School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts

General Statement

The new School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts is the home of the visual and performing arts at Texas A&M University. The school offers students the opportunity to prepare for careers in creative practices and to develop intellectual responsiveness to the problems, questions, and values that will confront them in their professions and as lifelong learners.

The faculty of the school includes artists, computer scientists, designers, historians, performers, creative technologists, and critical theorists. At the foundation of the school’s academic programs is an interdisciplinary approach to exploring where art, science, technology and theory combine through dance, music, theater, and visual art and design. 

Undergraduate degrees are offered in Performance Studies, Dance Science (a track of the Kinesiology, BS), and Visualization with undergraduate minors in Art, Game Design and Development, Film Studies, and Performance Studies and an undergraduate certificate in Performing Social Activism.

Graduate degrees include the Master of Arts in Performance Studies, Master of Fine Arts in Visualization, and Master of Science in Visualization. Graduate Certificates are offered in Film and Media Studies and in Popular Culture.

General Degree Requirements

Degree requirements for Performance Studies majors.

A minimum of 120 acceptable hours of coursework is required for the baccalaureate degree. A minimum of 36 hours of 300- or 400-level coursework must be completed at Texas A&M University.

The areas listed below include University Core Curriculum requirements and college requirements. The completion of requisite hours in these areas will thus satisfy both University Core Curriculum and degree requirements.

Bachelor of Arts Requirements

Communication 1
ENGL 104Composition and Rhetoric3
Select one of the following:3
Writing about Literature
Technical and Professional Writing
Public Speaking
Communication for Technical Professions
Argumentation and Debate
Literature Directed Elective
Select two of the following:6
Introduction to African-American Literature
Introduction to Africana Literature
African-American Literature Pre-1930
African-American Literature Post-1930
Postcolonial Literatures
Studies in Africana Literature and Culture
Great Books of the Classical Tradition
Great Books of Christian Antiquity and the Latin Middle Ages
Greek and Roman Drama
Greek and Roman Epic
Environmental Literature
Writing about Literature 2
Introduction to African-American Literature
Introduction to Africana Literature
Twenty-first Century Literature and Culture
Shakespeare
Literature and the Other Arts
Graphic Novel
World Literature
World Literature
American Literature: The Beginnings to Civil War
American Literature: Civil War to Present
Survey of English Literature I
Survey of English Literature II
Introduction To Literature And Medicine
Texas Literature
Transnational Literature and Culture
Medieval English Literature
The English Renaissance
Seventeenth-Century Literature
Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture
Early British Drama
Utopian Literature in the English Tradition
Nineteenth-Century Literature (Romantic)
Nineteenth-Century Literature (Victorian)
The American Renaissance
African-American Literature Pre-1930
Arthurian Literature
Fantasy Literature
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Literatures
Science Fiction Present and Past
Life and Literature of the Southwest
Life and Literature of the American South
American Ethnic Literature
African-American Literature Post-1930
Modern and Contemporary Drama
Fairy Tales in the English Tradition
Twentieth-Century Literature to World War II
Literature, World War II to Present.
Literature and Film
Native American Rhetorics and Literatures
Literature for Children
Young Adult Literature
Latino/a Literature
The Bible as Literature
American Poetry
American Realism and Naturalism
Women Writers
Nineteenth-Century American Novel
The American Novel Since 1900
The British Novel to 1870.
The British Novel, 1870 to Present.
Postcolonial Literatures
Studies in British Literature
Folklore, Literature, and World Cultures
Studies in Literature, Religion and Culture
Studies in Africana Literature and Culture
Studies in Genre
Topics in Literature and Medicine
Studies in American Literature
Studies in Shakespeare
Milton
Studies in a Major Author
Chaucer
Studies in Women Writers
The Russian Novel I: Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
The Russian Novel II: The Twentieth Century
Contemporary Russian Prose
Russian Drama
Literature and Film
Latino/a Literature
Literatures of Italy
World Literature
World Literature
Studies in Literature, Religion and Culture
The Russian Novel I: Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
The Russian Novel II: The Twentieth Century
Contemporary Russian Prose
Russian Drama
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Literatures
Women Writers
Studies in Women Writers
Foreign Language 3
Option 114
Select one of the following:
Beginning Arabic I
and Beginning Arabic II
Beginning Chinese I
and Beginning Chinese II
Beginning Classical Greek I
and Beginning Classical Greek II
Beginning Latin I
and Beginning Latin II
Beginning French I
and Beginning French II
Beginning German I
and Beginning German II
Beginning Italian I
and Beginning Italian II
Beginning Japanese I
and Beginning Japanese II
Beginning Russian I
and Beginning Russian II
Beginning Spanish I
and Beginning Spanish II
Select one of the following:
Intermediate Arabic I
and Intermediate Arabic II
Intermediate Chinese I
and Intermediate Chinese II
Intermediate Greek
   or Advanced Greek: New Testament 
   or Advanced Classical Greek Poetry 
   or Advanced Classical Greek Prose 
Intermediate Latin I
and Intermediate Latin II
Intermediate French I
and Intermediate French II
   or Field Studies I and Field Studies II 
Intermediate German I
and Intermediate German II
   or Field Studies I and Field Studies II 
Intermediate Italian I
and Intermediate Italian II
Intermediate Japanese I
and Intermediate Japanese II
Intermediate Russian I
and Intermediate Russian II
   or Field Studies I and Field Studies II 
Intermediate Spanish I
and Intermediate Spanish II
   or Field Studies Abroad I and Field Studies Abroad II 
Option 2
Foreign language placement test results determine foreign language course levels required 3
Option 3
Advanced Placement or Reading Achievement foreign language test results determine foreign language course levels required 3
Mathematics
Mathematics (3 hours must be in MATH)6
Life and Physical Sciences
Life and physical sciences9
Creative Arts and Language, Philosophy and Culture 4
Creative arts 53
Language, philosophy and culture3
Language, philosophy and culture or creative arts 53
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and behavioral sciences 46
American History
American history 66
Government/Political Science
Government/Political science 66
International Cultures and Diversity
Cultural discourse 73
International and cultural diversity 73
Total Semester Credit Hours74
1

Students must demonstrate the ability to express themselves in acceptable written English. The requirement is satisfied if a student earns a grade of C or better in ENGL 203.  Students who do not meet this standard must repeat the course prior to completing 60 hours and earn a grade of C or better or must immediately arrange with the director of the writing laboratory to be certified as competent in writing.

2

ENGL 203 will count toward the Communication requirement or the Literature in English requirement, but will not count toward both requirements.

3

Students must take a foreign language placement test if they:

  • intend to enroll for the first time in a college Spanish, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Classical Greek, Italian, or Latin course and
  • have knowledge of the language acquired in any way

The placement test serves as a basis for credit by examination. Placement tests are offered throughout the calendar year by the Department of Global Languages and Cultures.

Students who have taken the Advanced Placement (AP) test or the Reading Achievement test in their foreign language of choice may substitute the test results for the placement exam.

4

No course used to fulfill this requirement may fulfill any other college or University requirement except in the minor field of study.

5

Minimum of 3 and maximum of 6 semester credit hours in Creative Arts.

6

Courses in military, air or naval science may not be substituted for required courses.

7

The list of approved courses is available in the degree audit for each major.

Electives

To enhance the traditionally broad background of the graduate, undergraduate students are allowed to include in their degree program a minimum of 9 semester hours of free elective courses. These courses may be chosen from any field within the University. (See section on “Requirements for a Baccalaureate Degree” in this catalog.) All other elective hours must be selected with the approval of the student’s advisor and dean.