Academics
Your Life in the Arts Starts Here
Join a thriving community of artists in our School of Creative Arts, where you’ll:
- Push the boundaries of your own creative potential
- Collaborate with artists from various disciplines on real projects
- Connect with professionals in your major
- Grow through a personalized and progressive education
See SOCA in Action
SOCA Programs
Undergraduate
- Animation, B.A.
- Art History, B.A.
- Communication, B.A.
- Dance, in partnership with the Fort Wayne Ballet Conservatory, B.F.A., A.A.
- Graphic Design, B.A., A.A.
- META
- Museum Studies, B.A., A.A.
- Music Technology, B.S., A.S.
- Pre-Art Therapy, B.A.
- Studio Art, B.A., A.A.
- Visual Art Education, B.S.
Graduate
- Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art — Low residency
- Master of Arts in Studio Art
Minors
- Art History
- Communication
- Graphic Design
- Illustration
- Museum Studies
- Music Technology
- Sequential Art
- Speech
- Studio Art – 2-D
- Studio Art – 3-D
- Studio Art – Photography
- Visual Development
Talent Scholarships
Twice a year, SOCA hosts Talent Scholarship Day. If you’re a high school junior or senior or a college transfer student, you can have your work reviewed by professional SOCA faculty for a talent scholarship.
SOCA Events
Create in Top-Notch Studios and Facilities
Students have 24-hour access to our safe and secure labs.
Animation Lab
With industry-standard software, including:
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Autodesk Maya
- Final Cut Pro
- Pixologic ZBrush
- Toon Boom Studio
- High-end PC computer lab
- Non-linear video editing stations
- Comfortable 25-seat movie screening room
- Community lounge area
- Traditional 2-D animation lab
Art Education Lab
Set up like an art classroom; also used to teach Saturday Art to students in the Fort Wayne community
Art Studios
- Ceramic Studio: Equipped with pottery wheels, kilns (raku, reduction, soda, wood firing), and a separate glazing area
- Drawing & Painting Studios: Spacious studios with natural light and a high-quality ventilation system; Includes a mat cutting and framing area (with Fletcher 2100 and Fletcher 3000 mat cutters) and a separate spray room
- Metalcraft Lab: Equipped with kilns, vacuum casters, a centrifugal caster, grinders, rolling mills, vices, a stained-glass kiln, lapidary equipment, stone diamond saws, tumblers and a jeweler’s lathe
- Photography Lab: Include a 20-station black & white darkroom with large-print capabilities, film and print dryers, and a separate film-loading and processing area; Lighting studio with Speedotron Brown Line systems, a large hot lighting set, and more; Also available: cyclorama wall and several backdrops, numerous cameras, lenses and accessories
- Printmaking Studio: Ideal for intaglio, lithography, woodcut, relief printing; includes a 30”x 60” litho press, two etching presses, two combination presses, assorted litho stones, and paper cutters
- Sculpture Lab: Houses equipment for making wood, stone, metal, and clay-based projects; features a separate plaster room, stone-carving area, and bronze foundry
- Woodworking Studio: Includes a woodshop with assorted table saws, grinders, buffers, lathes, drill presses, milling machines, and hand tools; Finishing studio for final assembly, sanding, and finish work.
MAC Computer Lab
Continually updated with the most current professional software, including Adobe Creative Cloud.
Dance
Facilities in the Auer Center for Arts and Culture (Fort Wayne) include:
- Four rehearsal studios complete with sprung floors for dance (Marley and/or hardwood)
- Four large, mirrored dance studios with barres, observation windows, and pianos
Music Technology Center
All recording studios, ensemble and performance room, and mix/edit suites are digitally interconnected so all spaces can be used to record, produce, and perform.
- Studio A, with a 32-channel Neve 5088 Recording Console
- Studio B, with an Avid ICON digital console
- Mastering Studio
- 12 Mix/Edit Production Suites
- 7 Practice Rooms
- 2 large Ensemble Rooms
- 2,000-Seat Auditorium
Television Studio
Features a three-camera television set-up with full switching, editing, video, graphics and audio production capabilities, and seven Adobe Premier editing stations. The studio has digital and tape-based cameras for on-location shooting.
Theatre Facilities
Our performing arts programs use two stages.
- The USF Performing Arts Center, part of USF’s downtown campus, provides a performance hall with over 2,000 seats for SOCA’s theatrical and musical productions.
- On campus, our North Campus building houses a 500-seat auditorium, dance studio, gallery space and Music Technology classrooms, including computer music labs, a recording studio and rehearsal spaces.
Ensembles
With ensembles open to the entire campus community, SOCA believes music is for everyone. We have seven different ensembles to reach both the classical and contemporary musician. You can even win a scholarship!
Ensembles Include:
- Marching Band
- Pep Band
- USF Concert Band
- University Singers
- Guitar Ensemble
- Jazz Ensemble
- Electronic Music Ensemble
To learn more, contact:
Jessica Shaw
jshaw@sf.edu
260-399-7700, ext 8011
Learn from Professional Faculty Artists
SOCA faculty members are artists, writers, animators, musicians, producers, and more.