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undergraduate |
undergraduate program
The History of Art and Architecture Department at UCSB has eighteen full-time professors and nine adjunct and affiliated faculty of national and international distinction. We offer courses in European, American, and non-Western Art as well as the history of architecture and photography. Art History majors choose from three major "tracks": Art History, Art History with a non-Western Emphasis, and Architecture and Environment. Staff and faculty are pleased to offer academic guidance to all majors and interested students. In addition to their studies, undergraduate students in Art History are encouraged to seek internships in the Santa Barbara area and participate in the education abroad program if time and/or finances allow. The department also offers a challenging and rewarding honors program that leads to "distinction in Art History" upon graduation.
We are proud to share the surrounding environment of the Arts Complex
with a first-rate arts library, an excellent slide collection, and
a university museum that is active in bringing shows representing the
works of significant artists and periods. In conjunction with their
courses, faculty frequently organize trips to museums, galleries, and
architectural sites in southern California and the Los Angeles area.
What about jobs and opportunities? A degree in Art History provides one
with a strong and flexible liberal arts education - it can lead either
directly or with proper specialization to jobs in museums and galleries,
and art restoration and conservation. In all fairness the field is competitive,
and a realistic chance of job opportunities in these areas may require
further training. Several of our motivated undergraduates, however, have
turned part-time internships into paid employment after completion of
their degree. For those students who pursue graduate training in Art
History, teaching and research assistantships are frequently available
in their department. An academic career in Art History (teaching at colleges
and universities) or curatorial/educational work in museums almost always
requires graduate work. Both MA and Ph.D. programs are offered at Santa
Barbara. Check out our links in the Career
Information section.
Is the Study of Art History for you?
A prospective Art History student should have an interest in and appreciation
for art objects and the physical, human-made environment. Although art
and architecture often serve a serious and even practical purpose, and
objects of art are not simply the result of isolated exercises in aesthetic
creativity, it helps if the student of Art History displays a reasonable
amount of sensitivity and desire towards the understanding and appreciation
of what is meaningful or beautiful in the realm of human-made things.
It is one of the objectives of the program to train the student’s
eye to make both stylistic and qualitative distinctions between different
works and different artists. Quite apart from studio arts, the study of
history, literature, religion, philosophy, classics, archaeology, anthropology,
drama, and music can serve as suitable background to the study of Art
History. Art History is essentially interdisciplinary in scope, and this
should be an incentive to students who feel the need for a certain breadth
in their education.
For more information about undergraduate studies in History of Art &
Architecture at UC Santa Barbara, please contact the Staff
Undergraduate Advisor. We invite you to make an appointment to visit our campus
and speak with the advisor in person. For admissions information,
please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office.
Students with Umail accounts can sign up with the undergrad
email list to keep current with events and job/internship information.
