The First Year Program provides highly specialized courses, enabling students to jump right into meaningful projects that connect directly to their majors.
Our first-year courses are tailored to the specific needs of each of our 13 majors. An animator sketches differently than an illustrator, and a filmmaker uses light differently than a photographer—so we’ve designed informed, focused, and highly specialized courses that let our first-year students get started in their field on day one. Every minute at ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ College is dedicated to moving you toward your future as a professional creative.
First Year Communities
Students benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration and learning, with opportunities to explore and refine skills tailored to their field. Together, students develop a versatile skill set that are essential first steps towards dynamic and diverse careers in creative industries.
Design Arts
The Design Arts community includes students pursuing majors in Business of Art and Design, Graphic Design, Entertainment Design, Motion Design, and Virtual Reality Development.
This community emphasizes work that effectively communicates a concept visually to an audience, while also providing a foundational education in both hand-drawn and digital composition and design principles. Additionally, Photography majors participate in this community to develop essential graphic design skills, which are critical for creating compelling digital imaging work. Through collaboration and interdisciplinary learning, students in the Design Arts Community gain a well-rounded skill set that prepares them for diverse creative industries.
Studio Arts
The Studios Arts community encompasses Film, Photography, and Fine Arts, each emphasizing the achievement of core competencies through a lens- and light-based approach.
Students will develop technical and creative skills, learning to apply their work in both commercial and fine art contexts. This multidisciplinary focus enables students to explore the intersection of art and industry while refining their craft in visual storytelling and photographic techniques.
Studio Disciplines:
Media Arts
The Media Arts community unites students from the fields of Computer Animation, Game Art, and Illustration, offering a comprehensive foundation in core artistic skills.
These disciplines focus on essential techniques such as 2D and 3D design, color theory, composition, perspective, and figure drawing—fundamental tools for storytelling in visual media. Additionally, Virtual Reality Development is integrated into the community, enriching the study of 2D design, while Fine Arts contributes its expertise in Figure Drawing. Together, these areas provide students with a well-rounded education, preparing them to excel in the evolving landscape of digital and traditional art forms.
Media Disciplines:
Visual Studies
Visual Studies is a specialized major that empowers students to craft their own unique artistic journey, beginning in the first year.
In collaboration with their academic adviser, students will develop a personalized academic plan that shapes their artistic focus and informs their upper-division coursework. Visual Studies students have the flexibility to choose from a wide range of first-year courses, providing a solid foundation for their individualized path of study.
Creative Writing
Our Creative Writing program offers a unique, major-focused community for aspiring writers and storytellers.
Creative writing majors will discover the countless applications for creative writing across industries and disciplines and work together on long-term, complex projects.
Creative Writing
Getting Started
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