Arts Alive SDSU Wins Provost’s Strategic Excellence Award
Arts Alive SDSU named as one of six programs awarded the Provost’s Strategic Excellence Award
by Sofia Bert
June 10, 2019
Recently, Arts Alive SDSU was one of six programs awarded the highly sought after Provost’s Strategic Excellence Award, which honors academic departments and schools that have implemented initiatives to achieve the goals of the university’s strategic plan, Building on Excellence.
Arts Alive SDSU provides opportunities for students, faculty and staff at SDSU to engage in the arts as an integral part of an educational experience, promoting creative research and interdisciplinary collaboration.
“I think it’s indicative of SDSU’s commitment to innovative pedagogy that our chief academic officer is formally acknowledging the integral role of the arts in a university curriculum,” said Eric Smigel, Chair of Arts Alive SDSU.
Smigel would like to position the arts alongside the humanities and sciences as a mode of creative research that contributes to the further development of knowledge. Arts Alive SDSU is focused on student success, collaborative research, curriculum integration and community engagement.
“In a complex world undergoing perpetual change, the arts offer a disciplined practice of exploring possibilities, transforming perspectives, and reconstructing meaning,” said Smigel. “Art exhibitions, film screenings, and live performances can be entertaining and expressive, but they are also an effective way to enrich our capacity for critical inquiry.”
“Because of the Provost’s Strategic Excellence Award, Arts Alive SDSU is able to work with departments across campus to explore ways to enrich student experiences and the academic conversations that are already taking place,” said Elizabeth Allison, the Public Affairs and Communication Specialist for Arts Alive SDSU. “We are discussing opportunities with faculty members to invite guest artists to SDSU, bringing new and exciting voices to our campus. Through these campus visits, students in multiple disciplines will be able to hear new ideas and perspectives about the academic subjects they study.”
The Arts Alive SDSU Interdisciplinary Collaborative Teaching Program (ICT) fosters curriculum development by placing faculty and students from the art schools together with colleagues from the humanities and sciences. One example of this is the collaboration between Dance and Physics, where students from both disciplines worked together to study movement and polymer science.
Three ICT course partnerships were completed during the 2018-2019 academic year, and four new course proposals were selected for next year.
In the 2018–2019 academic year, there were more than 350 individual arts events at SDSU, attended by more than 330,000 guests. These events included 22 Signature Events and 27 Pop-Up Events, including performances and opportunities for interactive art making. Additionally, in order to promote interdisciplinary discussion over this academic year, Arts Alive SDSU facilitated 10 panel discussions during Signature Events.
“We will be promoting another compelling series of Signature Events, which are being produced by the School of Art + Design, the School of Music & Dance, and the School of Theatre, Television, and Film,” said Smigel. “These arts events feature the creative work of students in curricular projects.” said Smigel.
Smigel and Allison are currently working with directors, faculty, and staff from the art schools to coordinate the events of the 2019–2020 academic year. Each Signature Event will address a sociopolitical or cultural issue relevant to critical dialogues taking place on campus and in the community.
The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.
More PSFA Stories