Message from Interim Dean Evans
Welcome to the College of Fine Arts and Communication. We are pleased that you have chosen us to begin or continue your career.
We are proud of the vast opportunities afforded our students in supportive and positive environments. Our quality faculty interacts with students in small classes, and quite often in individualized instruction. Numerous outlets exist for students to apply their skills, whether on stage or in a recital hall, in front or behind the scenes in the theatre or broadcasting venues, within the Speech and Hearing Clinic, at Undergraduate Research Day, or displaying their works in the art galleries and studios. Students in broadcasting, music business and music therapy, as well as students in other programs, complete exciting internships. Our college also has an excellent placement record for our graduates.
All WIU students can participate in cultural events presented by the college. Students can foster an appreciation for the cultural arts by attending events; students can listen to diverse radio programming offered by the student run radio station; and, they can watch the many offerings of news, weather and sports programming from our student run television station. The Department of Communication hosts the Wayne Thompson Lecture Series each year.
Outreach services of the college include the Bureau of Cultural Affairs (BCA). This student-run organization presents concerts, musicals, and multi-cultural entertainment. The Performing Arts Society (PAS) includes community and university volunteers who are both patrons of the arts and who are dedicated to advancing arts programming for the region. The PAS supports the Youth Performing Arts Series, BCA, and other arts-centered programming at WIU. Each academic year, PAS funds arts initiatives submitted by COFAC faculty and staff. In 2011-2012, PAS will grant $10,650 to recipients of its internal Academic Support Program. Tri States Public Radio is the region’s voice for award-winning National Public Radio news and locally produced programming. University Television (UTV) provides the full range of video services to the campus, community and region.
On April 26th Governor Pat Quinn traveled to WIU and participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking for the $72 million Performing Arts Center. We await final approval to begin the process of completing the construction documents. We hope to break ground within a year’s time. Renovations of Memorial Hall are complete. Plans are underway to upgrade the Art Department facilities in the Heating Plant Annex this fiscal year. These projects will certainly add to the positive experiences already felt by students, faculty, and staff.
We believe that education in the arts and communication studies provides the tools, by which graduates will achieve the ability to think critically, develop self-discipline, practice and critically examine the creative process, reach a high standard of technical artistry, and search for unique inventive and scholarly excellence that nourishes the mind and stimulates an imaginative vision.
Again, welcome to the college. Enthusiastic students, staff, and faculty make this an excellent place to work. I am proud to be associated with this college.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sharon A. Evans, Interim Dean
College of Fine Arts and Communication
Western Illinois University
1 University Circle
Macomb, IL 61455
Phone: 309.298.1618
Email: SA-Evans@wiu.edu
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