student life vision planning

STUDENT LIFE VISION PLANNINGJune 23, 2010

{ Fr idol in Bei ser t } { Dennis Kee ley } { Steve Montgomery }Co-Chairs

{ S t e v e L a v o i e }Special Faculty Contributor

Additional Contributors: Kit Baron, Christine Bowne, Jay Chapman, Adam Cottingham, Paul Gladden, Patrick Hebert, Jeffrey Hoffman, Andrew Kaiser,

Toya Marshall, Amelia Stier, Jeanette Stramat, Courtney Stricklin, Christopher Thomas, Everard Williams, Oliver Galace, Ty Powe, Paul Brown

& many more...

Art Center College of Design

© 2010 Fridolin Beisert, Dennis Keeley, Steve Montgomery 1

{ Table of Contents }

Final Vision Presentation 3

Vision Planning Summary 1 10



Vision Planning Notes 1 24



Alumni Surveys 31

Student Surveys 37



Final Vision Presentation{by Fridolin Beisert }



Vision Planning Summary 1{ by Dennis Keeley }

In the beginning of 2010, Art Center embarked on an ambitious new journey. The department chairs, faculty, staff, students and alums were all invited to participate in a significant survey of the current art and design programming and the constructed environment for living and learning. We were charged with investigating and evaluating the future of shared governance, potential initiatives, institutional identity, values and structures, and ultimately, to assist in the development of an authentic vision for the future of education in the Arts and Design. As a result of numerous subcommittee meetings, varied and pointed research, and the most thorough collection of data this, or any related college may have ever attempted to gather, we now possess more information than ever before about our college and its history of commitment to education, pedagogy and community. Our conclusions and recommendations reference data gathered from the “Visioning Process” and while tracking and using some of the collected data, we will not attempt to reflect any simplistic totals or create a deceptively hierarchical breakdown of the information. Instead, we will attempt to codify some findings and make recommendations for action accompanied by suggestions for further study.

Our subcommittee investigated student life at Art Center. Our study, while initially focused on the circumstances surrounding the current students included the prospective student, the life of the individual student of art or design, the community of students, student sub groups and governance and the complex ethical and practical relationships between our students, faculty, staff, administration, institution and the world.

Our report looks at the individual, their specific area of study (art and/or design), a group they belong to, the larger body of students, their generation and ways to improve the future of institutional/student relationships and ultimately, how students will strategically convert their academic commitment to a professional plan for their career.

In placing students at the center of this investigation, we could clearly see the critical role that everyone plays in their academic and social development. Through this process of inquiry and assessment, data gathering and analysis and reporting we saw the beginnings of a greater strategic plan, with actionable topics, progressive goals and structure. We cannot simply fix what might be wrong with the college today. We must make a mechanism that through its implementation moves our college through the present and complex obstacles, towards a future with higher ambitions and goals for students, graduates and the college.

We noted the diversity of academic circumstance (how art students might be taught differently than designers), the social environment in which people teach and learn, some overlooked or marginalized viewpoints, issues of growing minority presence on the campus, the necessity of student housing, better strategic plans for parking and safety, language and communication issues, the competition in the college concerning classroom space, workspace, personal space, course schedules, academic rigor, term structure, educational and living costs and a cacophony of our students’ wants, needs, ambitions and intentions for their futures and careers.

Our initial subcommittee meetings began with a set of questions about our students. Who they are, where they come from, and why they come to ACCD and equally important, what happens to them after graduation? We looked at the promise or promises that our college makes and assumptions that our students have upon entry and those they graduate with.

In this process, we discovered student and institutional oversights, failures and unresolved ongoing issues. We also discovered new ideas, surprises regarding our student’s awareness and their acceptance of the numerous new responsibilities. We found many opportunities for the advancement of an individual student’s life at ACCD and the much needed care, improvement and integration of all the communities in the institutional landscape.



ACCD can only be as successful as the its least supported social or academic network. We see a need for an institutional initiative to build a new and improved community and identity that encourages a respect for privacy and individualism, dedicates attention to the importance of space (public, personal, work and virtual) and renews a commitment to building a more informed and conscious community through more effective communication across the college.

In our investigation, we included information from Admissions, the Center for the Student Experience, Enrollment Services, Alumni Relations, as well as Student Government, staff support and Faculty Council. We also consulted with departments from other NASAD institutions. Even though many of our conclusions and recommendations are not based in some majority viewpoint we thought it important to note some of these statements and include the entire survey with this report.

You can see for yourself the diversity of response to questions about transdisciplinary education, housing, technology, ESL, the humanities, transfer credit, advisement, indebtedness, the future and graduate studies.

Conclusions about institutional circumstance are never simple. This investigation raised as many new questions as it found answers to any of the past or current conditions. Our questions continually overlapped with other subcommittee findings and while often disagreeing with some of their processes of investigation, we were surprised at how many agreed with their results. One of the most interesting results of our investigation was not that solutions consisted of actions that were a “one plus one equals”, but more of a condition that a, b, and c, all have uncompromising values.

Any recommendations for action always include both positive value and unpredictable consequences, perceived compromises and cumulative progressive momentum, and as always, change is met with both public and private criticism as well as visible and vocal welcome and support. The only long-term mistake ACCD could ever make would be in assuming that the values of and the obstacles to progress would somehow just work themselves out.

We investigated diversity across the college and inside the departments, ESL issues, and the conditions that students benefit from while other conditions trouble them. In our meetings we introduced discussion about the division between students, faculty, staff and administration and ways the institution might build a better more informed community. It seems that many problems we face arise from the lack of inclusion, communication and a shared sense that all parties play an equally important role in the larger community.

We invited students to talk about their present and future goals, capacities, capabilities and the vision that our graduating students will carry into successful careers in their chosen fields. We asked how they found out about Art Center and what they would tell prospective students looking into careers in art and/or design.

This report has to admit failure in our findings that there were any categories of “one size in anything that fitted all” in searching for answers in the collected data. On the contrary, “one size always fits one” but we did discover that answers, even though difficult to implement, were somewhat easier to finally discern through this process of broad inquiry.

The charts, lists, interviews and meetings all gave important critical voice to the questions that needed to be asked (we have attached this unedited data to the report). From the laborious study of the data collected, we realized that the questions, however revealing, were not the conclusions. That whatever action the college takes will not repair the past, but the solutions that come out of the forward process of the college and that the more progressive action we take, while making a new improved condition will always create bigger, but better problems.

We identified three broad categories of investigation concerning students: Communication, Community and Career. We looked at how Art Center communicates with prospective students, accepted students, students in term and off term students and how our students communicate with each other. We gathered information on the relationships between students, faculty and staff, and even how the institution communicates with alumni.

The matrix used to filter priorities for action were provided from inception, but proved to be somewhat cumbersome in that the more personal and truly important observations of some students represented a real and current condition and while they did not fit the criteria for values/attributes,



they were none-the-less, important to the assessment of the current institutional conditions and evaluation by these students.

The institution has a responsibility to move forward creating a better circumstance for learning and taking with it as many informed, inspired and motivated students. The goal of this report is to identify initiatives that will improve student life.

We have included the listing of topics for consideration and invite you to see for yourself the enormity and diversity of consciousness from the student view. We have constructed a shorter, more concise presentation of ideas for further investigation and action and in this report will give recommendations for specific actions on a prioritized list of topics.

In closing this introduction, it became obvious to our committee that no one sub-community in the institution can be perceived as deserving greater attention and benefit at the expense of another. The size of our college, its ethical mission and the necessity for transparency calls for the most patient and ethical consciousness for effective communication, inclusion of all interested parties and everyone working together persistently to balance any and all action with the greatest and most ambitious vision.

