©Tema Stauffer, Faculty

Each installment of In Focus: The MFA Review highlights a different MFA program for photographic artists, offering readers a concise overview of its identity, curriculum, faculty, student experience, financial support, and post-graduation outcomes. It also serves as a showcase of the creative work produced by faculty, students, and alumni. Rather than functioning as rankings or endorsements, these features are intended as practical starting points—tools to help prospective students compare programs, identify what matters most to them, and make more informed decisions about their graduate education. While certain details shared in these articles may change over time, my hope is that these program snapshots offer a clear sense of what each represents in the present moment.

Thank you to Tema Stauffer for completing this interview and compiling all the images/resources!

Institution name: East Tennessee State University

Degree Title: MFA in Studio Art

Location: Johnson City, TN

Link to Program Page: https://www.etsu.edu/cas/art/academics/programs/mfa.php

Link to Application Page: https://www.etsu.edu/gradschool/programs.php

©Tema Stauffer, Faculty

Tell us a little about your program. How would you define its scope and purpose?

We offer a three-year (60 credit) program in studio art and have teaching opportunities after the first year.  Areas of focus include Ceramics, Drawing, Graphic Design, Jewelry & Metals, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture. Students work with a faculty advisor in their primary medium for three years and complete a thesis exhibition and thesis paper during the final semester of their third year.

©Tema Stauffer, Faculty

What would you say makes your program special?

Our location makes our program special for several reasons. The university is located in Johnson City, Tennessee at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so students who are interested in exploring the natural and socio-economic landscape of southeastern Appalachia are perfectly positioned to photograph the region.  For example, one of our alums, Meg Roussos, who completed her MFA in 2019, came to ETSU from the West Coast partly because of its proximity to the Appalachian Trail. Roussos uses the landscape, both in the Southeast and the West, as her backdrop and walking as the foundation to explore various experiences in the landscape from the highly personal to the social and technological. Hannah Taylor, who also did her undergraduate studies at ETSU, grew up nearby and produced a beautiful thesis exhibition, Blue-Collar Backroads, from a two-year exploration of identity, memory, and place through driving rural backroads in the region. Recent graduate Craig Bradley Owens focused on former coal towns located in southwestern Virginia, while one of our current MFA students, William Arrowood, is focusing on the practice of planting and crowing crops, foraging, harvesting, and preserving foods through his project, Heirloom.

Johnson City is also one hour from Asheville, with its many cultural amenities and larger arts community, and just a few hours from Charlotte and Atlanta. Students can access both rural and urban environments easily. We offer a small program where students work in graduate studio spaces on campus and regularly interact with one another and their faculty advisors.

Among the greatest assets of the Department of Art & Design are our exhibition venues, including the Slocumb Galleries in our art building, Ball Hall. We also have a gorgeous new exhibition space called the Tipton-Ashe Gallery near campus and close to downtown Johnson City. And we have a wonderful museum on campus, the Reece Museum, which exhibits some student and faculty work, along with solo and group shows by regional and national artists.

©Tema Stauffer, Faculty

What specialized facilities are available for student use (i.e. darkroom, lighting studio, print lab)?

We have a digital lab with 18 iMac Computers and two Epson Stylus Pro 3880 photo printers. Our Visual Resource Center is equipped with three large-format Epson printers and ample workspace to make large prints. Graduate students have access to a Hasselbald Imacon Flextight X5 film scanner and an Epson Expression 12000XL flatbed scanner. We provide DSLRs, 4x5in film cameras, and studio lighting kits for students to borrow.

Is your program strictly photography-focused, or does it encourage/allow interdisciplinary work?

Our MFA is in studio art, so students interested in photography would choose it as an area of concentration. Our program highly encourages interdisciplinary work. Our MFA students take classes outside of their concentration as well and get to know all our professors through classes outside of their area of concentration and a graduate critique in November with the entire department.

©Tema Stauffer, Faculty

Do you specialize in a particular area (i.e. documentary, experimental, environmental work)? And once in the program, is a student able to shift their focus if their creative interests change?

Given that photographer Mike Smith taught at ETSU for 35 years, and I have taught here for 8 years, I imagine that our photography area is associated with photography focused on the social landscape within the documentary tradition. But students are free to explore media, approaches, and techniques and take courses in various areas of interest during their first year. They are encouraged to focus on work for their thesis exhibition by the second year.

How structured is the curriculum? Are there required courses, or is it more self-directed?

Students will need to achieve 60 credits in three years. Nine of those credits are designated for Art History courses. Forty-two credits will be in graduate studio courses. Students are required to take Methods of Research in the spring of their first or second year. Graduate Elective Courses inside or outside the department can be taken with approval from the Graduate Coordinator, who will add these courses to their program of study.

