The History of Art and Visual Culture (HAVC) Department at UC Santa Cruz directs its cultural and historical investigation across a wide variety of representations in the cultures of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific Islands, from masks and mountains to mass media. The curriculum guides students in acquiring skill in critical thinking about visual culture.

Study and Research Opportunities

• B.A.
• Undergraduate minor in history of art and visual culture
• Concentration in Religion and Visual Culture
• The Education Abroad Program (EAP) provides the opportunity for study at more than 100 host universities and colleges in 34 countries, including Ghana, Japan, China, and Mexico.

HAVC08.pdf

High School Preparation
High school students planning to major in HAVC at UC Santa Cruz need no specific preparation beyond the courses required for UC admission. Writing skills, however, are particularly useful to history of art and visual culture majors. Please note that AP courses are not applicable to the HAVC requirements.

Transfer Preparation
Transfer students will find it helpful to complete courses that satisfy campus general education requirements before coming to UC Santa Cruz. Those planning to major in HAVC may wish to complete the lower-division requirements for the major before transfer and are invited to contact an adviser through the department office before entering UC Santa Cruz. Transfer credit for some courses taken elsewhere may be applied toward the requirements for the major with the approval of a HAVC faculty adviser. Transfer credit for HAVC courses is given for up to five courses, two of which may be upper-division.

While it is not a condition of admission, students from California community colleges may complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) in preparation for transfer to UC Santa Cruz. However, the history of art and visual culture major requires additional courses for admission to the major (see Declaring the Major section).

Transfer course agreements and articulation between the University of California and California community colleges can be accessed on the ASSIST web site.

Lower-division Requirements for the HAVC Major:

Five courses, as follows:
• Three 10-series: 10D, 10E, and either 10F or 10G
• Two courses selected from the following:
    • additional 10-series courses
    • 80-series courses
    • Visual practice courses: Art 20–30, 70; Theater Arts 14, 18; Science Communication 104A-B, 106A, 107, 109, 110
    • Up to two upper-division HAVC courses may be substituted with prior approval of a faculty adviser.
    • (Transfer courses—a total of 3 courses accepted)

Upper-division Requirements for the HAVC Major:

Ten courses, as follows:
• HAVC 100A (recommend taking in the junior year)
• Courses numbered HAVC 101-189 (6 recommended)
• Courses numbered HAVC 190-191 (2 required, 1 as senior exit requirement)
• 1 upper-division course from another discipline (must be approved by HAVC faculty adviser)
• (Transfer courses - a total of 2 courses accepted)

MILESTONES: The upper-division program must include 4 different HAVC faculty, 2 courses with different cultural settings, and two other courses from different historical eras.

Double Majors
History of art and visual culture may be studied as part of a double major. A student must fulfill all of the requirements for both majors. No upper-division courses may be shared between the majors.

Minor Requirements
Nine courses, as follows:

• Lower-division: three courses (10D, 10E, and either 10F or 10G)
• Upper-division: six courses planned in consultation with a faculty adviser (one HAVC 80-series course may be substituted for one upper-division course)

Study Abroad
The University of California’s Education Abroad Program (EAP) operates in countries throughout the world and serves over 4,000 upper-division students from the 10 UC campuses annually. Students may receive transfer credit for a maximum of three upper-division art history courses taken through the EAP program. Credit for courses taken at other institutions is given only with permission of the student’s faculty adviser. It is strongly suggested that students consult with a faculty member about their course of study before going abroad in order to avoid any confusion about these transfer credits.

Faculty Recognition
Professor Raoul Birnbaum was appointed the Patricia and Rowland Rebele Endowed Chair in History of Art and Visual Culture (2003-2008). Associate Professor Elisabeth Cameron was recognized for Outstanding Achievement in African Studies by the African and African American Studies Research Project, University of California, San Diego. Professor Carolyn Dean was awarded the Franklin Pease G. Y. Memorial Prize (2006) for the best article published in Colonial Latin American Review in 2003-04. Associate Professor Jennifer González received a $16,000 publication grant from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art in support of her forthcoming book: Subject to Display: Restaging Race in Contemporary Installation Art (MIT Press). Assistant Professor Stacy Kamehiro received the Office of the President Research Fellowship for academic year 2007-08. Professor Catherine M. Soussloff received the prestigious appointment of Presidential Chair of History of Art and Visual Culture 2006-2009.

Architecture
Art book publishing
Art criticism
Art history
Art law
Art restoration
Arts administration
Auction management
Exhibition design
Gallery management
Historic preservation
Interior design
Marketing and appraisal of antiques
Museum curating
Museum education
Teaching and research
Urban and landscape design

These are only samples of the field’s many possibilities.

Alum Focus
Jeremy Strick (B.A., art history, ’77) is director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles; Karen Moss (B.A., art history, ’77) is curator at the Orange County Museum of Art; Gordon Knox (B.A., art history, ’78) is director, Lucas Artists Programs at Montalvo; Dr. Janet Grossman (B.A., art history, ’85) is the associate curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; Carolyn Gray Anderson (B.A., art history, ’89) is founding editor of First Draft, the newsletter of the Getty Research Institute. Dr. Kelly Donahue-Wallace (B.A., art history ’90), is associate professor and chair, Division of Art Education and Art History, School of Visual Arts, University of North Texas; Dr. Aaron Kerner (B.A., art history, ’94) is associate professor of cinema at San Francisco State University; Lisa B. Dorin (B.A., art history and art, ’96) is assistant curator of contemporary art, Art Institute of Chicago; Jennifer A. Garpner (B.A., art history, ’96) is assistant registrar of exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Jennifer J. Harbster (B.A., art history and anthropology, ’98) is a digital reference specialist in the Science, Technology and Business Division of the Library of Congress.