MIAD program will continue in 2013-2014 school year

Photo by Daniel Alfonzo / daniel.alfonzo@mu.edu — Photo by Daniel Alfonzo / [email protected]

Marquette’s partnership with the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design will change for the 2013-2014 school year, MIAD Program Director for Marquette Jean Grow said.

Starting next year, only Marquette students who have declared a fine arts minor will be able to take classes through the partnership. Previously all Marquette students could take courses not offered at the university, such as studio art or upper level graphic design, through the program.

Jean Weimer, registrar at MIAD who works with the cross-registration, was unable to comment as of press time.

The fine arts minor through the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design offers four tracks: studio art, photography, graphic design and motion narrative.

Grow, an associate professor in the College of Communication, said enrollment increased 70 percent in the last five years.

“Nowadays, it is such a skill set to have creative background in your professional career,” she said. “I personally think there will be a high demand for it in the workplace.”

Grow said the process of enrolling within both colleges can be difficult.

“We do find some issues with the dual enrollment with students,” she said. “MIAD does not have an online registration process, and their date of registration is two to three weeks after the Marquette date.”

Megan Noviskis, a senior in the College of Communication with a fine arts minor, said the course registration process presents problems for Marquette students.

“The class registration process has become increasingly difficult,” she said. “My advisor had no idea that I needed to submit a registration form to MIAD before each semester in order to be accepted to take a course at MIAD.”

Noviskis said there was no guarantee she was going to be accepted into the courses. Not only is the MIAD registration generally two to three weeks after Marquette’s, students at MIAD register for their classes before Marquette students when the date comes, Noviskis said. She said she was not expecting the process to be so difficult and would not recommend this program to prospective students.

“The registration and planning process is so disorganized between the two schools, it could really mess up someone’s graduation plans,” she said. “I had to continuously contact people back and forth about issues I was having, and no one seemed to want to deal with me, so I had to make a big stink about things just to get the help and changes I needed.”

Joseph Buzzelli, advertising major and graphic design minor through MIAD, said he had no trouble registering for classes in the program until this past semester because many of the classes were full for the spring 2013 semester.

“I really wanted to take an advertising design class, but was unable to do so,” he said. “I wish the Marquette advisers would’ve worked with me more so I could’ve taken it last year.”

Noviskis said students enrolling in courses at MIAD pay an average of $100 per class as a course fee on top of Marquette tuition. She also said buying supplies and computer programs for the courses add up quickly. She said the computer programs are included in MIAD students’ tuition, while Marquette students need to purchase them on their own.

“But I do feel that this is an important program, and I have learned so much about my minor through a different perspective.”