Communication inside the college has always been centered on posters put up in the halls. Every term, new courses, lectures, films, conferences and workshops are announced by hundreds of 8 ½ by 11 inch pieces of paper that litter every wall and floor of the college. There has never been any order to them. Announcements stay up till they fall or are taken down. Students search for TDS and other special courses, opportunities for study abroad and internships among equipment for sale, housing and pet adoptions.

Students, faculty and staff are continually frustrated by the present challenges of communicating with each other. Every department and course is left on their own to construct ways of getting information disseminated and there is no authorized and unifying system of communication within the college. Some instructors are using dotEd for courses, while others are using blackboard, or iTunesU. Some faculty still don’t use any online connections in their courses.

Communication between departments is not much better and students often miss important transdisciplinary events that are announced last minute and therefore poorly attended. It is interesting to note that students seem to communicate very well between one another and cell phones work well though out the school. They all have Facebook and Twitter. They watch YouTube and talk about the remarkable things they learn in class in the strange atmospheric balance of the future and the outdated.

The ACCD web presence is woefully inadequate for the future we want and need to represent. Each department develops, updates, communicates and displays their department’s work and presence without institutional support or advice. Some departments share ideas while others wastefully spend money searching for some way to build a better site. Even though we always want to emphasize the different philosophical messages between the departments (grad and undergrad as well), there would seem to be some benefit in sharing technology and certain style guides.

Students faith and trust seems strong in the courses and faculty, but less so in the state of our technology and in the subsequent deliveries of course, departmental and institutional information. The college’s indecisive commitment to technology (classroom, public spaces and the public interface) creates a disruption in student trust and furthers the never ending college wide dialogue about inefficiencies, old vs. new, and the lack of proper funding dedicated to student and departmental needs.

• We would recommend a complete overhaul of our technological commitment from classroom projectors to the finishing of the Ahmanson and LAT. Furthermore, we would strongly suggest that ACCD utilize electronic bulletin boards placed strategically throughout the institution with the daily, weekly and term based specifically categorized information additionally accessible on line by all students.

Our faculty needs to be able to communicate more effectively with this new generation of students. They need to be able to contextualize learning in the classroom with students discussing,



researching, studying and learning on line at home. We need to create a more effective and authorized college-wide system for access to all courses, meetings, lectures and events.

• We need to integrate online information with course instruction before considering any major commitment to on line education. We recommend that all lectures would be available on line as well as all introductory materials for classes, resource materials, assignments and tutorials. Students should be able to access these materials conveniently for subsequent classroom discussions.

• We also suggest that we communicate more effectively with prospective students. Prospective students need to be more organized and ready for college before they arrive through the utilization of online preparatory materials specific to each department. Readings, departmental expectations and orientation materials on line would make the on site orientation and the student’s first terms more productive.

• We also need to communicate with Alums and help them connect to each other. “Alums want to help. They simply don’t know how.” We need to help them help each other and us. The small donations add up. Alums need to feel a part of the future, not just the history of the college. An electronic message board for Alums for work, jobs, internships and information about their field would help the college inform it’s community about how graduates become a resource and continue to be connected with their school.

• We predict that ESL issues and problems will continue to grow at the same rate that foreign students arrive at our door. Unless steps are taken to have more bi-lingual faculty, more on line information in foreign languages and more advisement about learning art and design in a foreign language this barrier to communication between our college and students will continue. We would also recommend constructing a language lab on campus.

• We suggest further study for on line education, low residency graduate programs, on line certificate programs, public programs and on line for k – 12. It would seem that the more our students interacted with our mission before arriving on campus to study the faster they would acclimate and begin to learn.

In the discussions concerning individuals and community, many issues of departmental divisiveness, individual distinctions as well as originality, background, age, collegiality, potential partnerships and territorial ownership were offered by each different voice. The real value of this process wasn’t the remarkable facts that were uncovered, but that this process gave the individuals and community an opportunity to speak and be heard. The Visioning Process reveals the most data in this area. Communities are obviously made up of individuals and while ACCD can be perceived as one large community, the data reveals that our population is made up of numbers of people who feel more like individuals with shared missions, problems and ambitions. Everyone feels that their specific voice is missing in the college’s vision of student life.

We noted that our students in general do not enthusiastically join groups, nor do they feel a deep sense of connection with what faculty, staff and chairs as well as the Art and Design community see as the greater Art Center College. This seems to be an identifiable trait of this generation across the ACAD institutional environment, but our ACAD survey reveals that students in all these institutions suffer from depression, sleeplessness and worry about indebtedness. These students seem to have complex psychological and generational similarities that both work for them and against them. Students at ACCD tend to have tunnel vision blocking out issues outside the specific demands of the week of the term or term level, focus and or department.

• We recommend that ACCD support a program of Faculty Advisement for every undergraduate student. Full-time or adjunct instructors would help point students in the curricular and social directions from first term through graduation and career planning. They could connect students to alums, internships and help both students and departments strategically plan for progress, identify problems and trends.



We recommend that the institute host more social events for the whole college, not just students. Everyone would derive great benefit from events that would mix faculty, staff and students and alums in a potentially more progressive atmosphere of learning and fun.

We suggest further study of all the social groups on campus to insure that they reflect the real and potential future diversities of the ACCD community. ACCD needs to dedicate financial support for these groups so that minority views are no less recognized and therefore marginalized. Our minority groups need to be assisted in connecting with other like groups at other institutions in order to bring into our institution the real solutions that other colleges have already discovered and implemented.

We recommend an expansion of the student store. This critical resource is marginalized by lack of space. Students need better access to books, periodicals, art and design materials, and more variety in the choices of those materials. In its present state there is no room for any new ideas, student suggestions for additional resources or supplies. Students judge our college everyday by some of the overlooked inconveniences.

Dorms don’t seem as important as addressing the issues surrounding housing. Official housing should be found that is affordable and close to campus. This would seem to be a better solution than the construction of a building that could only house a fraction of the students and would create another dissatisfaction for the many who would still not have access.

In looking at our student’s concern for their future and careers, our subcommittee became aware of great changes in the perceptions from what “Art Center” used to be, what it is now, and an even greater range of opinions about where it is going! The students, faculty and alums surveyed all had strong opinions that pointed at perceived long term trends from department to department, undergrad to graduate environments and from the visual arts department through graphic, product and environmental design. Most common negative comments reflected a slipping of rigor, reputation and vision.

Students turn their fears, their unmet expectations and their generational malaise into criticism of the institution. Students across economic and social strata complained about the parking, the food, the space, the state of our technology, the workload, the term structure, and the expenditures that students face each term as they attempt to continually make better and more beautiful work.

Investigations into careers reminded everyone on the committee of the unbelievable current costs of education, particularly in the arts. Added to that are the unprecedented disruptions in all the traditional paths to professional careers and critical questions about teaching the right skills and pertinent information for contemporary professional practices in art and design. ACCD has enjoyed a great reputation for decades in the professional landscape, never recognizing that our alums, who are professionals and now teachers are diluting the essence of what used to be exclusively located at ACCD.

The news isn’t all bad. ACCD isn’t that much more expensive than other schools like us (excepting our poor position for scholarship) and we still offer the most extraordinary education you can get anywhere. No other institution can offer the diversity of professionalism that we are known for, still offer and still value. While other schools are reducing value, we seem to be closely looking for the next positive steps. Admittedly, keeping traditional technologies is difficult, but our students learn in a much more ambitious and authentic environment compared with any of our competition.

