modifications to our degree offerings, a reflection of an ever-changing industry, enable us to build on our reputation for providing a challenging and rewarding course of study to students,” Jensen said in the memorandum. “This change also positions us for continued leadership in the global design community.”

The merge was unrelated to last year’s surface pattern design major change, Jensen said, and he does not foresee any more majors being changed.

“We have no current plans to merge any additional programs, although we are always open to ways to improve the delivery of curriculum and adjust to industry or other important cultural trends,” Jensen said.

The VPA School of Art and Design website for undergraduates still included advertising design on the list of 18 major options as of Tuesday. There is no mention that the college is no longer accepting applications to the program.

“Current seniors in high school who have applied early-decision have applied under ad design because there’s no indication that you can’t apply for that major,” said Anjorie Jhaveri, a freshman communications design major and a Student Association representative for VPA.

Jhaveri said she originally applied as a textile design major, but the program was then merged into fiber and textual arts. Jhaveri said there is a huge difference between majors in VPA, but problems with low enrollment has lead to combining similar majors.

She also said the announcement, coming two weeks prior to the day freshmen declared majors, put a crunch on students. Students who planned to major in advertising design have now chosen communications design because it is the closest to their ideal major, Jhaveri said.

“You’re at a school for so long and you think that’s what you’re going to do,” Jhaveri said. “And then you aren’t able to do it, you’re not formally told, no one’s really able to guide or give you instruction. They’ve lost a lot of time just because they weren’t informed.”

SA President Jon Barnhart said he considered the changes to be positive but communicated poorly. He said a long-term goal between SA and VPA was to better communicate why changes were happening.

“(VPA) is really trying to revamp these programs to be at the top of their level so when you graduate from Syracuse University with a degree in communications design or in textiles and fibers, you come out on the competitive edge of the job market,” Barnhart said. “That sounds good, doesn’t it? That sounds like what every student would want from their home college. Unfortunately, it’s not being communicated that way if you’re hearing from a friend of a friend heard from a friend of a friend’s professor that you’re major is being cut.”

The change was discussed at the March 8 SA meeting when a representative brought it up after hearing several other students talking about it, Barnhart said.

Alec Sim, chair of SA’s Board of Elections and Membership, has worked with VPA and said SA has since been in contact with VPA Dean Ann Clarke about the changes. Sim said SA was looking at ‘student-friendly ways’ to merge the major.

“We’re not so upset that (VPA) cut the major,” Sim said, “as much as the fact that this wasn’t communicated with the students very effectively.”

Published on March 23, 2010 at 12:00 pm

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