In Focus: The MFA Review: Florida Atlantic University

In Focus: The MFA Review: Florida Atlantic University by Daniel GeorgeJune 5, 2026

©Sharon Hart, Associate Professor

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 Sharon Hart and others for completing this interview and compiling all the images/resources!

Institution name: Florida Atlantic University (FAU)

Degree Title: MFA in Visual Art

Location: Boca Raton, FL

Link to Program Page: https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/vaah/

Link to Application Page: https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/vaah/graduate/application/

Link to Graduate College: https://www.fau.edu/graduate/

Instagram: @mfa_fau

©Sharon Hart, Associate Professor

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

The photography area within the program is conceptually driven and rooted in critique, with an emphasis on advancing the medium through material engagement and conceptual rigor. More broadly, the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art in the Department of Visual Arts and Art History (VAAH) is a three-year graduate degree centered on sustained studio practice and the development of a distinct, cohesive body of work. Students work closely with faculty mentors while advancing their practice in ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and/or sculpture. The department also offers a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art: Graphic Design.

While each student enters with a primary area of focus, the curriculum encourages cross-disciplinary study when it strengthens the work. Graduate seminars, art history, electives, and directed independent studies support professional development, critical engagement, and material exploration. The program culminates in a thesis exhibition, public defense, and written document that emphasize clarity and professional presentation. All full-time students receive individual studio space with 24/7 access, supporting a studio culture grounded in critique, experimentation, and dialogue.

©Sharon Hart, Associate Professor

What would you say makes your program special?

Close mentorship and the working relationships students build with faculty and peers are central to the program. Because the cohort is intentionally small, engagement with faculty is ongoing and direct. Students meet regularly in critique, committee meetings, and individual studio visits. Alongside advancing their studio practice, we address writing, exhibition planning, and teaching preparation. Students can also connect meaningfully with other academic disciplines and research initiatives, including the Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

The program is shaped by its South Florida location. The region’s coastal ecologies and cultural convergence provide both context and subject matter for many students. Miami, to the south, offers access to major museums, private collections, and organizations such as Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), while West Palm Beach is home to the Norton Museum of Art, with its photography exhibition program and significant collection, and the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. On campus, the University Galleries present exhibitions alongside lectures and public programs, and the Jaffe Center for Book Arts provides access to a substantial artist book collection, workshops, and exhibitions. The campus is less than two miles from the beach, a practical benefit many students appreciate.

©Sharon Hart (& Izel Vargas), Associate Professor

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

Photography facilities include a digital lab, an analog lab, and a dedicated critique space. The analog area features a 15-station black-and-white darkroom equipped for printing, along with individual film processing rooms for 35mm, medium format, and large format film. The space also includes two dry mount presses, print washers, drying racks, and a heated negative drying cabinet. The digital lab includes 18 Mac workstations with Adobe Creative Cloud, scanners, and printers, including a large-format Epson inkjet printer. Photography students also have access to equipment checkout, including cameras, lenses, tripods, speedlights, portable backdrops, and lighting kits.

©Sharon Hart (& Izel Vargas), Associate Professor

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

The program allows for interdisciplinary work and includes students with multidisciplinary practices. While most students enter with a primary area of specialization, they are encouraged to work in ways that best serve the direction of their ideas. For some, that means remaining rooted in one discipline. For others, it means moving between areas as the work requires.

©Michael Dillow, Adjunct 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?

The photography area, and the program more broadly, tends to lean toward environmental, place-based, and identity-driven work. We approach photography as an evolving and expansive medium. Graduate students are expected to enter with technical proficiency. While specific gaps can be addressed, the focus is on advancing and challenging an emerging or established practice. Students are encouraged to experiment materially and conceptually, pushing the medium in new or unexpected directions that align with their ideas. As their practice evolves, students may shift focus, particularly in the first year when experimentation and risk taking are expected.

©Michael Dillow, Adjunct Faculty

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

The curriculum includes required courses, but there is some flexibility and I would say it is structured without being rigid. Required courses include Graduate Studio, Professional Practices (which also covers pedagogical issues), Art History, and Special Topics. In recent years, Special Topics offerings have included classes such as Sustainability and Experimental Photography, Printmaking Mural Installation, Manipulating Multiples, and Environment as Catalyst. Students also complete Directed Independent Studies and have free electives, with the option to take courses outside the department. Recent students have enrolled in courses in Philosophy, Creative Writing, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Many graduate students also take the Graduate Museum Studies course, offered within the department and connected to our University Galleries, which provides direct engagement with exhibitions and curatorial practice.

©Michael Dillow, Adjunct Faculty

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

The program is concept driven rather than technology driven. Emerging tools are incorporated when they meaningfully serve the work rather than as a primary focus of instruction.

©Tere Garcia, Adjunct Faculty

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

Yes, there is support for conference attendance, portfolio reviews, and workshops, with some of the funding available through internal departmental grants and scholarships. To share an example of networking and professional development opportunities, Graduate Coordinator Laura Graham recently organized a trip to the Atlanta Art Fair and Art Papers Symposium. The trip offered students the opportunity to gain professional experience from leading critics and curators while also engaging with nationally recognized galleries. The graduate program takes advantage of its location in a flourishing contemporary arts community with visits to internationally known collections, such as Bunker Artspace, and galleries, such as Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, New Wave, and Eric Firestone Gallery.