All students in the country are facing more debt than ever before, but it is universal that a medical, law, engineering or business degree cost more than ever. The real differences in this unprecedented environment are the unreal expectations of what a particular degree offers to a graduate. Degrees are more important to a student’s future than ever before and that is as true in the arts as anywhere else.

Education offers a student a great opportunity to invest in the their hopes for a life and career. In education we raise our students’ expectations, amplify ambitions, qualify originality, expand horizons and narrow intentions. At the same time students have always and continue to learn through challenge, assessment, failure, and criticism as well as equal parts of encouragement, informed refinement, advisement, collegial support and individualized hard work.

While we recognize that students have fears and that their fears are probably greater and somewhat more real today we also recognize that the economic uncertainty in the country has much to do with



a necessity for graduates to become responsible citizens. The challenges they face will be the tests of their character and our education. The questions they have will most certainly be answered as they work and live.

Our college’s enthusiasm for the new as well as our respect for the traditional, balanced by the contemporary and informed by history and culture, plus our ambitions for social conscience set us apart from what most institutions are just now constructing. We question the traditional while we still have it instead of trying to contextualize the future without this real and practical, concrete evidence.

• We recommend that the college initiate a study of student exchange, study abroad, a visiting artist or an artist/designer in residence program and that a group comprised of students, faculty and alumni produce a report of actionable items that make part or all of these opportunities for expanded programs of study real by 2013.

• We recommend an expansion of career services. This has the potential to connect students and graduates with alums, professionals and careers that we want them to explore. We would like to see a message board [both electronic and real) of current jobs for students and graduates as well as opportunities for community or non-profit service. Career services could play a greater role in both curricular development and even department term reviews. We would recommend they create a career advisory board that can help them identify emerging trends and strategically build their department plan.

• We recommend that we investigate a greater variety of sponsorship opportunities for courses. This puts students in contact with professionals initiating relationships that would ultimately create great benefit for both individual students and the college as well.

In conclusion, as we sorted through the complexity of interfaces that student life encompasses (education, career, economy, culture), the face of a truly, more global reality emerged that probably requires our college learn and teach our graduates a variety of new topics and skills, create new awareness, cognizance, contexts, consciences and visions. In order to competently take on this responsibility as artists, designers, students, educators and citizens to indelibly change the face of higher learning, we will need to point our college and the force of our education at the consequent and relevant changes that our institution and graduates would envision for the world. To introduce and qualify all our subcommittee’s work we believe that Art Center should assume as part of its core mission the following:

• To lead art and design in new directions that would extend the college’s reach beyond the traditional domains to positively impact politics, science, medicine, research, education, urban planning, the environment and both macro and micro populations.

• To be a leader in the development of strategies and solutions that will address the challenges of the present, while continuing to envision greater possibilities for the future.

• By focusing on the role of the College and of Art and Design in the world at large, we will create a relevant and forward-looking education for every one of our students, from public programs to the graduate level.



Vision Planning Summary 2{ by Steve Montgomery }

Herewith are ideas regarding what might make a student’s Art Center experience even better. Our method has involved three phases: investigation, findings, concepts, and a few final words. An appendix contains a portion of our source material.

InvestigationStudent life is beyond curriculum; it is a student’s personal and interpersonal life—the “soft” qualities of his education—qualities that affect a student’s overall well-being throughout his education at Art Center.

In January multiple groups consisting of alumni, students, faculty, staff and other n’er-do-wells discussed what’s good about being a student at Art Center. A typical group looked like this:

To gather info, we wrote with colored markers on a white board putting a happy student at the center of a lot of Art Center’s qualities relating to student life.

We then discussed what could be better for an Art Center student. We drew a less-satisfied student at the center, populating the area around him with undesirable qualities.

As we compiled and assimilated results, our committee felt we needed to hear about the Art Center student experience from even more students. We found an internet survey done by ASSG of hundreds of students. We thus accessed hundreds of responses.

Additionally, we wondered what those no longer in the trenches—namely, alumni—might now feel about their student experience. We composed a survey and asked 280 of them.

Expanding further, we sought out other ACAD schools’ students that might have similar experiences. Thanks to Steve LaVoie, we learned about CalArts, Otis, and CCA. Indeed, these schools had done their own surveys, finding common problems among their students in the form of stress, lack of exercise, poor diet, insomnia, not enough sleep.

All told, we collected info from 5 Colleges, 22 Faculty and Staff, 31 Alumni, and 156 students.

FindingsComments from teams and surveys fell into three general areas that we created: Spaces (personal & Public), Experiences (personal and interpersonal), and Connections (intra & intercultural). Recurring themes were these:

Peers, camaraderie are of primary importance to studentsAlumni remember lack of community, lack of space No central student meeting place (besides cafeteria; Sinclair too far off)Physical needs unmet (sleep, food, physical comfort)Emotional needs unmet (belonging, communication, being heard)Students want to count—to be valued, respected, heard.

ConceptsInspired by our findings, our committee seeks solutions to students unmet physical and emotional needs. Here are some preliminary concepts, some more practical and near-term than others:

1. Satellite “Dot-Spots” are strategically placed throughout campus, where students can meet and cocoon. They are perhaps designed around a big orange dot on the floor, of course.

2. Regularly-scheduled, mandatory check-ups at school-provided on-site health clinic that check vital signs—both physical and emotional. Consideration for alternative medicine, counseling.

3. Besides critiques and grades, teachers include periodic well-being status grades throughout the term. On-line compilation gives not only a complete student picture, but trends over time, future



predictors.

4. Discuss personal stuff as part of class. Build it in to lesson plan.

5. Keep those who have graduated in touch with each other by other events besides graduation and funerals, like the school hosting seminars, forums, expositions.

6. Keep those who graduated in touch with Art Center

7. Make wellness practice not just for students but for faculty & staff which sets a good example (yoga, meditation, massage, dance, individual and team sports). Take cues from what progressive businesses are doing for their employees. Get renown for this.

8. Incoming students get storage that’s theirs throughout their time at ACCD. Classroom doors have windows installed, name of class, instructor, students, topic, posted.

9. Place display monitors throughout school to keep students current. Rotate departments to generate content. Model after wall-mounted flat-screen display in front of trans room, but keep content current. 10. Carve out a student union dead-center in the school. Or turn library into one. It has coffee.

11. Each student gets a notebook computer at orientation.

12. Each student must serve on or work with ACSG one term (and each faculty must serve Faculty Council).

13. Have ACSG delegate content creation to appointed students, classes.

14. Art Center News is running non-stop on monitors throughout school.

15. 1st term sudents are arbitrarily assigned to a club.

16. Build dormitories 1.0. Consider on-campus, south campus near-campus.

17. Target a few areas that differentiate us, even if provocative. Despite US automotive demise, we’re still getting mileage from transportation design, first and foremost. People know what cars are, that they are designed. What supersedes the automobile? How will be lead this effort?

18. Get cell phones to work throughout campus. Consider issuing phones along with computers.

19. Office of Student Life gets famous, frequented.

20. Make mentorship easy for alumni. Assign early on. Make sure they have some skin in the game.

Final Words“Art Center is the only college that integrates art and design”

“Art Center is the only ACAD school that tempers art and design with practicality”

Upshot: Fulfilled students means better work, citizens, donors

Teach beyond the practical. To thrive, we must understand what it is to be human. Dealing with being human—while withstanding the rigors of the ACCD curriculum—is the stuff with which we deal in theStudent Life committee.



