College of Fine Arts and Communication

Message from the Dean

 

Welcome to the College of Fine Arts and Communication!

True to our mission, the College is committed to making meaningful, unique, and collaborative contributions to the fine arts and communication in the St. Louis metropolitan area and beyond through excellence in education, outreach, creative activity, and research.

Our students and faculty are engaged in the pursuit of excellence-in creative thought and achievement, in artistic performance, in scholarship, in the pedagogies of our disciplines, and in service to our professional communities. The departments of the College promote learning and creative experiences for CoFAC majors and non-majors in a wide array of disciplines including art, art history, communication, dance, media studies, music, and theatre. In the near future, we will add studies in new digital media to our instructional programs and eagerly anticipate the opening of new facilities in Grand Center which will house St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU) and CoFAC new media classrooms and labs.

Performing arts on the UMSL campus is supported by the Touhill Performing Arts Center, unquestionably one of the truly outstanding academic performance facilities in the country. Students, faculty, and guest artists regularly rehearse and perform in the acoustic excellence of Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall and E. Desmond Lee Theatre. The Touhill is the public face of the College and provides tremendous experiences for our performing arts programs as well as serving as our most significant bridge to the metropolitan community.

We welcome friends, alumni, and prospective students to explore the College through our websites and in person-our excellent faculty, our motivated and talented students, and our superb performance facilities and art galleries on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. I am confident that you will come away sharing the same excitement that we feel.

James E. Richards, Interim Dean
College of Fine Arts and Communication
University of Missouri-St. Louis