艺术系涵盖了美术创作活动（绘画，雕塑，版画和新媒体实践），设计的艺术应用以及艺术史的理论和历史关注。这些互补的程序可以一起发挥作用，从而使学生不仅获得所选专业的知识深度，而且获得丰富的经验，从而可以理解艺术传统，价值观，文化意识和当代问题。展示艺术家，实践设计师，出版并受人尊敬的历史学家的学院以及旨在为学生提供材料和熟悉视觉和理论概念的强大工作室计划的艺术系实际上是一所大学内的艺术学校。
The Department of Art encompasses the creative activities of the fine arts (painting, sculpture, printmaking, and new media practices), the artistic applications of design, and the theoretical and historical concerns of art history. These complementary programs function together, so that the student gains not only depth of knowledge in a chosen specialty but also the breadth of experience that yields understanding of artistic traditions, values, cultural awareness, and contemporary issues. A faculty of exhibiting artists, practicing designers, published and respected historians, and strong studio programs focused on giving students facility with materials and familiarity with visual and theoretical concepts make the art department, in effect, an art school within a university.