Vision Planning Summary 3{by Steve Lavoie}

Art & Design schools are facing a growing number of student life issues. These issues are affecting the nature and quality of contemporary Art & Design education and having a significant negative impact on the predictability of career success for graduating students. A survey of several California based Art & Design schools revealed an almost universal agreement that the following problems are endemic to the culture of today’s student experience. The following is a prioritized list of current, major issues facing students as agreed upon in several conversations with representatives from ACCD, Otis, Cal Arts and CCA. Following this list are a number of recommendations submitted by the Student Life Task Force offered as a radical intervention and cutting edge solutions to these mounting problems facing Art Center students today and in the foreseeable future.

• Insomnia and sleep disorders.• Large number of students working outside jobs while carrying too heavy a study load.• Cost of education and heavy debt load.• Stress and other health issues related to insomnia, poor eating habits + lack of exercise.• Depression

These five topics are grouped together for two reasons. First, all four schools identified these as major stumbling blocks affecting quality learning outcomes for today’s students. Second these topics are all cross-related each compounding their negative effects.

The cost (and debt load) of student education in Art & Design institutions has never been higher and that fact alone intensifies many of the problems facing students today. Many more students, than ever before, have to work outside jobs averaging between 15-25 hours per week in order to help make ends meet. This fact alone creates any number of adverse conditions.

• Students in greater number are reporting incidents of insomnia and other sleeping disorders. It is estimated that many students are operating on less than 3-4 hours of sleep per night over long periods of time while trying to maintain a full course load and working outside jobs. Schools are reporting a rise in student illness, depression, stress and absenteeism due to illness and conflict of school schedule and work schedules.

• Students are caught in a conundrum with course loads. Many student report that they need to maintain a full course load because they are living off student loans and can not afford to reduce the number of classes they take per term or to take time off. Others report that if they reduce course load then they extend their number of semesters and this adds greater debt to their already overburdened debt load.

• The drop out rate for art & design students is on the rise because of the financial burden placed both on families and individual students. Students may begin a program but increasing find it difficult to get beyond the mid-way point of their education and thus must abort promising careers in art & design fields.

• Fewer students are matriculating into chosen fields of study (or taking much longer to maintain a foothold) either because of huge debt load or because grads find themselves ill prepared. Many graduates feel immediate pressure to begin paying back their student loans, which can easily be topping $200,000 and thus postpone or give up on careers that they incurred this debt for. Many schools are noticing a drop in student retention of information and in the quality of work both technically and conceptually believed to be caused by chronically exhausted students. One school stated that critical problem solving skills are declining because there is not enough quality time for students to hone these creative skills. Two schools mentioned how difficult it is to get Alums to participate or to give financial support because of a sense of disconnect from their education and where their ultimate careers took them.



Other issues that were mentioned by one or two schools that seem to affect the quality of student experience and the quality of education that can be traced to financial and health burdens were:

• There has been a noticeable drop in the sense of community and engagement within some institutions. Some students seem isolated, depressed or disengaged from the community at large. Others cannot find the time to participate in clubs, lectures, workshops, etc. Many of the core values that extracurricular activities provide like, healthy competition, fruitful collaboration, sense of community, ethics, greater interaction with fellow students and faculty, are being missed out on. The nature of a holistic and more global education and the opportunities these activities provide are ignored. If graduates are meant to be leaders in their prospective fields then they are being severely handicapped by the failure to fully engage the larger implication of deep education.

• Fear of failure and career compromise was also mentioned as directly related to debt issues. A greater number of students are less likely to follow/invent their dream career or do what they want to do and will chose to do what they think they need to do to make a living in their chosen field. A greater number of students seem less interested in being on the cutting edge, in a time where that edge is being constantly redefined in new, invigorating ways and will chose a path of least resistance at the sacrifice of their true passion.

Other observations that were made concerning issues/problems facing today’s art & design student that have been discussed:

There is a greater divide than ever before between school experience and the real world work place. There are a number of reasons that could be affecting this perception. The following were mentioned as possible causes.

• Art & Design education is too insular directed towards a specific medium especially in a world where cross-pollination is coming to the fore. Student’s critical problem solving skills seems stunted and too narrow in focus.

• Students seem resistant to multifaceted careers. They seem less interested or intimidated about connecting the dots when thinking about careers choices. Today’s student wants to be told how to get there rather than create new pathways leading to innovative careers.

• Education has become extremely complicated. So much information to absorb these days that there simply is not enough curricular space to accomplish all that is needed to fully educate students with deep learning skills.

• There is an almost constant shifting landscape in art & design. How do educational institutions predict and prepare students for careers that are not yet here.

• Entrepreneurial ability lacking in emerging young artists esp. in regards to recognizing and seeking out viable work opportunities. Business skills and understanding insufficient to survive difficult economic times.

• Graduating students have insufficient marketing skills especially in new technologies and understanding how to capitalize on global scale.

• Students seem less empowered and more intimidated by the workplace.

• Students do not read and are less informed in areas of literature, politics, philosophy and science.

Finally a couple of random thoughts came up related to student life and experience.

• Art & Design education needs more diversity and a more global presence in the classroom. Students exposed to other cultural ideas and art history will be crucial in the global market.



• Language barriers are still a huge problem for many foreign students affecting not only their education but also the overall classroom experience for every student.

• Importance to stress ethics and sustainable practice and community outreach as pillars for the creative artists of the future and those practices should be a part of the educational landscape of Art & Design schools of the future. The artist/designers footprint in the future will be defined by service.

Student Life/Experience Task Force Recommendations:

A. What the Art Center Student/Graduate should be:

• Driven by positive energy• Confident• Inquisitive• Broad of vision• Focused• A collaborator• A problem solver• A learner• An excellent communicator• Interesting• Skilled• Willing to fail• Willing to change• An adaptor• Goal oriented • Have a great work ethic• A creative• Open to new careers• Open to new challenges• Disciplined• Inspired• Empowered

What the Art Center Education should be promote:

• The development of the whole person mentality• Constructive critique culture• A learning for life mentality• Adaptability• Ethics and social/environmental responsibility• Beyond the classroom learning• Strong business and marketing skills• Professionalism• Innovative career options• Contemporary understanding of the job marketplace• A “what if” environment.• Students building a sustainable work practice centered on research and development of

creative ideas and production

What the Art Center Institution should provide:

• Strong mentorship from faculty and alumni• Student centered education• Expectation of accountability and growth



• Cultural competence• Reflexivity• Transparency• Significant endowment and scholarship support• Substantial reduction in debt loan.• Financial counseling• A health focused work environment• Educational support in areas of technology, facilities & resources• Curricular assessment• Diversity in all matters• A strong sense of community with students and alumni• One free meal a day to any student who asks



B. What Art Center should consider:

Art Center will commit to each student uniquely and guarantee the following:

• Each student is assured an internship.• Each student is assigned a mentor either faculty or alum.• Each student leaves Art Center with more money than they came with.• Each student leaves Art Center as a consummate professional meaning that their education

has given them the tools to be a critical thinker, a consummate problem solver, a craftsman in their chosen field with a marketing plan and the business skills that will assure their career success.

• Our students are students for life… what do they need now… what do they need tens years from now.

Suggestions to accomplish these guarantees:

• Each entering student signs a contract to be equal participants in their commitment to their education and career. Failure to live up to their side of the agreement will lead to their dismissal. This immediately does two things. It makes the student aware of their responsibility at Art Center (what is expected of them) and holds them accountable. It also raises the caliber of the classroom environment with student’s commitment to the quality of education for each and every student in each class.

• Students should be taught contemporary marketing skills and allowed to market and sell their work as a means of offsetting the high cost of education. There needs to be a serious commitment, on the part of Art Center, to reducing the number of hours many students work outside jobs and face a serious need to reduce the debt load that many students incur which not only hampers students ability to maximize their education but also severely handicaps their ability to matriculate into the job market at an advanced level.

