Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Just past its first birthday, the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture continued its growth with the January 2009 approval of its first undergraduate degree program, a Bachelor of Science in Visualization, by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The degree will be offered for the first time in fall 2009.
Now, the word needs to get out, said Tim McLaughlin, head of the department. “That’s our biggest challenge right now, saying ‘Hey! We exist!’”
McLaughlin wants as many high school counselors and students as possible to know about the department’s new undergraduate program, an addition to its existing Master of Science in Visualization Science degree.
In the bachelor’s degree plan, students will concentrate on building a foundation in aesthetic decision making and technical problem solving for careers in graphic design, interactive media, visual effects and animation, and new media fine arts, he said.
“In Austin, there’s a large number of graphic design companies and game companies,” said McLaughlin. “Statewide, the larger architecture and engineering firms are developing robust visualization departments. Our graduates can be good fits in a number of those places.”
“The challenge is getting the word out,” said McLaughlin. “A lot of people, and this is true with the master’s program as well, don’t expect Texas A&M to be a national leader in this area.”
To meet that challenge, the department is developing together promotional materials and speaking with high school counselors and university representatives active in student recruitment efforts.
McLaughlin believes a student who is a hybrid of the classic engineering student and the classic art student, who is comfortable with the math and engineering requirements, and who can thrive in an artistic studio environment is a good fit for the new visualization degree program.
“We’re looking for students who are simultaneously left and right brain-engaged, instead of being heavily one side or the other, ” McLaughlin said, referring to the concept of the right side of the brain being more imaginative and the left side being more logic and detail oriented.
The new degree program isn’t being started from scratch. It began in fall 2002 as a Visualization Studies option within the Bachelor of Environmental Design (BED) degree administered by the college’s Department of Architecture. Now, with the coordinating board’s approval, the degree track is being rebranded and moved into the recently established visualization department.
McLaughlin credited Tom Regan, the college’s former dean, and Paul Meyer, Texas A&M’s assistant provost for academic affairs and assessment, for getting the Bachelor of Visualization degree on a fast track.
There are currently about 110 students in the BED – Visual Studies option. Ultimately, McLaughlin said he’d like to see the program grow to between 150 and 200 students.
“Certainly, space constraints come into play, but that is a reasonable number for being able to offer a healthy set of elective courses and keeping a good mix of students,” he said. “We don’t want to be so small that our pool of students limits course offerings, and we don’t want to be so large that we overrun our facilities or see class sizes grow too large to teach effectively,” he said.
An undergraduate visualization degree isn’t a new idea — it’s been bandied about by college faculty since the early 1980s.
“The original discussions among faculty and staff such as Karen Hillier and Bill Jenks focused on making an undergraduate visualization program,” said McLaughlin.
When Michael McCarthy, who was dean at the college from 1988-92, heard about the bachelor’s degree proposal, he preferred the idea as a graduate program and went about establishing the college’s Master of Science in Visualization Science degree, which was also originally housed in the Department of Architecture.
“The undergraduate idea never really went away, but went through various stages of being reasonable and feasible,” said McLaughlin. “Last year the visualization department was created with the intention of bringing the undergraduate program into existence as one of the primary goals.”
For more information on the new Bachelor of Science in Visualization, contact degree coordinator Terry Larsen, associate professor of visualization, at trl@archone.tamu.edu.
- Posted: March 3, 2009 -
