What do you think of when you hear Faculty of Arts? Maybe you think painting classes or refining theatre skills. If you do, that’s part of the reason why that faculty at the University of Regina is considering changing its name.
The faculty’s naming committee recently circulated a survey asking university staff to rank six prospective names in order of preference. They include: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Faculty of Integrated Human Sciences, Faculty of Human Inquiry, Faculty of The Human Experience, or just keep Faculty of Arts.
Associate Dean Joe Piwowar said that a lot of students, parents and members of the general public don’t understand what exactly goes on in the Faculty of Arts.
“We get so many inquiries from students and the public asking where can I go for my drawing class or my acting class or my piano performance class,” Piwowar said.
“Those are things called fine arts, which are not the liberal arts and that’s what the Faculty of Arts does.”
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The U of R’s Faculty of Fine Arts changed it’s name to the Faculty of Media, Arts and Performance in 2016.
Liberal arts include areas of study like sociology, English, geography, philosophy, political science and even journalism in the U of R’s case.
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Piwowar said that the faculty has been considering a name change for a couple of years. The goal is to find something that encompasses everything covered under the wide banner of “arts”.
“We study things from Plato to climate change to the cultural traditions of tribes in the Pacific Ocean to English,” Piwowar said.
“In the Faculty of Business it’s understood that includes accounting and marketing and other things in the school of business. In the Faculty of Arts it’s not really understood what we do.”
With a growing population of international students, Piwowar added that the name can generate confusion as arts translates to what’s traditionally in the school of fine arts in most other languages.
The survey closes on March 20, and the naming committee will present their findings to the faculty in early April. Piwowar expects a decision on a future name will be made by the end of April.
No matter what name is chosen, students graduating from programs under the faculty will still earn a Bachelor or Master of Arts degree.
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