Overview:

Art at New College include painting, drawing, and sculpture. The program features a number of special facilities both on and off campus. Studios on campus include a studio for three-dimensional work involving clay, casting, woodworking, and welding; a life drawing and painting studio with individual studios for art majors; drawing and printmaking facilities; and a central area for seminars and exhibitions. Studios are available to students 24 hours a day.

Course of study:

Drawing courses and tutorials cover life drawing, creative drawing in pen and ink and mixed media, portrait drawing, and two-dimensional design. Painting offerings include color theory and a variety of thematic courses. There is a wide range of introductory, intermediate, and advanced sculpture courses, such as Ceramic Sculpture, Modeling and Casting, and Fiber Art; as well as specific tutorials. Part-seminar/part studio courses include: Public Art, Representations of the Body, and Green Art: Plants as Inspiration and as Media. Art students supplement their work with courses in art history, and are encouraged to take part in seminars and tutorials in other disciplines. They frequently pursue interdisciplinary interests such as the philosophy of art, art and religion, and visual perception and creativity.

1. A qualifying conference in the student’s fifth term, which is a presentation of work in the basic art curriculum:
   1. one introductory drawing course;
   2. one additional introductory course in 2-D;
   3. one introductory course in 3-D;
   4. one art history course;
   5. two intermediate level courses in either 2-D or 3-D;
   6. one ISP in studio art.
       

2. Students are encouraged to include in their programs a selection of courses in other disciplines, with at least one course taken in each of the divisions outside of the humanities.

3. To graduate, in addition to the courses required for the 5^th term qualifying conference:
   1. two art history courses, with one of those courses covering Modern or contemporary art;
   2. one ISP or independent tutorial focusing on studio art;
   3. two advanced level courses in either 2-D or 3-D;
   4. a one-page artist’s statement and at least 20 professional quality color slides of work (a video would be acceptable for time-oriented work);

   5. a written thesis and exhibition. The baccalaureate examination is held at the time of the exhibition and includes an open critique and defense of exhibited works, and an oral examination to ascertain the student’s proficiency in theory and technique.

Art History is the discipline concerned with the historical study of visual communication. It includes much of what is traditionally considered “Art,” such as works in fresco, oil paint, or marble by well-known masters. But art history can also be understood to encompass a broad range of objects that are experienced visually: films, advertisements, ceramics, posters, and quilts. Art historians study the ways in which artifacts that are experienced visually are composed and constructed, and how they communicate a variety of messages to different groups of people.

At New College, students are expected to acquire a basic familiarity with the major periods and movements of western art. They also become acquainted with the various methods currently practiced by art historians. Approaches to studying the history of art include the traditional object-based analysis of style and subject matter as well as the interpretation of art in its broader cultural context, using a variety of methods ranging from social history to feminist theory. Students are encouraged to pursue their own intellectual interests, arriving at their own definitions of what constitutes “Art” and formulating their own critical approaches to the discipline.

Direct contact with works of art is an essential component of the program. The Ringling Museum of Art, adjacent to New College, provides an excellent library as well as regularly scheduled exhibits, lectures, and films. Numerous local galleries also provide exhibits of major artists, both regional and national. Students are encouraged to undertake museum internships and to pursue opportunities for study and travel abroad. The study of art history may serve as pre-professional training leading to a career in teaching or museum and gallery work. Training in art history has also proved to be valuable preparation for a wide range of careers, including law, business, and the Foreign Service.

The program offers a range of courses and tutorials in each of the major historical periods: Ancient/Medieval, Renaissance/Baroque, and Modern. Representative course offerings in art history include: The Gothic Cathedral; Medieval Women: Art, Gender, and Spirituality; Northern Renaissance Art; Michelangelo and His Era; Major Artists of the Baroque; 19th-Century Painting; The Landscape Depicted; Fin de Siècle; 20^th-Century Painting; Modernism and Madness; Images of Women in Modern Art; and Paris of the Impressionists, among others.

An Area of Concentration in art history normally includes the following:

1. A broad selection of courses in the discipline covering all of the major periods and emphasizing the field in which the senior thesis will be written. This involves undertaking no fewer than twelve courses or tutorials in the discipline, with two each in the Ancient/Medieval, Renaissance/Baroque, and Modern periods. Two studio courses or their equivalent are required.

