Program Overview

With an individually designed concentration, you have the opportunity to combine more than one area of performing arts, or to explore an aspect of another field. You will submit a brief proposal to the department chair and dean by the end of your first year, which will specify the courses to be taken to total 28 credits and describe how they reflect your academic and professional goals.

Some past individually designed concentrations have focused on:

  • musical theater
  • theatrical dance
  • directing
  • composing for film
  • dance and exercise science
  • music and business
  • theater and film
  • music and creative arts therapy
  • theater and writing

In addition to the courses you choose, you will undertake three internships, including a semester-long, full-time professional experience relevant to performing arts and your chosen area. You will complete a two-semester senior thesis on a topic relevant to your designed field of study and containing interdisciplinary components. You will experience the integration of theory and practice through coursework, experiential learning, and independent field research and/or creative composition in the senior thesis sequence.

Curriculum Requirements - Total Credits Required: 125

First Year - Credits: 31

  • Science and Technology General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • Quantitative Reasoning General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • General Education Elective (Cr: 3)
  • PAC Courses (Cr. 5)
  • Free Elective (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 111 - Critical Reading and Writing I (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 112 - Critical Reading and Writing II (Cr: 3)
  • DRA 220 - Introduction to Technical Theater (Cr: 3)
  • INT 100 - Internship I (Cr: 2)
  • PA 100 - Introduction to Performing Arts (Cr: 3)
    Satisfies Aesthetic Awareness General Elective

Second Year - Credits: 34

  • Individual and Society General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • Literary Perspectives General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • PAC Courses (Cr: 12)
  • Performing Arts Elective (Cr: 6)
  • INT 200 - Internship II (Cr: 2)
  • PA 101 - Performance Review (Cr: 1)
    (Students will take twice)
  • PA 300 - Performance Workshop I (Cr: 3)
  • PA 305 - Performance Workshop II (Cr: 3)

Third Year - Credits: 29

  • General Education Electives (Cr: 6)
  • Values and Ethical Reasoning General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • World Cultures General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • Performing Arts Elective (Cr: 3)
  • PAC Courses (Cr: 7)
  • PA 101 - Performance Review (Cr: 1)
  • PA 310 - Audition and Portfolio (Cr: 3)
  • ART 265 - Arts Administration I (Cr: 3)

Fourth Year - Credits: 31

  • Global Issues General Education Requirement (Cr: 3)
  • General Education Elective (Cr: 3)
  • PAC Courses (Cr: 4)
  • Performing Arts Elective (Cr: 3)
  • PA 480 - Semester Internship (Cr: 12)
  • PA 489 - Senior Research (Cr: 3)
  • PA 491 - Senior Capstone (Cr: 3)

Performing Arts Elective

Performing Arts students must take 12 credits under the designation of Performing Arts Elective. For this elective requirement, students may take up to nine credits in any courses in their designed concentration area. However, three credits must be in an area outside the student's concentration area in order to promote cross-discipline growth. Students may choose from any DAN, DRA, MUS, PA  or any of the following courses:

  • AET 100 - Foundations of Creative Therapies (Cr: 3)
  • AET 200 - Materials, Media, and Metaphor (Cr: 3)
  • AET 205 - Music Therapy Foundations (Cr: 3)
  • AET 206 - Guitar for Therapy and Education (Cr: 3)
  • AET 207 - Drumming for Healing (Cr: 3)
  • AET 210 - Therapeutic Writing (Cr: 3)
  • AET 215 - Dance/Movement Therapy Foundations (Cr: 3)
  • AET 225 - Jung and Art Therapy (Cr: 3)
  • AET 305 - Cultural Humility in the Arts Therapies (Cr: 3)
  • AET 306 - Drama Therapy and Psychodrama (Cr: 3)
  • ART 240 - Imagination and Creativity (Cr: 3)
  • ART 266 - Writing in the Arts Seminar (Cr: 3)
  • ART 365 - Arts Administration II (Cr: 3)
  • DM 110 - Introduction to Digital Filmmaking (Cr: 3)
  • DM 255 - Writing for the Screen (Cr: 3)
  • DM 280 - TV Studio Production (Cr: 3)
  • DRA 215 - Acting for Film (Cr: 3)
  • ED 215 - Creative Arts in the Early Childhood and Elementary Classrooms (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 103 - Public Speaking (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 212 - Drama Survey (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 229 - Playwriting and Screenwriting I (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 340 - Playwriting and Screenwriting II (Cr: 3)
  • ENG 365 - Shakespeare (Cr: 3)
  • IDS 301 - Yoga: Theory, Culture & Practice (Cr: 3)
  • MTH 105 - The Mathematics of Music (Cr: 3)

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this major, students will be able to:

  1. Perform showing originality and innovation in their chosen discipline at a level of professional competency, including collaborations with others in different art forms.
  2. Demonstrate understanding of theoretical concepts in their chosen discipline.
  3. Identify, describe and analyze well-recognized genres, artistic eras, areas of thought, and specific works in their chosen discipline as well as in dance, music, and theater.
  4. Display a working knowledge of technical practices and equipment used in the performing arts.
  5. Exhibit an understanding of business practices in the performing arts: grant writing, copyright law, budgeting, and contracts. 
  6. Show the ability to speak, write, and advocate for performing arts.
  7. Demonstrate the ability to promote and market events and organizations in performing arts.
  8. Become employed as performers, support crew, or support staff at performing arts organizations at local, state, national, or international levels, including in educational settings.

View academic catalog and learning outcomes

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