The Bachelor of Arts in art history is intended for students who wish to study the history of the visual arts, including the cultural and social context in which they were created. It is the mission of the art history program to educate students with a global perspective on the arts.

Western art history is emphasized, coupled with opportunities to study the art of select non-Western traditions. Students majoring in art history will develop a general knowledge of the principle monuments and artists of all major historical art periods. Students also will:

• Become acquainted with the art history of non-Western cultures.
• Locate unfamiliar works within major style periods and cultures.
• Describe, analyze and interpret the form and content of individual works of art in relation to the cultures from which they originate.
• Recognize major art media.
• Understand at least three major historical periods of art in detail.
• Become familiar with art history theory and methods of analysis and criticism.
• Research and write about significant artists, artistic events, periods and artistic concepts.

The art history program encourages majors and minors to participate in internship opportunities at museums, galleries and other art related settings, and it provides up-to-date information about jobs and graduate programs in art history and related fields. Visiting scholars, campus art exhibitions, trips to major museums and the JMU Study Abroad program provide students with opportunities to study and apply their art history knowledge outside the classroom. Upon completion of the art history major, students will have been exposed to a broad background and knowledge of the opportunities for graduate school and employment. The art history program also advocates cross disciplinary education and actively supports students who double major with other disciplines.

This program is designed for students who plan to transfer to a college or university for a Bachelor of Arts in Art History.

This program is designed for students who plan to transfer to a college or university for a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in English, Creative Writing or Writing and/or Rhetoric as an entry-level professional writer.

This studio-arts, portfolio-intensive curriculum is designed for students who seek transfer into a competitive Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program or similar baccalaureate program in either fine arts, graphic design, or photography at a college or university. Students work on a common foundation year of studio art courses and then select their concentration in either finearts, graphic design, or photography for their second year of study. NOTE that the graphic design concentration is offered at the Alexandria campus and Loudoun campuses and the photography concentration is offered at Alexandria campus and Woodbridge campus

This program aims to merge a knowledge and appreciation of the visual and performing arts with a foundation in the operating methods and business practices of the organizations and institutions which support and administer the arts. Students electing the arts management major should select an emphasis from among art, theatre, or music.

This program aims to merge a knowledge and appreciation of the visual and performing arts with a foundation in the operating methods and business practices of the organizations and institutions which support and administer the arts. Students electing the arts management major should select an emphasis from among art, theatre, or music.

This program aims to merge a knowledge and appreciation of the visual and performing arts with a foundation in the operating methods and business practices of the organizations and institutions which support and administer the arts. Students electing the arts management major should select an emphasis from among art, theatre, or music.

Studio art is the discipline of making and creating works that have a visual and conceptual validity. The powers of observation and contemplation are vigorously trained and bonded to the forces of the intellect and the creative act.

The last four or five hundred years have marked the evolution of historical consciousness. In that time, history has not only become a form of thinking and knowing, it has become the essential condition of thought and knowledge. As the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga put it: "Historical thinking has entered our very blood." This means that today we describe and understand every human experience and endeavor not through their material, spiritual, or psychic characteristics but through their history.

In the midst of a society undergoing change, there is a need for responsible citizens to understand the process of change. In analyzing the transformations of societies of other times, history students acquire the analytical tools for better comprehending their own social environment. In addition, the study of history provides a vocabulary of examples of human activity, which brings greater awareness to the study of other intellectual disciplines. Shakespeare's plays, for example, take a deeper resonance when seen against a background of economic, political, and social change in the Tudor and Stuart dynasties.

The history major and minor aim at more than guiding students toward learning about the past. They also train students to think critically, research effectively, and write lucidly. Students learn, through classroom experience and examinations, as well as through individual research projects, how to analyze both the form and content of source material; how to discern historical trends and patterns; how to postulate theses and support them with evidence; and how to present conclusions in a compelling, well-organized fashion. Courses also train students to communicate effectively in a public setting. The history major can also include a study-abroad and/or an internship experience. The particular point of view of this department is that history can best be learned when there is close collaboration between teacher and student. To that end, classes are kept small, even at the introductory level, and thereby considerable personal attention can be given to a student's work by the professor.

HIST 300 Historical Methods; Historiography is a prerequisite for history internships and capstones and must be completed by majors prior to their senior year.

This program aims to merge a knowledge and appreciation of the visual and performing arts with a foundation in the operating methods and business practices of the organizations and institutions which support and administer the arts. Students electing the arts management major should select an emphasis from among art, theatre, or music.

Art history is the study of the expressions of social values and personal ideas through the arts. It spans the entirety of human experience, from the earliest traces of the arts in Paleolithic times, to the global variety of arts in contemporary times. Art history engages the student in the search for what unites peoples across time and space, and what makes each culture, each civilization, unique. By looking at the efforts of past artists, whether in architecture, painting, crafts, ceramics, photography, sculpture, calligraphy, or other forms, we see the ways in which our own desires to express social concerns, feelings, and beliefs share the shapes and purposes of the past.

Art history is the study of the expressions of social values and personal ideas through the arts. It spans the entirety of human experience, from the earliest traces of the arts in Paleolithic times, to the global variety of arts in contemporary times. Art history engages the student in the search for what unites peoples across time and space, and what makes each culture, each civilization, unique. By looking at the efforts of past artists, whether in architecture, painting, crafts, ceramics, photography, sculpture, calligraphy, or other forms, we see the ways in which our own desires to express social concerns, feelings, and beliefs share the shapes and purposes of the past.