University to found new school

By: Rich Meyers ~Staff Writer~

A new opportunity for students interested in pursuing a degree in the fine arts will be coming to Xavier through a new School of Arts and Innovation that will be created on campus.

“The School of Arts and Innovation will be housed within the College of Arts and Sciences,” Xavier’s Provost and Chief Financial Officer Scott Chadwick said. “This new school will include the departments of Art, Digital Video and Film and Music and Theatre. The school will also house the Innovation Engineering (IE) minor once the curricular approval process has been completed.”

The creation of the new school began as a response to students who wished to pursue degrees in many art programs which were not previously offered at Xavier but will be in place by fall 2015.

“The Departments of Art, Music and Theatre are among the newest additions to academic programs at Xavier,” Chadwick said. “In the late 1980s, with the purchase of Edgecliff College, Xavier gained an art department and a music department. In 2012, theater was established as an academic program. It now resides in the Department of Music and Theatre.”

Edgecliff 2 — **The new School of Arts and Innovation will combine the Art, Digital Video and Film and Music and Theatre Departments with a new innovation minor.**

Planning for the new school also began with the hope that students will learn to think more creatively.

“The School of Arts and Innovation presents us with a special opportunity to make the arts more visible, vibrant and integrated at Xavier,” Chadwick said.

“The purpose is to teach students to solve problems using creative and innovative processes and techniques. Students will apply their knowledge to reality-based projects,” Chadwick said. “Both logic and creative processes will be taught as means to innovate and collaborate among students and faculty and across colleges.”

Teaching students how to think creatively in order to problem-solve is one of the main goals of the program.

“Xavier students will benefit by increasing their knowledge and understanding of the world through first-hand experience, development of language skills, personal growth, self-confidence and multicultural perspectives,” Chadwick said.