©Tema Stauffer, Faculty

Does the program incorporate video work or emerging media such as AI, VR/AR, or 3D/360 imaging?

The Department of Art & Design offers courses in Digital Material Studies, including 3D imaging. While there are no courses offered in video in our department, students can and have incorporated video pieces in their thesis exhibitions. Students can also take elective courses in the Media & Communication and Digital Media departments.

Does the program offer career development support, such as portfolio reviews, workshop/conference attendance, or networking opportunities?

The Department of Art & Design hosts a bi-annual  Iterations Conference, which is a two-day workshop series that engages students with professional art and design practitioners. 

©William Arrowood, Current Student

What are key graduation requirements (exhibition, thesis paper, portfolio, etc.)?

Students must complete 60 credits and complete a thesis exhibition accompanied by a thesis paper. Students give an oral defense of their exhibition to a thesis committee led by their advisor.

©William Arrowood, Current Student

Who are your current faculty members? What are their areas of creative interest?

Mathew Wheeler (Ceramics), Katie Reis (Foundations), Kelly Porter (Graphic Design), Johnathon Strube (Graphic Design), Mindy Herrin (Jewelry & Metals), Mira Gerard (Painting), Tema Stauffer (Photography), Sage Perrott (Printmaking), and Travis Graves (Sculpture). We also have three professors of Art History, Dr. Michael Fowler, Dr. Yi Liu, and Dr. Scott Koterbay. Our department chair is Dr. Tao Huang, who holds a Ph. D. in architecture and design research from Virginia Tech University. “I come into a department with so many brilliant minds. Our faculty, staff and students constantly fascinate me with their bold ideas and grand ambitions,” said Huang in a recent article. “I am here first and foremost to serve them, to help them realize their career and education goals. I am also looking outwards for more collaborations with other units in the university and beyond by developing more interdisciplinary programs and projects.”

Are faculty members primarily full-time or adjunct?

All the faculty members just mentioned are full-time, but there are a few adjuncts teaching undergraduate classes.

©William Arrowood, Current Student

How involved are faculty in mentoring students beyond coursework?

Our graduate students work with a graduate advisor in their area, who supervises their research and teaching and helps prepare them for their thesis exhibitions. This mentorship involves frequent meetings online or in person.

How often do guest artists, curators, or critics visit for lectures and/or critiques?

Our department generally hosts at least one, if not more, visit by a guest artist each semester. For example, this semester, photographer and Professor of Art at Vanderbilt University, Vesna Pavolić, attended a reception for her Woven Wind project exhibited at our Slocumb Galleries in September and returned to speak to two classes, as well as to provide studio visits to MFA students in October.

©William Arrowood, Current Student

How many students are admitted each year, and how many are photography focused?

We generally have three or four incoming students each year; at least one is photography focused.

What is the approximate cohort size, and what effect does this have on critiques, collaboration, and networking?

The cohort size is around ten students – sometimes more or less. We are interested in growing the MFA program as much as possible within the capacity that our facilities and Graduate Assistantships can accommodate.

What kind of work are current students creating?

The work produced in our MFA program is so diverse, from traditional to experimental in the various media that I mentioned previously.

©Brad Owens, Alum

What is the total cost of the program (and duration), and what funding options are available? Are there teaching assistantships, and what percentage of tuition do they cover?

Costs are outlined on our website at: Graduate Cost of Attendance. Most of our MFA students are offered Graduate Assistantships. Students awarded a Graduate Assistantship will have their full tuition covered (including out-of-state tuition) and will receive a small stipend of $7,000 for the school year. GAs are expected to work 20 hours per week for the department as a part of their funding package. Students are generally assigned to work with one or more faculty members. Typical duties include assisting with classroom management, grading tests and assignments, leading study groups. GAs may also be asked to assist in performing research, or in performing administrative functions.

Are additional grants/resources available to support student projects?

Graduate students can apply for ETSU grants at Graduate Student Awards.

©Brad Owens, Alum

What types of careers to alumni pursue, and how does the program support students after graduation?

Our alumni are artists, educators, graphic designers, set designers, curators, and writers, among other professions. Some teach at high schools and others at colleges and universities around the country.

How connected is the alumni network, and do graduates stay involved with the program?

How connected the alumni network is depends on how much former students take the initiative to stay in touch with their professors and peers. I am still in contact with most of the students with whom I worked in the MFA program. Most former students are also connected to the ETSU community through social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

©Brad Owens, Alum

©Meg Roussos, Alum

©Bradley Marshall, Alum