The 3D graphics and animation emphasis is a competitive and rigorous four-year curriculum focused on preparing students to work in a wide variety of fields that use animated digital computer graphics (CG), including entertainment, film and television, gaming, medicine, and science.<br> The Department of Visual Arts offers professional instruction in six interrelated areas: art history, art practices, 3D animation, digital design, illustration, and photography.<br>Visual Arts provides a vital educational environment where future artists, designers, scholars and curators explore the horizons of their own talents in an atmosphere of critical dialogue and professional art and design practice. Students learn and experience various media of animation, digital design, drawing, illustration, painting, photography and transmedia sculpture, all within the rich context of a research university. Learning is predicated on both an understanding of art and media theory, and on the practical knowledge of methods and materials used in making art and design today. Art history studies focus on historical knowledge integrated with critical writing and analysis.<br>The department prides itself on fostering an appreciation for diverse approaches to visual culture and to reaching out to the larger art history, arts and design communities. Internships are available. Graduating seniors receiving the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree are required to participate in the BFA thesis exhibition during their last semester of study. This exhibition is scheduled for each spring term only.