CALARTS MOVES UP IN SURVEY : SCHOOL RANKED AMONG TOP GRADUATE CAMPUSES.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer Holding its own in some august company, California Institute of the Arts California Institute of the Arts known as CalArts U.S. private institution of higher learning in Valencia. Created in 1961 through the merger of two other art institutes, it was the first in the U.S. was named among the nation's top graduate schools for the study of film, drama and fine arts, according to recent poll. In its March 10 issue, U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report Weekly newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. U.S. News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence (1888–1973) to cover important domestic events; he founded World Report in 1945 to treat world news. The two magazines were merged in 1948. named CalArts the fifth-best film school in the country for a master's degree in fine arts. The Valencia campus tied for sixth place in the fine arts category and tied for eighth place in the drama/theater category. Last fall the magazine surveyed deans, faculty and key administrators at colleges and universities that grant master's degrees in film, drama or theater, architecture, music, fine arts and creative writing. ``We have moved up the list consistently in the last couple of years. Before, I think we weren't well known to the general public,'' said John Bache, associate provost and a photography professor at CalArts. ``Now that we're getting national recognition, we're thrilled.'' Established in 1961 by Walt Disney, CalArts is a four-year private university that awards bachelor's and master's degrees in dance, film and video, music, visual arts, theater and writing. Annual tuition is about $17,000. Bache said the honors are especially gratifying because CalArts is a ``relatively young'' university. ``We have followed our founding goal of providing an environment that enables our students to develop to their fullest potential, under the guidance of a distinguished faculty of practicing artists,'' Bache said in a statement. In the film school category, the programs that outranked CalArts were New York University New York University, mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the and three other Southern California programs: USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. , UCLA and the American Film Institute American Film Institute (AFI), nonprofit organization established in Washington, D.C., in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts to preserve and catalog American films and television, to provide work grants for new and established filmmakers, and to increase . At 36 years old, CalArts was the young upstart of that category - particularly compared to NYU, a 166-year-old college, and to Columbia (established 1754) and Northwestern (1851) universities, which placed sixth and tied for ninth, respectively. In the rankings for schools of fine arts, CalArts tied for sixth place with Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University, at Pittsburgh, Pa.; est. 1967 through the merger of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (founded 1900, opened 1905) and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (founded 1913). in Pittsburgh, Indiana University in Bloomington, and the University of Iowa Not to be confused with Iowa State University. The first faculty offered instruction at the University in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, situated where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, the student body numbered 124, of which, 41 were women. . Finishing ahead of CalArts were the School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a fine arts college located in Chicago, Illinois. It is a professional college of the visual and related arts, accredited since 1936 by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and since 1944 (charter member) by the , Rhode Island School of Design Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) One of the most eminent fine arts colleges in the U.S., located in Providence, R.I. It was founded in 1877 but did not offer college-level instruction until 1932. , Yale University, the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and Alfred University in New York. Meanwhile, in the drama and theater category, CalArts tied for eighth place with the University of Texas, Austin. Top-ranked schools in that category were Yale, NYU, University of California, San Diego UCSD is consistently ranked among the top ten public universities for undergraduate education in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.[3] It is a Public Ivy. [1] For graduate studies, most of UCSD's Ph.D. , North Carolina School of the Arts The North Carolina School of the Arts is a well known arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. , University of Washington, American Conservatory Theater American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both contemporary and classical theater productions and a wide range of classes. and Carnegie Mellon University. This year marked the magazine's eighth annual survey of the nation's best graduate schools. Also ranked were graduate programs in medicine, law, business, engineering and education. Bache said polls and surveys tend to favor older schools and those on the East Coast and the Ivy League. In that light, the national ranking was all the sweeter, he said. ``I don't think there's ever been a problem getting recognition for our film school, especially with the Disney connection,'' Bache acknowledged. ``We're elated that our film school is recognized, but we have other fine schools in the institute that deserve recognition too.'' CalArts' ``outstanding'' faculty and the professional careers of its alumni give the school a stamp of credibility, he said. ``They've seen our track record of what our graduates are doing out there. They're quite successful in their chosen fields,'' Bache added. Film and television credits for CalArts' best-known alumni include ``Batman,'' ``Beetlejuice,'' ``Ed Wood,'' ``The Right Stuff,'' ``Apollo 13,'' ``The Rock,'' ``Picket Fences,'' ``Baywatch,'' ``Married . . . With Children,'' ``Seinfeld,'' and ``Murphy Brown.'' Alumni who went on to fame and professional success include director Tim Burton, actors Ed Harris, Kathy Baker, David Hasselhoff, Katey Sagal, Michael Richards and Paul Reubens (a k a Pee-wee Herman). The college looks for applicants who have a combination of talent and a determination to succeed. ``We seek out students who are highly motivated, who are independent thinkers, and who have a strong desire to make it as an artist,'' Bache said. ``Quite often, they stub their toes and fail, but we encourage them to continue and get past their mistakes until they succeed.'' Another factor that distinguishes CalArts is that all its faculty members are working professionals in the fields they teach, Bache said. |
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