Degree Program: Master of Fine Arts
Chair, Department of Art and Design: Marc Handelman, Associate Professor
Master of Fine Arts in Design
Director, Graduate Program in Design in the Department of Art and Design: Jacqueline Thaw, Associate Professor
The Rutgers master of fine arts (M.F.A.) degree in design is a two-year, full-time course of study that combines creative work and critical inquiry. This program focuses on research-driven design and enables collaborations with scholars and experts throughout all fields of study at Rutgers University. Students delve deeply into the innovative use of technology and interdisciplinary research in the creation of online and print publications, exhibitions, information, interfaces, and more. This program prepares designers for a contemporary design studio practice that contributes to the future of arts, science, humanities, and technology.
Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts
Director, Graduate Program in Visual Arts in the Department of Art and Design: Barbara Madsen, Associate Professor
The Rutgers master of fine arts (M.F.A.) degree in visual arts at Mason Gross School of the Arts was established in 1960 as the first nondisciplinary-specific fine art graduate program in the United States. Today, the two-year, full-time program continues to flourish through the rigorous cultivation of community, dialogue, experimentation, and creative thinking and making across media, approaches, and perspectives. Graduate students pursue their creative work in dialogue with each other, with faculty, and with the greater community. We are a diverse, tight-knit, and pluralistic community of artists, and our graduate students contribute to and benefit from all that our community offers. Our location, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, offers our students the space and time to concentrate and immerse themselves in their creative pursuits while only an hour away from New York City and Philadelphia.
Each semester, the school invites approximately 20 visiting artists, critics, and curators to meet with students in their studios and deliver a public lecture. Recent guests include El Arakawa, Fia Backstrom, Yevgeniya Baras, Tourmaline, Cara Benedetto, Anna Betbeze, Meriem Bennani, Trisha Donnelly, Huma Bhabha, Hannah Black, Damien Davis, Aki Sasamoto, Hugh Hayden, Sharon Hayes, Gregor Huber, Amy Yao, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Camilo Godoy, Mika Rottenberg, Cameron Rowland, Sable Elyse Smith, Anna Shteynshleyger, A.L. Steiner, Mimi Smith, Lumi Tan, Stewart Uoo, Geo Wyeth, B. Wurtz, Carolyn Lazard, American Artist, Sanya Kantravosky, and Layga Nuna Yawar.
Graduate Programs in Art and Design