• A strong entrepreneurial program should be put into place or a co-op program allowing students time off to work and be paid a decent salary in field of their choice. This would obviously allow student to earn money that helps with the above issues. It would also give them hands on knowledge of the career they are studying and re-energize them or help focus them to areas of study that need to be addressed before they graduate. This program could be tied to the alum mentorship program as seen as another way alumni could give back rather than financial contributions.

• Create an atmosphere at Art Center that is less academic and more working environment that promotes radical thinking out of the box, critical problem solving skills, observation, reflection, trial and error, research and art/design making. Also promotes a healthier environment with hard work and down time… promoting physical, mental and emotional health crucial to creative endeavors. For all of our talk about creativity at Art Center the school does not provide a serious environment that engenders creative process. Historically a heavy workload and quantity of assignments has dominated the student production. Hard work is to be valued for sure but balanced by an emphasis on quality and creative process. There should to be a quantitative sense of accomplish and recognition of growth on the students part. Often students feel depressed out of touch with their educational progress. There simply is not enough time for context, critical assessment and application of critique (doing assignment again correcting initial flaws) before the student is buried in another one, two or three assignments. And the repetitive cycle continues increasing stress and affecting sleep and health problems.

• Develop a richer learning environment to challenge the status quo. Along with repetition, the other great killer of creativity is regimentation. Each semester is like the previous and like the one that is coming. Each class is fourteen weeks long with assignments due every week or two. Day in and day out. Art Center should connect to education not confined to classrooms and not confined by constraints of 3 fourteen-week semesters per year. There are any number of possibilities to break up the static regimen:

• 7 week classes• Classes that carry over two terms or longer.• Classes that meet for 4 weeks and meet at the end of the term allowing students to work in

depth on a project during mid-term weeks.• Classes that meet for 4 weekends off campus



• Some online classes• Project classes with other departments or other schools• On the road education. Classes on site with outside communities• Each semester would operate differently each year.• Week long specialty workshops midterm that would break up semesters. • Art Center must develop a deep learning internship program that supports every student.

Logically reaching out to the many alumni working in art & design today could provide a rich tapestry of experience and job potential for our students.

• ACCD needs to be actively engaged in new career and technology thinking and remain highly competitive in being ahead of the curve. Possibly create an office specifically directed towards this “Think Tank” mentality that would provide a crossover between all departments with direct influence on curriculum and marketing strategies.

• Art Center needs to promote radical curricular interaction between departments offering opportunities for students to develop skills that will make them more viable in emerging new career markets. The new student will need a wide range of creative experiences that will allow for creative adaptability as new careers continue to quickly evolve. The ability for students to learn how to learn and hone creative problem solving skills from a variety of technological perspectives will serve them well in the coming decades.

• Art Center should become a Creativity Lab and begin to see creative process everywhere. Where there are problems (like water leaks when it rains) there should be creative projects to turn them into art pieces. Everyone on campus from staff, gardeners, administrators, security guards, etc should be tied to the educational mission of creative process in action. We should build a microcosm of a real community tied by creative thinking and creative solutions.

• Art Center needs to develop the WHOLE PERSON mentality. Our graduates need to be thinkers, socially conscious, ethic and embrace sustainable design. Creativity cannot exist in a vacuum and students cannot make substantial contributions to art & design if they are mired in ignorance. ACCD needs to educate the entire mind with a range of classes, discussions, guest speakers, workshops and community outreach programs meant to engage, inspire, educate and disrupt traditional modes of art & design learning.

• Art Center must commit all resources to a value in value out philosophy. Students must realize that every dollar spent is a real investment in their future and ACCD’s commitment to holistic education, at its core, is centered on quality at every level of engagement.



Vision Planning Notes 1

{ by Dennis Keeley }

DIVERSITY + INCLUSIONStudent centeredCultural competenceExpectation of accountability and growthReflexivityTransparancyModel for assessmentEnergyConfidenceSeekingInquisitiveEmpty vesselsThirsty spongesBroad visionFocusedCollaborationA learnerCritique cultureInformativeWilling to fail Willing to changeWork ethicGoalsProcess to result Peer reviewWithout exception or elitismTeaching techniquesIntentionDiversity of educational experienceNew careersChallengeCompetitionDisciplineInspired

HUMAN CENTERED EDUCATION + CITIZENSHIPStudent CenterCommunity outreachMentoringEthical, altruistic, social responsibilityRespect for othersMeeting students on their own groundNot confined by classroomsDevelop the whole personOpen mindedPowerfulInterest in media and cultureLearning for lifeAlumni mentoringAnyone wanting to learnCelebrationsCheering sectionOvercoming boundariesAccess to restBalance learning and professionalism



InternshipsCuriousHopefullFearlessA sense of connectivenessCollegialityCorporate environmentSportsOutside activitiesCommunity for lifeElevate the HumanitiesDesignMatters as requirementInterested in world politics, humanitarianism and technologyPhysical healthEmotional health

ACCESS + AFFORDABILITYEndowment + scholarship $Financial counselingLack of dormsAlumni mentorshipPortfolio preparation helpChanging economiesTransfer CreditLow income studentsCreate opportunities for public projectsPerception & outreach infoLess exclusiveAccess to better prep for ACCDScaredTuition discounts for Deans ListNot competitive facilities priceConduitHungrySatellite and remote learningForecastingTransportationRelationships with feeder schoolsGeographic accessStudy abroad opportunities for not based on who can payBigger capacity for financial servicesProfessional internship access

INNOVATIONLab environment school wideValue & nurture experimentationValue changeNon authoritarian teachingSeekersQuesting mindsInspiration for todayWindowWeb presenceRadical curricular interactionStudent programmingVisual education modelStudent gallery marketRethink main gallery spaceBroader definition of class subjectsEmphasizing science and humanitiesBusiness skills



Fostering entrepreneurshipClassroom technologyLab incubator, not nurserySolution to parking on campusStudent dormsAlumni connectionFostering problem-making



Group Notes Summary:

SPACEAllocation and transparency about space allocation.Better use of all space.Students want access to spaceStudents want more exhibit space – more mobile, fluid – they want the experience of showing their work in a more public arena (rather than just in the classroom)Faculty need better equipped spaceStaff don’t want to have to compete/fight for space all the timeIn general, we need more space.Pave the sculpture to make more parking

COMMUNITY BUILDINGBetter recognition of all communities at Art Center – students, staff, faculty and at all levelsEveryone wants a sense of community and recognitionMost people want to help determine curriculum – how faculty and students relate to each other and a say in the philosophy of education. Chairs and faculty must determine the course of the curriculum, but students want to understand and trust that voice and direction.Need to recognize Pasadena community – external as well as internalPeople want access to each other. AC needs to have a policy / mechanism for how this operates – no jumping over someone to go to higher upsRecognize the community of donors, sponsors and professional partnerships.Recongnize the needs of the less privileged groups of students we are trying to get Look at the community and diversity of our alumni – they are under recognized

COMMUNICATION - Our recommendation is that this is the most important problem we face.We must communicate with all these communities / groups. We must connect students with staff, faculty, chairs and administration.You can only recognize/measure effectiveness by who is hearing what is said.All the forms of communication we have now do not work.

CURRICULUMAll the above would support a curriculum. Hard to devise a curriculum that is trusted because of above issues. People don’t work together, space is hard to come by, students and faculty don’t understand the curriculum, and rumor is rampant.




