Department of Fine and Performing Arts
Chair: Judy Guilbeaux-James
Professors: Richard Hobson, Charles Lloyd, Jr. Joyce O’Rourke
Associate Professors: Judy Guilbeaux-James, Craig Heinzen, Randell Henry
Assistant Professors: Harry Anderson, Herman Jackson, Nicolas Zaunbrecher, John Alleyne, Chasse Duplantis, Joao Casarotti
Adjunct Instructors: Laurence Hebert, Jonathan C. Knoll, Patrick Lavergne, Evan Conroy, Doris Spooner-Hall, Kedric Taylor, Charis Hudson, King Godwin, Sarah Jenkins
The Department of Fine and Performing Arts offers the Bachelor of Music and minor concentrations in four disciplines: Fine Arts, Music, Speech Communication, and Theatre Arts. In addition to its primary role of providing professional and pre-professional training for its majors.
The department also serves as a major cultural center and resource for the University, offering a wide range of activities and courses that promote the aesthetic development of the general population. A continuing series of exhibitions, staged in the beautiful fine arts gallery, are open to the Southern University and Baton Rouge communities.
The department provides instruction and training that promote and encourage efficient verbal and oral communication skills and cooperates with the School of Education in training teachers in Fine and Performing Arts. There are many courses in the department’s wide range of offerings that fulfill electives or may be taken to expand students’ experiences in the visual and performing arts. Prerequisites or other conditions are noted in the course descriptions in each of the four disciplines.
All majors and minors in the department are required to participate in co-curricular organizations and/or activities of respective programs (e.g., music ensembles, theatrical productions, debates, art exhibits), which serve as laboratories for training in their respective disciplines.
All majors in the department must fulfill the stipulated University and Board of Regents general education core requirements; specific requirements of the college in which the student is enrolled (College of Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies); and the University’s requirements in community service and in the African-American experience. All majors are required to pass the writing proficiency examination and the department comprehensive examination in the music program. Students are responsible for knowing and adhering to published schedules for the administration of the above tests and for applying for graduation.