About

Mission, Vision, and Values

mindful of the past
we contemplate and create
a better future

MISSION:
Our department seeks to integrate the history and practice of art and design into the MSU community, through teaching, research, and public engagement. We further the mission of the arts to deepen understanding of the human condition.

VISION:
We inspire rigorous paths of study through individual expression and collaboration that focus in and across disciplines. Our faculty and students make meaningful contributions to and/or challenge existing paradigms in art, art history, and design. Through education and encouragement of broad dialogue within and about the arts, we promote positive and sustainable change in our global community.

VALUES:
As a department within a land-grant institution, we work “to democratize higher education and expand its opportunities based on merit, not social class.” Our creative work and scholarship are sensitive to the intersections between diverse contemporary contexts and their histories. The department provides an empowering environment where the inherent worth and dignity of all people are respected and celebrated. We recognize the value of diversity, which includes differences of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexuality, age, religion, politics, and socio-economic status. We extend this social definition to include a diversity of aesthetics and modes of scholarship and creative practice.

Endorsed by AAHD faculty, November 2, 2018
Haiku courtesy of Walter Peebles

AAHD Bylaws Approved Dec 2021 [PDF]