{ by Steve Montgomery }

What we do well:Top 8 (transcribed from board session)Working pros teachingStudent/Faculty ratioIntensity of programReputationSponsored projectsAlumni communityTransformationalTalented peers

SecondaryAccess to faculty, chairsOpen campus (hours)Week 13 midnight feedingThere are “rock stars”Cultural exposureStudent GallerySpeakersDeerInternshipsNear city of LATrimestersIntimacyFreedomCafeteriaFellowshipsEquipmentSmall ClassesGet to go year-roundFellowshipsOut networkDesignmattersOpen ear, responsiveYogaACSGSecurityEco CouncilLawyers for IPSafetyFirst AidCMTELGuys/Gals ratio is evenWorldlyView InterviewsSerenityHealth InsuranceCoffee Cart

What we don’t do so wellTop 8 (transcribed from white board session)

massive debt for 30 yearsweak humanities—reading, writing, thinking, talkingdepartments isolated



no diversity in teachers and studentsunknown reputation outside art and designadministration out of touchnot enough space, parking, studio, deskover enrollment

secondary

where is occidental, anyway? caltech?no cohesion among teachersbuilding is falling apartdepartments need integrationstudent body does not represent "community"overwhelmed"cookie-cutter"balance of class needstiredno mixersdon't know speakersteachers are just being famous"show me your work, teach"reputation is unknown locallytoo much commercial dinky galleryno comfy spaceoutmoded practiceno faculty exhibitiontoo "old school"where the hell is south campus?too few teachersnot flexible"your major sucks"academic segregation"i want to show my work"no dormsno undergrad access to design mattersthere are "rock stars"commuter schoolteacher has "a gig"trying to be trendyred tape to get stuff upsoft critsnot enough praiseinternship processfrustrating not being able to organize our schedulehousing difficultiestransportationsee the same teachers too often




{ by Fridolin Beisert }

Diversity & Inclusion1. Importance of mentorship and role-modeling in nurturing an environment where diversity can

flourish2. Richer learning environment to challenge status quo3. Developing well rounded students of character and citizenship4. providing a campus where students feel connected and part of a community5. Developing a community based on principles of social justice

Academic Excellence & Assessment1. What is the Art Center’s community definition of excellence? Once defined, how is it supported?

How do we abandon the idea of being “the best” and strive for excellence (leads to being the best)2. How do we gear 21st century marketing to recruit excellence?3. How do we empower students to feel responsible for their own education? [Better communication,

transparency with students, leadership, access to classes, technology, educational resources, mentoring, going at your own pace, etc]

4. How do Educational resources contribute to academic excellence? [dorms, technology, flexibility]5. How do we make good on the implied promise of a first rate design education both during and

after school? [Caliber of students and teachers, what happens to the reputation of the institution and the value of the degree if we don’t get the best students?

Access & Affordability1. What if space was responsive to current needs and flexible to embrace the future?2. How do we instill an appreciation for the price value ratio of an Art Center education?3. What if we rethought workflow and lines of communication between administration and students?4. What if there was a chance for more interactive connections for lessons and learning?5. What if there was a forced interaction through communal housing?

Human Centered Education & Citizenship1. How can Art Center generate positive energy to put the human back in the center? [know people

better, valuable experience, better relationships, feeling of ownership of school]2. What if student’s mental, physical and emotional health were valued as high as their design

capabilities? [students less stressed, emotional support, students have a “real life”]3. How can Art Center become a model of environmental responsibility for others to follow?

[community garden, more sustainable, carbon neutral]4. How can Art Center be a solution hub for community needs and aspirations? [outreach local

community, require service, partner with colleges, outreach to K-12]

Professionalism & ResearchHow can Art Center be a leader in global educational research?How can Art Center define professionalism in a global educational context?AfterlifeHow do we enhance our graduates and their careers and life experiences after leaving Art Center?CollaborationHow to expand interdisciplinary opportunities & requirements?InnovationHow can online learning extend the Art Center brand in creating scholarships?How do you break habits, open structure and create educational flexibility?How do we do 21st century marketing?



Alumni Surveys

Question via email to 280 alumni (31 respondents to date): What was good about your Art Center years with regard to student life? What wasn't?

Illustration 1992. Concerns when he was in school: Lack of community, personal space

Trans 1994. My Art Center experience was probably far from typical. As I mentioned, I started at Art Center Europe, completing my first five terms there. If Art Center Europe hadn’t existed, I probably would never have attended. Back then; California was simply to far away. Before attending Art Center, I completed fifth and sixth term in industrial design at the Royal Danish Art Academy. Compared to that, Art Center’s professionalism was a wonderful change. My Art Center transportation design study experience was exceptionally good, both from a social and a content perspective. The on campus friendships and alumni camaraderie has been second to none. Switching campus and having a six months internship meant studying with and getting to know many different students. I somehow wish my relationships had been longer. I really liked living with different families, having the chance to be emerged in the cultures. Despite 50% funding by Danish industrial foundations, money was always a big problem. I earned and paid my last installment half-a-year after graduating. Due to this I didn’t get to shake David Brown’s hand ;-) It took me ten years to pay off my loans. How do they do this today, when tuition has doubled since ’94 (compared to an inflation of only been 24%). Back then, Art Center was a little insular and I am glad the school collaborates with INSEAD and Caltech. I think more collaboration would make the school even better. Look at Stanford! One more thing sprigs to mind. At ACCD (E) we had two projects, Dimple Whisky and New Steam Iron. They each were at the beginning of the term and lasted one week. At the end of the week you presented final hard models. These projects were very inspiring, good for the camaraderie. Plus a lot of fun!

The following are from grads from 2000 to 2010:

1) Absent teachers. Several lousy or inexperienced teachers. Overcrowded facilities and classrooms (53 student in one!). Watered-down programs / classes / curriculum. Little to no one-on-one time with instructors. Non-existent guidance from the dept chair (Marty Smith).

The real value of my Art Center experience can't be worth more than $50,000 total, far from the $120,000 I've spent there, an amount for which many less fortunate ones will spend decades struggling to re-pay. Art Center is making students believe they will do very well once they graduate, which is a complete fairytale.

As a Product design major, the good is, you get to dive in really deep into the subject and skill sets of design; you get to know and network with people that will most likely be in the same "design" industry; you can really develop a good set of portfolio if you put enough effort in it and if you plan well.

The bad is, though, you don't learn anything else about what's going on in the world; you don't know much about how economy works; you don't know how business "actually" values design; in case if you find out you are not the top 30% of the class, you really can't switch career or you'd have a hard time starting a career in the first place, especially in this economy.

I believe it's a great program but it's not for everyone; it's for those who are either really talented or who knows what they want out of the program; it's not for those who are mediocre sketcher (and problem solver) or those who really aren't sure if they want to spend the rest of their lives being a designer.

A sentence or two, or a word?! What good will those do? They seem short and out of context. Now honestly, I don't really know what your plan is to do with these few sentences or words. It sounds like you're saving yourself the trouble of trying to edit down heartfelt responses, and skipping to asking for a sound bite for a visual word map or quote that looks like a lot of research on the surface, but doesn't get to the heart of the experience.



Now, I want to believe that you're asking about this for the better. And I'm keeping that in the back of my mind as I write this. I appreciate the concise email, as many alums are probably busy. I personally would like to now more about this process and how my words and reflections will be used. One of the core elements that Art Center teaches is for it students to become masters of the process, and not seeing that process (especially of the faculty/staff/administration hammering so hard into us) can be frustrating.