2. Breadth beyond the discipline is stressed. Courses in other disciplines (literature, history, philosophy, music, religion, psychology, the sciences, etc.) should be chosen to constitute a coherent and directed program of study. At least one course must be taken in each of the divisions outside of the humanities. The study of at least one foreign language (normally French or German) is required. Travel abroad and off-campus study are highly recommended.

3. A student should apply to the art history faculty in the fifth semester for approval of art history as an Area of Concentration. Acceptance will depend upon a review of the student's papers and evaluations in the discipline, and on a brief statement of his or her purposes for choosing the major.

4. A senior thesis in the field.

Representative senior theses in art history:

Faculty: Charla Bennaji (visiting 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08), Glenn R. Cuomo, Sonia Labrador-Rodriguez, José Alberto Portugal, Amy B. Reid, David S. Rohrbacher, David R. Schatz, Carl Shaw (visiting 2007-08), Wendy Sutherland, Jocelyn C. Van Tuyl, Jing Zhang
 
New College offers courses in both modern and classical foreign languages and literatures: French, German, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish, as well as Greek and Latin.  Some courses are geared to the student whose interest is practical, i.e., the student who must do research in another discipline in which much of the current literature is foreign and untranslated, or the student seeking the conversational ease that facilitates foreign travel.  Others are designed for those whose interest is of a more cultural and/or literary nature.  Literature courses and tutorials, both in the original and in translation (for the non-specialist), provide a means of becoming acquainted with a wide variety of personalities, periods, movements and genres.  They are frequently taken as components of a comparative literature program by students whose other interest is American or British literature, or area studies.

Students who are interested in studying two or more languages should meet with appropriate faculty members to determine a program which will lead to a successful Area of Concentration and to a thesis which will highlight their linguistic abilities.  Some students may pursue AOCs in one of their languages--Russian, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, or Classics.  Students with linguistic interests might also concentrate in Literature, Humanities, General Studies, History, European Studies, Latin American Studies, Religion, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, or other disciplines.

The AOC in Foreign Languages and Literatures has been discontinued for students entering after the 2006-2007 academic year.

The music program at New College is designed to serve the general needs of a liberal arts curriculum and to provide more specialized education for the music Area of Concentration. The program combines comprehensive music studies in an intimate humanistic setting, with an emphasis on fulfilling each individual’s special potential. Students concentrating in music can elect to focus on historical, anthropological, critical, or theoretical approaches to music. An emphasis in any of these areas will always be pursued with a considerable amount of work in the others, and within New College’s liberal arts curriculum as a whole. Students can also create their own areas of concentration by combining music with another major field, or concentrate heavily on music while pursuing a general Area of Concentration in Humanities.

Instrumental instruction is offered both on and off campus. Instrumental and vocal lessons at all levels may be taken from distinguished teachers in the surrounding community. The added cost of such off-campus study is borne by the student, but some scholarship aid is available to assist students who pursue private lessons over extended periods. An academic contract can also include participation in chamber music ensembles and the Florida West Coast Symphony Youth Philharmonic.

An Area of Concentration in music normally includes the following:

1. History—a range of courses covering music from the medieval period to the present.

2. Theory—Music Theory I & II and more advanced courses and tutorials as appropriate.

3. Language—a minimum of three semesters of a foreign language; five semesters recommended.

4. Non-Humanities courses—a minimum of two courses each from the divisions of Natural Sciences and Social Sciences;

5. Keyboard Ability—sufficient skill to play four-part chorales at sight, improvise harmony, and realize a figured bass;

6. Anthropology—a course, tutorial, or ISP exploring a musical topic from an anthropological perspective.

Further requirements are tailored to the student’s needs with respect to the focus of the concentration.

