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Visual Studies Program
Degree Information
Who's Who in the Visual Studies
Program
Overview
Visual Studies Minor
Courses: Visual Studies (VIST)
Who's Who in the Visual Studies Program
Director:
Tracy Xavia Karner, PhDAssociate Director:
Jerome Crowder, PhD
Overview
The University of Houston’s Visual Studies program examines the aesthetic, ethical, historical, philosophical, psychological, social, and symbolic issues raised by visual images. Our primary interests involve not only the ways that creators of visual sources construct and encode images, but also how viewers perceive and interpret these images. Drawing on faculty from nearly a dozen departments, the program combines the methods and perspectives of architecture, art history, cognitive science, communication, cultural, literary, and media studies, education, history, informational technology, optometry, perceptual psychology, semiotics, visual anthropology and visual sociology.
The Visual Studies program’s undergraduate curriculum divides into three sequential stages. The first foundational stage consists of the program’s interdisciplinary, team-taught introductory course. This course, which is designed to insure a common background for the program’s students, will include components on vision and light; the philosophy of art; aesthetics; modes of interpretation; and the use of visual sources in ethnographic investigation.
The second stage will allow students to choose from a series of relevant approved courses taught by affiliated UH faculty that involve the interpretation of visual images, visual methods and analytical approaches, or research employing visual sources.
The program culminates with a capstone experience which will consist either of a substantial research project, under the direction of a faculty mentor, or an internship with community organizations supplemented by an essay or final project exploring the significance of this placement.
The Visual Studies minor is housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (483 PGH) and is directed by Dr. Tracy Xavia Karner (Sociology) and Dr. Jerome Crowder (Anthropology and TLC2).
Visual Studies Minor
A minor in Visual Studies consists of 18 hours in designated visual studies courses 12 hours (9 advanced) + VIST 1300 (in development) + VIST 4300 (in development) ). At least 12, 9 of which must be upper division, of the 18 hours must be taken in residence. A minimum cumulative 2.25 grade point average is required for all courses completed towards the minor.
The interdisciplinary nature of this minor requires that students not confine course work to any one department or college. No more than 6 hours of approved coursework from any single department will count towards the fulfillment of the minor. A partial listing of regularly offered coursework which counts toward the minor is included below. In addition, courses listed in each semester's schedule are considered approved courses for the minor, even though those courses may not appear on the list below. A maximum of 6 hours approved transfer substitutes will be accepted toward the minor.*
* No more than 6 semester hours in a student's major may apply to a minor in Visual Studies.
Requirements:
| VIST 1300: | Introduction to Visual Studies (in development) | 3.0 |
| VIST 4300: | Senior Project in Visual Studies (in development) | 3.0 |
| 12 hours (9 at the advanced level) of approved course work |
12.0 | |
| TOTAL | 18.0 | |
The following is a partial listing of regularly offered courses that count toward the minor. In addition, courses listed in each semester's schedule under Visual Studies are considered approved courses for the minor, even though those courses may not appear on the list below.
Anthropology
- ANTH 4394: Visual Anthropology
Architecture
- ARCH 2350, 2351: Survey of Architectural History I, II
- ARCH 3340: Greek and Roman Architecture and Art in the Context of Contemporary Work
- ARCH 3346: Precedents of Modernism
- ARCH 3347: Evolution of Architectural Interiors
- ARCH 3349: Urban Expectations
- ARCH 3350: History of Pre-Christian Architecture Through Archeological Assumptions
- ARCH 3351: History of the Architecture of the Ancient Mediterranean World
- ARCH 3353: Architecture of the Middle Ages: Text and Building
- ARCH 3356: City as Palimpsest: Paris
- ARCH 3358: History of Asian Architecture and Art
- ARCH 3375: Architectural Design for Non-Majors
- ARCH 3380: Architecture Plus Film
- ARCH 4351: Readings and Criticism in Architecture
- ARCH 4352: Wright, Mies, Corbusier
- ARCH 4353: Postmodern: Architecture Since 1950
- ARCH 4355: Houston Architecture
- ARCH 4356: American Architecture 1785-1915
- ARCH 4357: Modernism in American Architecture
Art
- ARTH 1380:1381: History of Art I, II
- ARTH 2388: Survey of the Art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
OR any advanced (3000/4000 level) Art History course for which the student has met the prerequisites, including— - ARTH 3378: History of Nineteenth Century Photography
- ARTH 3379: History of Twentieth Century Photography
Communication
- COMM 1301: Media and Society
- COMM 2370: Introduction to Motion Pictures
- COMM 3370: History of Cinema
- COMM 3372: Gender and Media
- COMM 4337: Television and the Family
- COMM 4370: Social Aspects of Film
- COMM 4375: Propaganda and Mass Communication
- COMM 4378: The Social Impact of New Information Technology
Education
- ARED 3305: Art in Elementary Schools
- ARED 4345: Art in the Elementary and Secondary Schools
- ARED 4365: Integrative Art Teaching
English
History
- HIST 1380: American History Through Sight and Sound to 1877
- HIST 1381: American History Through Sight and Sound From 1877
- HIST 4314: American History Through Film
- HIST 4396: Latin American History Through Film
Modern & Classical Languages
- FREN 3318: History of French Cinema
- GERM 3380: German Women Film Directors
- GERM 3395: Topics in German Cinema
- ITAL 3305: Italian Culture Through Films
- ITAL 3306: Italian Culture Through Films
- MCL 4391: Latin American & Latino Cultural Studies
- MCL 4392: Latin American & Latino Cultural Studies
- SPAN 3386: Spanish Film
- SPAN 4388: Images of Women in Spanish-American Film and Literature
- WCL 2351: World Cultures Through Literature and the Arts
- WCL 3351: Introduction to Latino Cultural Studies
Philosophy
- PHIL 1361: Philosophy and the Arts
- PHIL 3361: Philosophy of Art
- PHIL 3371: Depiction, Narration, and Critical Theory
Psychology
- PSYC 4343: Perception
Technology
- GRTC 2350: Graphics for Digital Media
- GRTC 2352: Digital Photography
- GRTC 3353: Visual Communications Technology
- GRTC 4390: Current Issues in Graphic Communications
Theatre
Sociology
- SOC 4383: Senior Seminar in Visual Sociology
Note: On occasion, courses are added to this approved list between editions of this catalog. For the most up-to-date list of approved courses for this minor, contact the Visual Studies Program or the Web site www.visualstudies.uh.edu.
Last updated:
Friday, August 20, 2008 - 5:30 PM