What was good about Art Center? I developed a thick hide to listen to criticism, and find a lesson from even the most negative review. I learned how to see if people were serious about the work, to bite my tongue and hold back if they weren't. Later I learned how to push some buttons so those who needed a little extra push to cross over to being serious or impassioned from apathy might do so. I learned how to do these things externally, as well as reflect upon it internally.

I learned that if I really wanted to get to know my instructors, I had to sit down with them after class. For multiple sessions to have honest conversations about design, life and personal outlooks. To argue with them when I disagreed, to concede to persuasive ideas, and holdfast to my core. To not be be changed, but shaped.

What was good about STUDENT LIFE? That I was able to talk to the people there, Megan, Jeffery and Shane. That they listened to me and offered honest advice. That Megan found a roommate for me, who is now a great friend, even though we don't live in the same place anymore. That I never actually visited Elias when I tried to enter Art Center, but was able to see him in South Pasadena and have 30 minute conversation about comic books and Art Center. What was great about the other students, meeting people I could be honest with. Focus on quality people, and everything else will just start to work.

Student life at Art Center is essentially very limited. It consist of making really good friends and classmates on your own. I think my friends are some of the closest I have but it is due to the nature of personality not school creating that atmosphere. My old crappy dorms had rec rooms where we hung out and met lots of people we wouldn't otherwise, Art Center should broadcast games, events in an area you happen to be walking by. The pavilion takes effort to go to and is not a place you stumble on to.

Bad:-Barely noticed campus life events (didn't stop by cafeteria daily)-School created hierarchy of importance when student life office are tucked away in a small hallway. If school felt students were important maybe putting the office in a prominent place would make sense.-Art Center tries to encourage professionalism but forgets many students are young and as a school needs to develop well rounded designers. Suggestions:-Can student events be placed in the gallery in the center of school? parking lot or near an entrance where every student walks by?-Move student life/counseling offices to highlight student importance.-Encouraging instructors to have an open door policy during project reviews. Have a sign in the hallway encouraging people to walk in and watch student work reviews, meet other disciplines and just see what people are up to.

THE GOOD-the sponsored projects are great!!!-student gallery great-teaching level-internship offers-student acceptance quality level-student competitive spirit

THE BAD-need more student interacting space-food quality & options-student resources

I appreciate all my advisers' rigorous questions, which made my projects more thorough and gave



me a good idea of the things I should consider in my future projects. Re: non-academic student life, I liked having a flexible schedule. Even though I didn't have time to rest, I still managed to occasionally go out and have fun.

Of the things I didn't enjoy, I remember a lot of pressure to excel and the markers for excellence seemed nebulous and unattainable. I never felt like I had done enough. I think that the grading system was too harsh and should have rewarded a job well done instead of unprecedented perfection.

I'm not sure how much of this will be helpful to vision planning. If you'd like more targeted feedback, I'd be happy to chat.

Best part of my art center life is to meet talents people and getting inspiration from my fellow classmates. Till today, we still remain good relationship with friends from college. There are quite a lot of good classes at ACCD. Resume class towards to 8th term do benefit me a lot. The sponsor projects are very good classes to work with real client. Internship is very helpful to guide me to the real world working experience. What wasn't? We didn't have a material library back then, that's a very resourceful skill to have.I didn't fully understand the REAL product design until I had the internship. That was the turnning point in my career. If there's a class that different professionals come to class each week to talk to students about the real world working experience process. That can help students get better understanding the difference working for Corporation, design consultancy, vs. manufacturer. And the background of working in different industry. that may guide the student to better prepare their portfolio in certain category. For me the best thing about my years at Art Center were my fellow students and some of the faculty and staffs. Since we spent so much time at school the faculty in a way became part of my life. I think having faculties that care about students and their education is paramount for students.

The not so good part has to do with the above answer. Some of the school facilities need to be remodeled or upgraded. For example, the spray booths are always crowded and it causes a lot of unnecessary anxiety for students during final weeks. In terms of faculties I've came across a few that were obviously not caring about students or teaching them.

tips for students:housing support, counseling, job listings, networking...

Good: I was able to learn so much about design and how to design, able to network with teachers and students. Able to form some kind of bond among each other (when I was an upper term student), so I felt supported by SOME teachers and friends.

Bad: I saw many cheaters who stole ideas, school didn't do anything even if you report them, that gave me a sense that school only wanted $$ regardless of what happened. Some faculties have pets and since I wasn't, me and others felt neglected.

Since you've mentioned that "just a sentence or two, even a word.", I wouldn't go on any further, 'cause overall there are more bad than good, and I don't want anyone to be in trouble. could write a book about my student experience at art center. I'll put it in a couple of sentences:

There was a compromise in intellectual culture (the one needed to create projects with substance) in order to fit the demanding technique curriculum and insane pace of life.

A suggestion: the education system in sweden is quite productive. They compile the technique courses by weeks or blocks, where the students would take 3 weeks of one subject, then pass to the next one. The last 3 to 4 weeks of the semester is dedicated only to the studio course, adapting all the learning into a design project. Alot has to do with the person (likes, dislikes, background...). The community is what pushes this intellectual culture forward. Basing my self on educational experiences in Europe and in Mexico, there was this initiative from the students to push the boundaries (of lifestyle, of art, politics) in an unregulated way, not planned. Diversity in thoughts brought about a beautiful incentive for creativity. How to present more cultural options to students outside the ones offered at AC? Probably creating some sort of agreemet/partnership with cultural



organizations (museum, gallery, red-cat, schools...) that could inject a new flow of ideas (lectures, exhibits, rooftop gatherings) to the student body, giving more 'cultural' options (ways of expanding the mind). My escape was the wednesday lectures at Sci Arch, for example.

Good: One aspect that was great about student life were the bonds that were created. I mean, I equate my time at Art Center to being in Boot Camp - hard as hell!!! But knowing that my classmates were going through the same pain, stress and lack of sleep instantly creates bonds which creates a unique environment. Even with all the competition to be the best in your class, everyone was willing to stop and help when you needed it...at least on the product side of things.

Not So Good: Being poor. I know what it's like to be a poor student, but Art Center Poor is different. The expenses add up quickly (and I'm not just talking tuition) and there is no way around. You need supplies to complete every project. But I guess that's just the nature of the curriculum.

Every term I had to be able to adapt. No term was similar, everything was always changing. I was good and bad. It seemed liked art center wanted to make a better experience by changing things (for the better they were thinking), but it just made it more frustrating. There wasn't much you could rely on from term to term, except that things would be different.

Good: made lasting friends, great peer camaraderie and support Bad: no social life, health suffered from lack of sleep which led to high anxiety and mild depression Good: Peers and instructors that push you beyond your comfort zone and help you evolve. The AC network and the skills to use the network you join, are priceless.

Bad: The most selfish, navel-gazing bunch of kids I have ever seen in one place. The contrast between the most socially and environmentally conscious student and the student who wants to design thousands of disposable gadgets because they want personal fame and fortune is jarring.

Ultimately, I had a great experience at Art Center as a Product Design major. I had transferred there from Long Beach State and was so impressed with the facilities and faculty that It can be difficult to think of "not so good" things to say about it. However, if I had to give constructive criticism, I think the one thing that stands out in my mind was my Animation class taught by Everett Kane. I feel that the true art of motion was not emphasized. It was more of a class that taught us the software, but lacked an instructor who understood timing, weight, and pace. I’m sure by now you have a different instructor as well as curriculum, but I must stress the importance of hiring an animator as an animator instructor, and not a 3D modeler as an animation instructor. Ending this on a good note, FB was my Alias instructor and is the only teacher in my entire scholastic career (Not just ACCD) who completely changed my view on product design for the better. If it was not for FB, I would not have the right creative mentality that it takes to be an Imagineer. He will always be my most influential teacher.

