Course General Description

The interdisciplinary Visual Arts Minor leads students to explore art as a lens through which to view society. It encourages the cultivation of visual intelligence—through both study and practice-based approaches in studio art—relevant to our increasingly visual, media-saturated world and demanded in a variety of STEM and humanities fields. Students learn flexible visual skills and how to apply them to multiple disciplines inside and outside their major, such as business, medicine, law, and the natural sciences. The result is a comprehensive understanding of art and the built environment in a global context, as they intersect with the complexities of historical and contemporary society. Hosted by the School of Visual Arts with collaboration from numerous departments across Virginia Tech.

School General Description

As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers about 280 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 34,000 students and manages a research portfolio of more than $531 million. The university fulfills its role as a land-grant institution by fostering a collaborative environment that integrates technology into all disciplines, so that the Virginia Tech community can serve as a force for positive change around the commonwealth, the country, and the world. Through experiential learning, future-focused research, and an inclusive, spirited culture, Virginia Tech strives to accomplish the charge of its motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). Virginia Tech has a 2,600-acre main campus, educational and research facilities across the state, a study-abroad site in Switzerland, and a 1,800-acre agriculture research farm near the main campus. The campus proper is located in the town of Blacksburg in Montgomery County in the New River Valley and is 38 miles southwest of Roanoke. Inspired by our land-grant identity and guided by our motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech is an inclusive community of knowledge, discovery, and creativity dedicated to improving the quality of life and the human condition within the Commonwealth of Virginia and throughout the world.