Students, alumni, faculty fight for arts at Cal U
"Fight 4 Art," a print by Johnathyn Simpson, is being used as a banner for the "Fight 4 Cal U Arts" movement, intended to preserve the university's fine arts programs.
Members of "Fight 4 Cal U Arts" meet in the large studio space of Vulcan Hall, the headquarters of the fine arts department that the group is trying to preserve.
Rebecca Hersan, founder of "Fight 4 Cal U Arts," is pictured with some of the drawing, printmaking, and painting that she did as an undergraduate and since.
Top row from left: Jaquelyn Peddicord, a senior in Fine Arts from North Versailles, Cory Gurganious, a senior BFA in Jewelry from Halifax, and Rebecca Hersan, a 2013 Art Education graduate who founded the "Fight 4 Cal U Arts" effort. Bottom row from left: seniors Taylor Stanko, a graphics design major from Elizabeth, and Jenn Polando, a psychology major from Uniontown.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Jim Bove, an associate art professor at California University of Pennsylvania, is one faculty member advocating for the university arts programs’ survival.
The possible elimination of the some bachelor’s degrees in arts programs has raised concerns among California University of Pennsylvania alumni, students and faculty.
The issue was raised in July in a letter from the administration to Barbara Hess, the president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty at Cal U. The letter notes that there are insufficient course offerings to ensure a full workload for the faculty in four bachelor of arts programs: history, anthropology, art and fine arts.
As word got out, some graduates of the arts programs took it upon themselves to launch a letter-writing campaign to save their department, using social media to spread their message.
“Art is about being fearless. When I heard about it, I had to do something. You can’t just stand by and not do something,” said organizer Rebecca Hersan, a 2013 Cal U graduate who’s now an elementary art teacher.
A few weeks into the letter-writing campaign, at least a half dozen alumni letters have been generated, each stressing the importance of the arts programs in their lives and careers, and several noting the value of the programs in recruiting future students.
Angela Capuzzi of Republic in Fayette County wrote that she entered Cal U with an associate’s degree in graphic design and went on to earn a bachelor’s of science in art education and a bachelor’s of arts in art.
“Now my students see me as a teacher and an artist — an expert in the field,” Capuzzi wrote.
Capuzzi also praised the art department’s annual Art and Writing Encounter for students from Fayette, Washington and Greene counties.
“For one day middle- and high-schoolers have the chance to experience college level courses with university professors. Each year I bring my students to Cal U and rave about my alma mater. Each year my students plead to come back,” Capuzzi wrote.
Capuzzi said without the academic degrees currently offered, high school students inspired by their Cal U experience will need to go elsewhere.
Hersan, of Scott Township in Allegheny County, said the current offerings also give student’s options, which she explained in her letter to President Geraldine Jones.
“One of the reasons Cal U appealed to me was the options of degrees that the university offered. If I did not want to stay in art education or did not pass my Praxis exams, I could still obtain a bachelor of arts or bachelor of fine arts. In other words, the credits that I earned through the art education program would not be completely wasted and I would not have to transfer to another university to obtain a degree,” Hersan wrote.
Rachelle Bersamina of South Park, Allegheny County, received her bachelor’s from Cal U in 2009 and her master’s of arts in teaching from Cal U in 2012. She is currently an elementary art teacher.
“Currently in education there is a huge push for creative thinking, problem-based learning and preparing students for future jobs that do not even exist yet. Arts programs in schools are the best opportunity for students to reach all of those areas,” Bersamini wrote in her letter to Jones.
Current students are equally passionate about keeping the program, even those who are about to graduate.
Jenn Polando of Uniontown is a senior majoring in psychology, but she is a strong supporter of the art programs.
“I feel it’s important that people express their creativity through their imagination,” Polando said. “I’m worried that eliminating the programs altogether is going to break some students. They use art to create. It makes people feel they are unique.”
Cory Gurganious of Halifax in Dauphin County is a senior fine arts major with a concentration in jewelry making.
”I fell in love with painting and all that, and these teachers are like family,” Gurganious said.
Gurganious said the administration needs to be more open with the students, alumni and faculty about what is going on.
”They try to hide it from us, and that isn’t right. They should be asking what the students think about it. They say there are no jobs (in art), but I live at the beach and I had so many job offers,” Gurganious said.
Jim Bove, an associate art professor, said the university recently highlighted one of his former students in the Cal U Review who was working as a jeweler at MarBill Diamonds and Jewelry in Belle Vernon. Bove said that is just one avenue open to art students.
“Everyone goes into graphic design or art education because they are told they need to make a career out of it, and they don’t know how else to do that. We have students who have their own ceramics studios,” Bove said.
Others have landed residencies at art centers, such as Touchstone in Farmington and the Baltimore Clayworks.
“They came here with other objectives and fell into the bachelor of fine arts program,” Bove said.
Bove said his students are using 3D modeling programs and laser welding.
“These are technology-driven fields of art,” Bove said.
Bove said the arts-related bachelor’s programs feed the graduate program at Cal U, even though there are no graduate programs in the arts.
“I had one student who transferred here and it was too late for him to get into the art education program, so he got his (fine arts bachelor’s) then came back for his master’s in education,” Bove said.
Hess said she will be meeting Sept. 13 with the dean of the College of Liberal Arts to discuss the possible degree eliminations and faculty retrenchment.
“I suggested the talks might be more productive if a member of the art faculty could be there,” Hess said. “Each of those art faculty has an area of expertise. Which are are you going to eliminate?”
Hess said she has not yet been told how many faculty positions need to be cut. She said any faculty slated for layoffs in the 2016-17 academic year must be notified by Oct. 30 under the collective bargaining agreement.
Cal U spokeswoman Christine Kindl said no decisions have been made.