FAQ – B.A. Degree Fine Arts

I am currently enrolled as a BFA in Fine Arts, is that program now cancelled?

  • No. Currently declared BFA Fine Art majors will graduate with this degree, this does not affect you. However, if you would like to explore changing to the BA Fine Arts, which requires less credits, please contact your advisor.

I am currently enrolled as a BA in Fine Arts, how will this affect me?

  • Any courses you’ve previously taken for the BA Fine Arts will be applied to the new requirements. Contact Prof. Kline as every student will need to have their audit on Degree Navigator updated to reflect the courses that were selected/approved for this requirement.

Why is the department no longer offering the option to receive a BFA?

  • The BFA in Fine Arts will be suspended, not removed, until there is increased student enrollment and new tenure-track faculty hires are made in the program. These changes are needed to offer a wider range of fine art specialty electives, a requirement for an accredited BFA program.

  • The BA in Fine Art requires 30 fewer credits than the BFA (comparing the BFA’s 87 credits vs the BA’s 57 credits).

  • Connects to new interdisciplinary course opportunities in the ACM department, such as the Curatorial and Museum Studies Minor.

  • Allows  more flexible course offerings; and responds to developments in Express Newark, contemporary art, photography and other disciplines.

Is the BA in Fine Arts a lesser degree than the BFA? 

  • Our BA in Fine Arts at Rutgers University-Newark, restructured and reimagined, will be an education as equally rigorous as our BFA. You will receive  all of the same benefits.

  • Two of the three Fine Art faculty, Jordan Casteel and Sandy Skoglund, have BA’s in Fine Arts from liberal arts colleges, who went on to earn MFA’s and are working professionally at the top of their field.  

Why the emphasis on Painting, Photography and Socially Engaged Art?

  • These areas build around core faculty strengths, guiding a more intensive learning experience and a sequence of classes building up to Senior Studio Thesis. Express Newark offers a range of opportunities for thinking about art extending studio practice.