MICA Graduate Theses Collection

The Maryland Institute's programs leading to the Master of Fine Arts degree began in 1954, and one requirement for graduation was the completion of a professional project and the submission to the graduate committee of a thesis or written report on the project.

The college's prospectus catalog from 1958-59 states: "In cases where the project is one whose development is expressed largely through the creation of works of art, the presentation may take the form of an exhibition supported by a written report."

The Decker Library's thesis collection starts in 1956 with reports by students with a general MFA designation, and others in the Art Education and the Rinehart School of Sculpture programs. Theses from the Hoffberger School of Painting begin in 1963, followed by the Maryland Institute Graduate School of Painting in 1975 (to be re-named Mount Royal School of Art by 1978). Photography came along in 1975 (changing names in the late 1990s to Graduate Photography and Digital Imaging, and later Graduate Photography and Electronic Media), and several other subjects are represented sporadically throughout the 1960s and 1970s: Art Therapy, Ceramics, Crafts, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and Printmaking. The low-residency MFA in Studio Art began in the mid-1980s, with the first theses submitted in 1990. The late 1990s saw the beginning of the MA in Digital Art. Several graduate programs began in the early 2000s: MA in Art Education and MFA in Graphic Design. The MFA in Illustration practice was added in 2011, followed by the MA in Critical Studies, the MFA in Curatorial Practice, and the MFA in Community Arts.