The senior thesis may be a research project or a creative work. Recent theses include the following:

• Eight Pieces for Brass Quintet: Combining Serial and Minimalist Compositional Techniques

• “…To Blast Away the Things that Block Men’s Ears”: Adorno’s Relevance for Contemporary Music

• Arvo Pärt: Popularity, Prestige and the Pursuit of Authenticity

• Examining Schubert’s Piano Sonatas: His Innovations and His Conservative Shift to a More Classical Style of Composition

The religion program at New College aims to encourage critical reflection about religious ideals and practices in history thus developing critical thinking skills; to develop empathetic insight into the fundamental ideas and values of other peoples, times, and places which are key to any effective communication with those outside one’s own culture and time; and to foster critical self-consciousness about the values and commitments of one's own age and society and thus learn about the historically develop content of one’s own culture. In the face of the influence of religion in the intellectual heritage of the West, and the equally obvious significance of religion in non-Western cultures, the program provides the beginning student with an understanding of the complexity of religious phenomena and offers the advanced student a variety of methods appropriate to such study.  Course work, tutorials, and independent projects seek to develop a probing and critical mind as much as mastery of a particular body of knowledge.  This work will develop the student’s critical thinking skills, foster effective communication shills, and provide specific content about one’s own culture as well as those of others.

The program works toward these goals through a combination of introductory courses, advanced seminars, and courses offered in cooperation with other disciplines, e.g., art history, classics, history, literature and philosophy. For advanced students, the present faculty in religion offer intensive work in philosophical issues in religious thought, method in the study of religion, religious texts, and religious ethics. Strong attention is given to historical study, analysis of the relationship between religion and society, and in-depth study of key thinkers and traditional problems in religion. Faculty in allied fields and visiting faculty provide additional opportunities to pursue diverse traditions and approaches.

Recent and new courses offered in religion: American Catholicism; American Religious History; Ancient Jewish and Christian Novels; Asian Religions; Asian Religions in America; The Bible in the Jewish Tradition; Buddhism; Christian Scriptures; Civil Rights; Contemporary American Religion; Daoism, Ch'an, Zen; Human Freedom in Modern Christian Thought; Introduction to American Religious History; Introduction to the Study of Religion; Jewish Scriptures; Judaism and Ecology; Kierkegaard and Tillich; Liberation Theology; Medieval Philosophy and Religious Thought; Orientalism; Religious Cultures of South Asia; Ritual Theory; Study of Religion; Topics in Philosophy of Religion; Vajrayana Buddhism; Varieties of Modern Judaism; Women and Religion.

Prospective majors in religion should consult with faculty to construct an individualized plan of study. Typically this plan will include: an introduction to the study of religion to provide critical thinking skills over the discipline; work in a variety of approaches to the study of religion including conceptual approaches to the study of religion as well as religion in society to foster critical thinking skills; some work in ethics to provide specific content in this field as well as the bases for communication skills; work in the sacred scriptures of a religious tradition to provide specific content knowledge; coverage of the history and development of a particular religious tradition and work in a tradition distinctly different from one’s major focus to develop critical thinking skills and provide specific content knowledge. Interdisciplinary majors, or senior projects linking religion to other areas of inquiry, are particularly encouraged.

During the first module of a student's fifth academic semester, the student will consult with a member of the faculty in Religion to determine what work in the concentration has been done and what remains.  This meeting will emphasize the student’s skills at communicating the coherence of the student’s program of study.  With the agreement of a second faculty member in Religion to the proposed plan of study, the student will submit an Area of Concentration form in Religion.  In the sixth academic semester, the student must present a thesis proposal to the faculty in Religion once again fostering the student’s ability to communicate the coherence of the chosen topic.  This proposal may serve as the basis for an oral examination by the faculty to determine the viability of the project.  With the approval of the thesis committee, the student will submit the Thesis Prospectus and write a thesis under the direction of one of the faculty in Religion.  The thesis project and baccalaureate exam will further develop the student’s critical thinking skills, communication skills, and display the specific content knowledge germane to the chosen topic.

To validate our internal assessment procedures, the religion discipline will request the college to invite a panel of external assessors to evaluate the program every five years.

