Student spearheads addition of new minor

Beginning this fall, the Homewood Campus will be debuting a new Visual Arts minor. Craig Hankin, Art Workshop Director for the Homewood Campus, will head the minor.

The drive to add visual arts to undergraduate studies was pioneered by junior Rachel Riegelhaupt. Riegelhaupt, devoted to getting more attention for the arts on the Homewood campus, successfully proposed and petitioned for the Visual Arts Minor.

“The process of spearheading an entirely new minor was surprisingly less complicated than I had expected it to be. I drafted a petition, collected several hundred signatures and configured a curriculum proposal with examples of other universities’ Visual Arts Minor requirements,” Riegelhaupt wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.

In her proposal, Riegelhaupt described in detail her fondness for the arts and noted the important responsibility of Hopkins to uphold its commitment to excellence in all fields.

“Our university lacks a formal Fine Arts Major and Minor, and our Art Program is small—the number of art classes offered at Hopkins is few, and studio space is restricted to only two rooms. Though we currently don’t have the means to provide a Major in the Fine Arts, we do have the standard criteria that other elite universities require to uphold a Fine Arts Minor,” Riegelhaupt wrote in her proposal.

Reigelhaupt’s arguments garnered significant attention after she put forward her plan.

“Once Rachel submitted that proposal, her letter of petition, [the approval process took] about a year, which, considering how slowly the wheels can grind at Hopkins, that’s very fast,” Hankin said.

The minor will require 15-18 credits and two core requirements. These core requirements will vary based on which of the two visual arts concentrations students select. Students can choose to focus on a studio art track, a drawing track or a digital art track. All students are required to complete a history of art class. Additionally, students will be allowed to take up to two visual arts courses at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

“We just felt that it made sense to incorporate that into the requirements. Students are not required to take a class at MICA, but if they elect to take a class at MICA, that will count towards the requirements for the minor,” Hankin said.

The new minor is a new opportunity for the students and faculty alike.

“We are thrilled that the visual arts program has received official approval as an academic minor. This is an important step for the arts on campus. The visual arts now join film & media, theater and writing as practicing art forms that students can pursue as either a major or minor on the Homewood campus,” Director of the Homewood Arts Programs Eric Beatty said. “The research that goes on in visual arts classes often happens in a tactile and soulful way, and this type of learning is very important to the growth of young adults. Training in the visual arts is an excellent complement to many of the other areas of study for which Hopkins is so well known.”

Proponents contend that the minor is an important addition to the Homewood Campus. The arts play a significant role in stimulating the minds of students from all majors. Although art classes have been present at Hopkins for several decades, the minor has given visual arts at Hopkins a greater foothold on campus.

“Johns Hopkins University is recognized as one of the most elite universities worldwide. It just seemed bizarre to me that they didn’t offer something as basic as a degree in the arts. It demonstrates a respect for the arts in general through its Peabody Institute, but it neglects the visual arts,” Riegelhaupt wrote. “The number of art classes offered at Hopkins is few and studio space is restricted to only two rooms. I feel with the development of a formal art department, the universities’ attitude towards art will begin to change. Hopefully a wider array of classes will be available to students.”

The Administration also played a vital role in endorsing the new minor. Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Science Katherine Newman, in particular, saw the benefits in offering a greater range of areas of study at Hopkins.

“There really hasn’t been the support, not from students, but from the Administration before this. And there is one person who’s really responsible for this all happening, and that’s Dean Newman. She’s been, from the moment she got here, a tremendous supporter of all the arts at Hopkins,” Hankin said.

The minor is available to students from all different disciplines.

“We’re not targeting anyone in particular,” Hankin said. “It’s open to everyone. Because our program and our courses up to this point have been completely elective, we’ve always attracted students from every major, every discipline across the board. And we frankly like that. It makes the composition of our classes more diverse and more interesting for us as teachers as well.”