The BFA in Photography is the professional degree for Photography students in the Art Department. The BFA program will provide students with the skills to practice the art of photography at a professional level. The BFA will also qualify students to pursue the MFA degree at graduate schools in the United States.

Students will be proficient in the creation, manipulation, and printing of digital images and demonstrate the ability to use these techniques to create photographic artworks that have a personal aesthetic and are conceptually sophisticated.

Seniors in the BA Photography program will take ARTS 4913 and mount an exhibition of a body of their photographic work.

The works in the exhibitions will

• demonstrate technical proficiency with the use of digital cameras.
• demonstrate the ability to manipulate and/or adjust images with digital imaging software.
• demonstrate proficiency in digital printing techniques.
• demonstrate the student's ability to express and communicate ideas and concepts through the medium of photography.

The exhibitions will be evaluated by 2 members of the Photo faculty. The faculty will use a rubric that uses a scale of 0-100% to evaluate the abilities and proficiencies. It is expected that at least 70% of the students evaluated will score 80% or higher in each aspect of the evaluation. We have made some significant changes in the program and have changed the expectation from 80% to 70% of students will meet the standard until students adjust to the programmatic changes.  

In evaluation of work in the Graduating Senior Exhibition, 84% of the students demonstrated proficiency in all of the photographic techniques. One student did not demonstrate proficiency in any of the techniques. The data suggests that the problem was likely with this particular student rather than with the curriculum. The other 5 students who graduated in the fall exhibited large scale, archival ink jet prints that demonstrated proficiency using digital cameras and imaging software. The same student who was not proficient in these techniques did not demonstrate the ability to express concepts and ideas through the work. The others demonstrated this.

The graduating seniors in the Spring 2012 were a small sample group (6). Faculty will increase the sample size by evaluating students in an upper level course in addition to those graduating.

Students in the BFA Photography program will have an understanding of the History of Photography. The will be familiar with contemporary theories, trends and practices in photography and be able to contextualize ideas in the continuum of this history and understand the relation of their own work to photography that has preceded it.

Students in the BA Photography program will have an understanding of the History of Photography. They will be familiar with contemporary theories, trends and practices in photography and be able to contextualize ideas in the continuum of this history and understand the relation of their own work to photography that has preceded it.

Students in ARTS 3381, The History of Photography, will write a two page evaluation of two photographs of their choice. One photograph will be from the 19th century and the second will be a work created after 1975. The evaluation will discuss the formal attributes of the photograph, the style, the social or political influences, the technology use, and the subject matter.

The essays will:
• provide a clear introduction and draw conclusions supported by visual and contextual evidence.
• move from specific examples to general statements.
• describe the works accurately and clearly.
• use vocabulary introduced in classroom lectures and photography history textbooks.
• convey a clear and convincing image of their perspective.
• use external information about the cultural context and photographic techniques gathered from readings and presentations.
• present an understanding of the works in a way that is convincing and supported by detailed evidence.
• sum up major ideas and draw convincing conclusions grounded in visual evidence and contextual information.

The essays will be evaluated by 2 members of the Photo faculty. The faculty will use a rubric that uses a scale of 0-100% to evaluate the abilities and proficiencies. It is expected that at least 70% of the students evaluated will score 80% or higher in each aspect of the evaluation. We have made significant programmatic changes, adjusted expectations from 80% to 70% of students, and raised the standard to 80%.

This data is unavailable. The faculty member who taught this course did not submit it for evaluation and is no longer teaching at SHSU.

Data will be gathered from this course in 2012-13 for evaluation.