Here are some good points of student life from my experience:-24 hours facility-many computers in computer lab-helpful career resources and wide alumni network-freedom to take any classes I want-student store

Grad ID was great. You guys taught us more than what we'd need in a job. You taught us to design, but I think the greater education was how to fit into a team.

Art Center was a great place because of it's diversity, faculty, and facilities.

The only negative aspect I had was the low confidence instill in us when we leave Grad ID. There was never any pep talk or big hurrah at the end.

The Good: students in my class have shared days upon days together working on our projects, especially in upper terms when we got our own “studio”. we always worked late into the night, and



our social activities circled around that friendship. Although the school offered little social life, we were not feel deprived of it due to the bond we developed (which I believe is somewhat unique to Art Center). The Bad: the school did not offer / encouraged enough social activities between all students, from all terms, and across all departments. Such functions would not only provide a much needed brake from the tough curriculum, but could have also opened students eyes to what students in other departments do.

It's hard to say what I would have been interested in--I was too stressed out to be a part of any clubs or extracurricular activities. Maybe outings to LA's fine cultural gems. Several of my projects were influenced by hearing local artist and activist lectures and demonstrations around town.

Good: Being in an environment with so many talented designers who have a passion for ID, who speak the "language" and who can accurately assess and critique each others design work. Sometimes in the real world you start to miss having such a condensed gathering of designers and creatives around you.

Bad: The student life situation when I was there in 2007 was more like going to work hanging out with your colleagues and then going home to your own life....(maybe it was just a fluke with my class) Since there isn't a communal campus that is designed for social gatherings and the school is highly competitive, I feel that the overall experience is not exactly a "friendly" environment. I mean its a stark rectangular spaceship built onto a cliff side...with teachers who demand only perfection. I felt that my experience at RISD was much more organic and emotionally nurturing. Teachers seemed to genuinely care and want to connect emotionally with their students. At art center I felt that even though the discussions were rich and stimulating the environment felt more authoritarian and cold.

student life? as in organized events outside of classes? hmmm... I think I was too busy being a student or just didn't care too much for life that I have no idea that it even existed?... Maybe it needs more visibility. Maybe just more opportunities to get out of the design world that students tend to drown themselves in....

about the cheaters... there was a well-known incident among students who were from my term, and took place during my 2nd term. it was time for the scholarship review and after the review, it was time to pick up our portfolios. there was a trans major student who we was well-known to have way below average skills, but the portfolio that he submitted was at that time a 6th termer level. So, students got curious and kept on questioning him about his work, and one of this product student how always say the wrong thing at the wrong time questioned this trans student. The trans student admitted that he took another person's portfolio and submitted for the scholarship review, and since that product student is a person who can't keep his mouth shut, he told the rest of the 2nd termer that this student cheated.

people weren't happy, especially the trans major students and started to isolate this trans student who thought to be cheated. then another product student heard about this incident, he reported to the dept. chairs of the trans dept., and it turned out that the excuse from the trans dept chairs was that, "since a lot of works have been done digitally, it is impossible to investigate". because they were willing to ask that trans student to physically demonstrate his work to only a couple faculties, even until this day, other students considered him as a cheater and some still isolate him because of this incident (the entire term and parts of the lower termers). Not only this so-called cheater weren't able to prove that he didn't cheat, but it also made it seem like the school wanted to hide all these matters from the public because they just wanted to make the student's money...

as for the product dept., I've spoken with many student from my term and lower terms, and many students told me that they don't like to work in school, sometime even show their works in school, simply because too many students who weren't as talented others like to copy ideas from others who are more talented in the concept thinking skill. It seems like everywhere we go in the world, there will be people who copy ideas, however, since very little has been done to avoid this from happening, many students chose to not show their works in school. This can eventually prevent students from learning from each other...

I think that networking amongst different disciplines/majors could improve, maybe more functions where students can interact and learn more from each other.More good food available in vending machines for late nights!



A comfy place to relax to take a break!Good aspects: Student life was stressful but great to be around so many talented people.Good competition makes you challenge yourself more.

I never felt a heavy sense of school community. I loved the communities that happen from within the disciplines. The pressure cooker sure makes good friends. I wish there was an easier way to search out the different clubs in the school, but I only saw signs for the most vocal clubs, like the gay lesbian group. I only found out about the eco council through a classmate in undergrad, but I would have spent more time there if I had known about it earlier. A few years back, student council threw a huge carnival. That was the best student event I attended. I wish there were a few more on campus that were more unique than a grill. I didn't really feel much student life or community like my undergrad. Not much to get the school to rally around. Memorable experiences I had at art center is the people. The wee hours and time spent with my peers, my teachers that have impacted my life who had a big impact on the decisions I made and my peers who pushed me to do be the best!

I think art center was very hard life. Competitive, judge mental, attitude, superficial, hopeful, excluded from the outside world, focus, diversity, learning from the best and work hard. The way we spend time with our classmates from semester to another semester, it helped us to form strong bonds to each other. We grew together and find our similarity or not, we still learn a lot from each other and getting more knowledge about different cultures. Even today everyone of us has move on in our life, the experience in art center that makes us connected to each other until today. However, until today I'm very grateful of my student life in art center and no regrets at all. :)

art center is OUTRAGEOUSLY overpriced. i sill wonder if it was worth the expense because i am in debt way over my head now due to art center and salaries in the profession - especially in this economy - is not enough to cover my student loan payments. Student life was VERY limited. Had no time for a social life, even participating in school related extracurricular activities. They overwhelm you there. But I guess that's why they have the rep for being a tough school.

The best part about my years there were absolutely by far the peers that I had there.



Student Surveys

Major trends expressed by a survey of 156 students:

Key predetermined themes:Academic ExperienceCampus EnvironmentCampus Resources

Major areas of concern listed by frequency regardless of theme:

Food in the cafeteria is too expensive and does not taste good [18]Need for work/community space [16]Classes too overcrowded/need more time spent with students [15]

photos of faculty mailboxesCampus/Labs open 24/7 [14]Functioning tables, stools and lights [14]

students demand top of the line equipmentTransparency in Communication [12]

All websites (visual)course descriptions not availablewhy 2 entertainment majors?

Everyone is helpful 100% [12]less out of touchsecurity [8]cashier lady [5]financial aidcafeteria staff

Free choice of electives [11]Blur the lines between majorstransfer credits from pcc [3]

Social & Community Life [11]TDS classes +

Higher entry portfolio guidelines [10]it is too easy to get intoo many kids from High schooltoo many eslnot enough professionalismstudents too immature

Too many bad teachers [8]evaluations not working

Lack of student body diversity [8]Copy Center needs improvement [6]Sustainability [5]Career Development + Internship program needs improvement [5]Tuition/Scholarships [4]Gallery Selection process improved [4]Interpretation of the themes:Balance the Price-Value RelationshipSpace is too crowdedAccess is too limitedCommunication is non-existent/too confusing [Confusion vs Clarity]How does your job help or hinder educational and student life goals?Free choice to craft your own curriculum/transfer creditsHigher standards + professionalism (better students - better teachers)Eliminate Waste



Consolidated Themes from our brainstorm sessions:Student Centered

affordablefinancial helpdiscounts/incentivesduring and after education

CommunityCollaborationCultural diversityHousingaffordablebest + most motivated studentslab incubator

Studentshigher work ethicexcellence

Career Development Alumni involvementNew careersMentorshipInternshipsstudy abroadentrepreneurship

TransparencyCommunication

Technology/Resourcesstate of the art24/7elimination of waste



student life vision planning

Documents