Representative senior theses in religion

• Representative senior theses in religion:

• Narcissism and Religious Experience

• Sociological Surveys of Local Religious Groups

• Analysis of Implicit Values in Religious Organizations

• Religious Responses to the Problem of Evil

• The Buddha-Matrix in Chinese Buddhist Thought

• Dissent in Modern Catholicism

• The Metamorphosis of Adam in 19th Century American Culture

• Acting Womanish: Black Slave Women's Religion

• Creativity in Crisis: The Theology and Fiction of Flannery O'Connor and Diettric Bonhoeffer

Overview

The Russian program at New College offers courses as well as individual and group tutorials in language and literature.  Regularly offered courses focus on literary developments from the era of Sentimentalism at the end of the 18^th Century until the present.  Tutorials are normally devoted to important areas of interest which are not included in more formalized course work.  Topics in Russian literature in the medieval period (sermons, hagiography, chronicles), folklore and the oral tradition, the emergence of secular literature in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries, and advanced work in the translation and analysis of both prose and poetry are typically undertaken in such tutorials.  Students are also encouraged to follow contemporary literary and cultural developments, particularly as they may be seen to fit into the continuum of literary production in Russia, and to pursue work in pertinent cognate areas such as history, political science, and anthropology.  In order to qualify for the AOC, students must pursue off-campus study at another institution or participate in one of the many available programs of language and cultural study in the United States or, ideally, in Russia.  New College students have recently participated in both summer and semester programs of study at Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, and the Linguistics University, Nizhny-Novgorod.  Without exception, travel-study experience has proved to be an invaluable component of the student’s AOC.

Course of Study

Courses and seminars offered on a regular basis at New College include language instruction from the elementary to the advanced level and a wide range of topics in 19^th- and 20^th-Century Russian literature, among them: Nineteenth Century Russian Short Fiction; Russian Realism: Five Masterpieces; Russian Literature in the Twentieth Century; Dostoevsky: The Shorter Fiction; N.V. Gogol: The Short Fiction; Tolstoy and Chekhov: The Short Fiction; and The Brothers Karamazov: A Seminar.  Literature will normally be the major academic component of the AOC.

AOC Requirements in Russian Language & Literature

Demonstration of proficiency in the Russian language allowing the student to read and analyze texts of moderate difficulty and to discuss with relative ease topics of everyday life and experience as well as relevant areas of the student’s academic focus.  Students must also demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of at least three areas of Russian literature and literary history, normally two periods and one figure (for example, Russian Romanticism, Symbolist Prose, and Tolstoy).  Broader familiarity with other periods, including developments from the 11^th to the 18^th Centuries, is also expected.  Normally, attaining this level of expertise will require at least five semesters of language instruction and six or more courses and tutorials devoted to the study of literature and literary history.  Finally, students must complete a senior thesis, which may be a) a study of a broad historical problem in the development of Russian literature, or, b) a general overview of the contribution of a single writer, or, most frequently, c) an analysis of a particular literary text or group of related texts.

Representative Theses in Russian Language & Literature

• Dream Sequences and Subjective Reality in Two Short Stories by Victor Pelevin

• An Analysis of Attitudes towards Death in Tolstoy’s “Master and Man,” War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and “The Death of Ivan Ilych”

• A Dark Constraining Silence: The Relationship between Writing and Identity in Selected Works of Ludmila Petrushevskaya and Anna Akhmatova’s Requiem

• The Gooseberries Taste Test: Moral Progress in Chekhov’s Prose

• Nikolai Gogol and the Fantastic

The Spanish program at New College offers courses at all levels of Spanish language, and courses and tutorials on the literature and culture of Latin America and Spain.  Literature courses are offered both in Spanish and in English translation.  Offerings change each year and include the study of particular authors, a genre, a period, or a theme.  Recent offerings include: “The Need for Fictions: Rulfo and García Márquez”; “Literatura caribeña”; “El cuento latinoamericano”; “El español como materia del verso”; “Blacks and National Discourse in Spanish America”.

Spanish language is taught in a five-semester sequence after which students can enroll in courses and tutorials on literary and cultural topics conducted in Spanish.  Elementary Spanish I & II, and Intermediate Spanish introduce students to Spanish grammar and emphasize the development of communicative skills. Composition and Conversation and Lecturas Hispánicas offer a review of Spanish grammar and an introduction to the study of the culture and the literature of the Hispanic world.  After completing Lecturas Hispánicas, students are prepared to enroll in courses and tutorials that will allow them to do advanced work in the language.  Each spring and fall one advanced course is offered, which is conducted entirely in Spanish.  These courses may be focused on a literary genre (“Spanish as the Fabric of Verse”, “Latin American Short Stories”), or on a particular theme or period (“Caribbean Literature”).  Tutorials and Independent Research Projects in Spanish must be decided and defined in advanced with a faculty member.  In addition, the courses offered in translation may allow advanced students to do part of the work in Spanish.

