Art, Science, and Innovation
Visual and Performing Arts
Why Major in Art, Science, and Innovation at Allegheny College
In the Art, Science, and Innovation program, you’ll prepare to become a cultural innovator and critical maker who can produce works of visual art that transcend disciplinary boundaries. You’ll blend practical skill development with critical thinking in ways that set you up to be a creative industry leader.
Unusual Combinations
Students often combine Art, Science, and Innovation with:
Division
- Visual and Performing Arts
Program Type
- Major
- Minor
Number of Credits
52 for major24 for minorI love designing and building things in my free time, and with the new lab on campus, I have access to the fabrication tools to do that. It has been a huge contribution to Allegheny and allows students to really develop their ideas and creativity.
Your Four-Year Journey
Year 1: Understanding
Build foundational digital skills like video editing and design while also learning fundamental traditional skills in disciplines such as drawing or photography. You’ll pair these applied experiences with classes in critical theory and history, bolstered by formative experiences in a scientific discipline of your choosing.
Featured Courses:
Year 2: New Approaches
In year two, you’ll begin to meaningfully integrate research in theory, science, and art to build your capacity to be a critical creator. Take courses in media production, advanced design classes, and traditional mediums like painting or ceramics. Continue to develop your understanding in a scientific discipline like computer science or biology and start to see how you might integrate disciplines in unexpected ways.
Year 3: Delving Deeper
Year three is where discipline-specific skills in art and science coalesce and your self-directed projects will critically address the most pressing issues of our time. Practical, industry-standard skills will be used in unexpected and exciting ways to produce works of art and design that transcend disciplinary boundaries. Classes like Art/Science Special Topics and Robotic Agents develop critical thinking about technologies and scientific discourse.
Year 4: The Comp
In year four, you take your skills in a scientific discipline, critical theory and history, and traditional art-making and bring them together to produce ambitious, culturally relevant, and technologically engaged Senior Comps that demonstrate a capacity to communicate complex ideas via engaging works of art and design. For minors, the Junior Seminar is your opportunity to join ideas explored in the sciences with artistic aesthetic and design skills.
Research and Internships
Hands-on experiences at Allegheny will enable you to work at the intersections of art, science, culture, and technology to develop the technical skills and critical capacities required to lead, create, and innovate in your artistic practice and in any number of applications.
Our students bolster their education with work study opportunities, student research, independent study, and more.
The Allegheny Lab for Innovation & Creativity (ALIC) is an ecosystem of resources that give students the tools to best demonstrate the skills they’ve learned while at Allegheny in their post-graduation lives. The lab is a space where science and the humanities intersect, providing hands-on experience with technology and opportunities to think critically about its context, history, and implications.
The ALIC consists of two distinct resources:
- The fabrication lab, which houses 3D printers, laser cutters, and a CNC/plasma cutter
- The computer lab, which contains 26 design and game development computers
The Bowman, Penelec, and Megahan galleries comprise the Allegheny Art Galleries, located on the first floor of Doane Hall of Art. The Allegheny Art Galleries receive state funding through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PPA), a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Allegheny offers sponsored study-away programs in more than 15 countries across the world.
Faculty and Staff
Assistant Professor
Department Coordinator
PhD, The Graduate Center, City University of New York; MA, Case Western Reserve University; BA, Emory University
Email: pburleigh@allegheny.edu
Phone: 814-332-3383
Assistant Professor
Master of Fine Art, Visual Studies, The State University of New York
Email: hbrand@allegheny.edu
Phone: 814-332-3386
Featured News
Academic Excellence: Paving the Way for Bright Futures
When talking with alumni about their Allegheny experience, whether they graduated in 1974 or 2024, one thing always stands out – the connection our alumni have with faculty. Our College has a rich legacy of faculty who go above and beyond in their interactions with students, serving as teachers, mentors, facilitators, career connectors, and more.
Program Contact
Ian Thomas
Chair of the Department of Art; Associate Professor of Ceramics and Sculpture; Esports Head Coach
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Explore the ever-changing field of communication with developed cultural awareness.
Address:
520 North Main Street
Meadville, PA 16335
Contact:
814-332-4351
info@allegheny.edu
admissions@allegheny.edu
