THREE NEW FAA DEGREES APPROVED BY THE BOT
This is another exciting step for our college to unleash creativity as a civic force as we train artists, designers, planners, performers, educators, and scholars to master their craft and change how people live, connect, and imagine the future.
The Bachelor of Arts in Hip Hop Culture and the Arts will centralize Hip Hop as a field for academic inquiry, creative practice, personal expression, community building, and professional opportunities. In this interdisciplinary program, students will explore the foundations and evolution of Hip Hop culture, generate their own original artistic works, critically examine ethical issues, develop contemporary digital media skills, and gain experience to build networks and cultivate opportunities for building revenue streams and social impact. The blending of theoretical study with arts-based practical application will produce graduates who are knowledgeable, critical scholars as well as skilled practitioners of Hip Hop culture. The major will recruit students from a diverse array of backgrounds and is accommodating for both inter-college and off-campus transfer students.
The BA in Fine and Applied Arts is an online degree-completion program created for students who have previously earned college credit but have not yet completed a bachelor’s degree. Enrollment is limited to transfer students and individuals seeking re-entry to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; it is not open to first-year applicants or current students pursuing an intercollegiate transfer (ICT). The program is intentionally structured to expand access and reduce barriers for students seeking to complete their undergraduate education. FAA is committed to teaching as liberation, to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, not as add-ons, but as the foundation of how we learn and create. We hold ourselves accountable to our public mission, ensuring that the work of this college benefits not only our students, but also the communities we serve. We cultivate graduates who will shape not just the future of their fields, but the future of society, creative citizens ready to work, to lead, and to imagine otherwise. As a flexible and transdisciplinary online pathway, the BA in Fine and Applied Arts represents a significant addition to the academic portfolio of the College of Fine and Applied Arts and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. By broadening access to a Fine and Applied Arts education, this program supports the university’s land-grant mission and serves the State of Illinois by enabling individuals to build upon existing knowledge and pursue new areas of professional growth. A market research study with Eduventures is underway to identify potential concentrations or opportunities within this degree program, with the potential for development after the major is initially approved.
The transdisciplinary BA in Immersive & Interactive Theatre will offer a rigorous exploration of this evolving field, bridging traditional theatrical practices with emerging methodologies in audience engagement. Situated within the Theatre Studies area of the Department of Theatre, the program blends critical inquiry with creative experimentation to prepare students for leadership in a field characterized by its dynamic integration of narrative, design, technology, and interactivity. Within a multidisciplinary cohort, students will examine the historical, theoretical, and practical contexts of immersive and interactive performance while redefining the relationships between performers, audiences, and spaces.