Students may concentrate their work in the area of Spanish Language and Culture or Spanish Language and Literature.  In both cases, supporting course work in other relevant disciplines in the humanities and social sciences is expected.  Cross-disciplinary work is a vital part of the New College program as we understand it, and it is strongly supported and encouraged by the faculty in the Spanish Program.  In addition to specific courses in our regular offerings, Tutorials, Independent Research Projects, and Independent Study Projects are frequently designed to meet the particular needs of students who wish to combine their interest in Spanish language, culture, and literature with other fields of study.  All academic work intended to satisfy requirements in this Area of Concentration must be discussed and decided with a member of the Spanish faculty.  The course of study defined to declare an Area of Concentration in this field must be approved by at least two members of the Spanish faculty.

While each student's course of study will reflect her or his own interests, an Area of Concentration in Spanish Language and Culture or Spanish Language and Literature, taken as a single or a double Area of Concentration (AOC), will generally comprise the following: ten semester-long academic activities (Courses, Tutorials, Independent Research Projects) approved by the faculty of the program; at least one Independent Study Project (January or summer) supervised or approved by the faculty of the program; and a thesis with a focus on relevant aspects of the Hispanic world. No less than eight of the academic activities must be taken in Spanish and at least one of them must be a thesis tutorial (courses taken in Spanish count starting with Composition & Conversation, the fourth semester of language study).  When chosen as a joint Area of Concentration, Spanish Language and Culture will require the completion of eight academic activities (Courses, Tutorials, Independent Research Projects) approved by the faculty of the program.  No less than five of them must be taken in Spanish and at least one of them must be undertaken during the senior year as an advanced Spanish course or tutorial.  In the case of the joint AOC, the focus of the thesis is open, but it is expected, at least, that a significant part of the research be conducted in Spanish.

Other requirements include:

1. One semester of study abroad, supervised and/or approved by the Spanish faculty.  In some exceptional cases, the Spanish faculty may approve that this requirement be satisfied by work in the form of an Independent Study Project in a Spanish speaking country, supervised by a faculty member of the Spanish AOC.

2. A high level of proficiency in Spanish language, as demonstrated by satisfactory evaluations in all courses, tutorials, and independent research projects conducted in Spanish beyond Composition and Conversation.  A well-defined and strong performance in all areas required by these academic activities is expected from students seeking an AOC in Spanish.

3. The satisfactory completion of the thesis and an overall final satisfactory evaluation in the thesis tutorial or tutorials, for student seeking a single or double AOC.  In the case of students seeking a joint AOC, a satisfactory evaluation in the course/tutorial undertaken during the senior year, which should include the presentation of a final portfolio.

4. The senior thesis must reflect the student's interest in the field and her or his capacity to work on a well-defined aspect of the Hispanic world.  Whenever possible, the thesis should be written in Spanish.  Under all circumstances, a significant portion of the research must be done in Spanish.

5. A satisfactory Baccalaureate Exam.

Sample of senior thesis titles:

• A Literary Anthropology of One Hundred Years of Solitude: Finding Our Feet in Macondo
• Representations of Mexican-American Resistance: The Bandit, the Pachuco, and the Farm worker
• Tlatelolco y su impacto en la intelectualidad mexicana: los casos de Elena Poniatowska y Octavio Paz
• No Room in Our Imaginations?  Small Towns, Social Crises and Spaces of Possibility in Short Stories by Arguedas and García Márquez
• A New Actitud: La lengua y la identidad latina en la cultura estadounidense desde los años ochenta
• Turn of the Century Dialogues: An Exercise in Cross-Cultural Play Production
• La Chabacanería Guaracheada: A Vindication of the Puerto Rican Identity through a Linguistic and Stylistic Study of Luis Rafael Sanchez's La Guaracha del Macho Camacho