They make a way. - Maryland Institute College of Art

The Annual MICA Halloween Party. / Discussing projects with peers is a key element of collaboration among students.
GRADUATE SUPPORT
Graduate students need another kind of support.
Many have already established themselves, while
others seek to pivot away from the career path
they are on and follow their passions along a
creative trajectory. And just as it demands of its
students, the College’s faculty has responded to
gaps in art and design graduate education—
creating one-of-a-kind programs that embrace
community and social engagement at their
core. Programs such as the MA in Social Design
program push designers to work with numerous
constituencies and use design (online, print,
or environmental) to solve problems, while
the MFA in Curatorial Practice program turns
engagement into an artform, enabling students
to curate their own site-specific exhibition based
on the unique goals and outcome requirements
of a location partner.
MICA moved last year to ensure that its
graduate students have the type of environment
their aggressive workload requires, and began
the $20 million-plus renovation of the Graduate
Studio Center on North Avenue and the adjoining
building at 1801 Falls Road. The North Avenue
building adds 25,000 square feet of academic
space and upgrades an additional 95,000 square
feet— almost three thousand of which is devoted
to publicly accessible gallery and exhibition space.
The extra space could not have come at a more
opportune time. The College spent much of last
year recruiting and admitting a record number
of graduate students, projected to grow 33% in
fall 2012 compared to fall 2011.
The collaboration among the record number
of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty,
and administrators on MICA’s campuses—
and online— creates a unique type of graduate
who can visualize solutions to problems and
mobilize people and resources to actualize artistic
vision. More and more each day, that type of
professional is what the world needs.
Whoever is working
with a MICA student
has an asset that no
one else has.”
MICHAEL PATTERSON
Associate Dean of Student Life
& Judicial Affairs
MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART 2012 ANNUAL REPORT
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