©Tere Garcia, Adjunct Faculty

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

A solo exhibition, public defense, and written document are required.

©Tere Garcia, Adjunct Faculty

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

In the photography area, I serve as the full-time faculty member, alongside adjunct instructors like Michael Dillow and Tere Garcia. My work engages coastal and cultivated ecologies shaped by environmental change through experimental and more sustainable photographic methods, while an ongoing mixed-media collaboration grounded in memory, domesticity, and the super/natural extends my practice. Tere is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, performance, and video whose practice along the United States-Mexico border examines identity, place, and the impact of constructed boundaries. Michael is a lens-based artist whose work considers the relationship between psychological states, memory, and geographic location, often using book formats and other nontraditional forms of photo-based installation.

Students engage with faculty throughout VAAH. For a sense of the range of practices represented, it is helpful to view the complete faculty list and profiles on the VAAH website.

Are faculty members primarily full-time or adjunct?

The photography area has 1 full-time and 2-3 adjunct faculty members teaching each year. The Department of Visual Arts and Art History has 18 full-time faculty members and 18 adjunct faculty members across Art History, Graphic Design, and Studio Art.

©Tucker Jackson, MFA Candidate

How involved are faculty in mentoring students beyond coursework?

Quite involved. Beyond coursework, students work closely with a three-person committee composed of VAAH faculty and, at times, a relevant member from outside the department. Committees are initially assigned in the first year based on faculty alignment with the student’s work, and after that period students may determine their committee members. A committee might include an art historian, the gallery director, faculty within the student’s area of specialization, and faculty outside of it. Committee members conduct two to three studio visits each semester, which typically involve critique in relation to historical and contemporary practice, theory, material experimentation, and professional development. Students may also invite additional faculty for studio visits beyond their committee. Each committee has a chair, typically a faculty member in the student’s primary area of study, who meets more regularly with the student and takes on a closer mentorship role. Students also work with the Graduate Coordinator, who provides additional guidance throughout the program.

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

Frequently. Graduate students engage with visiting artists and critics several times each semester through courses such as Graduate Seminar and Professional Practices, as well as through individual departmental areas, the galleries, and broader university programming. Being in a very active art ecosystem, we are fortunate to have a large community of local and visiting artists, curators, and arts professionals that can come to campus. These visits may include workshops, lectures, and critiques, giving students the opportunity to connect directly with the guests.

©Tucker Jackson, MFA Candidate

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

On average, 3 to 6 students are admitted each year with 1 to 2 being photography focused, with several others incorporating photography or photographic materials into their practice. The program is intentionally small and multidisciplinary, making it well suited for students who thrive with cross-area dialogue rather than a large, photography only cohort.

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

Across all three years, there are approximately 10-12 students in the total cohort. The smaller size facilitates community, allowing students to connect and engage with one another’s practices over a long period of time. Additionally, many of our courses are structured to allow for the enrollment of the entire cohort. This fosters mentorship between students, creating a system where students in their first year of candidacy can learn directly from students in their second and third years.

©Tucker Jackson, MFA Candidate

What kind of work are current students creating?

Below are a few descriptions of work currently being developed by graduate students in the program.

Combining documentary-style photographs of regional canal systems with experimental underwater images made through weeklong exposures using handmade cameras, my work examines tensions between human development and the landscape and how culture has reshaped our relationship with the natural world.

– Jackson Tucker, first-year graduate student working primarily with photography and integrating installation and book forms into his practice

Rooted in the traditions of printmaking and informed by cultural communication, family history, and the structures of feminine identity, my work questions the relationship between the perceived ideal of the Latin American woman and its lived reality.

– Alexandra (Lexi) Fernandez, second-year graduate student working primarily in printmaking while also engaging photography, bookmaking, and natural dyes in her practice.

Straddling the spheres of fine art and craft, my work investigates storytelling as a means of placemaking by translating collected oral histories and personal interviews into multimedia textile installations that act as grounding and orienting reflections in a dissociated and socially siloed culture.
-Jenna Alyse Clark, second-year graduate student working with fibers, bookmaking, musical soundscaping, site-specific foraging, and natural dye making.

Working in aluminum, wood, and paper, I construct points of intersection between human-made languages and symbols and the visible and invisible patterns that structure the living environment. – Hodaya Louis, second-year graduate student working in sculpture, drawing, and installation.

What is the total cost of the program and what funding options are available?

You can view the up-to-date tuition calculator here. If a full-time student takes the typical 20 credits divided amongst the fall and spring semesters, it looks like the tuition for the year for in state students is $7,436.40 and for out of state it is $22,501.20. There is funding available through the graduate school and through Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs), which include a tuition waiver and a stipend.

Are there teaching assistantships, and what percentage of tuition do they cover?

Funding is available through competitive Graduate Teaching Assistantships for full-time students, which include a stipend and tuition waiver. Health insurance is available at a reduced cost. Students are responsible for university fees. GTA appointments involve assisting in undergraduate courses, supporting departmental initiatives, and/or working in area studios and digital labs. Graduate students may also have the opportunity to teach their own section of a foundations or introductory course, typically beginning in the second year after first assisting in that course. Pedagogical practices are covered as part of that preparation.

Are additional grants/resources available to support student projects?

Several scholarship opportunities exist in the Department of Visual Arts and Art History. These are shared with students throughout the semester and provide students with financial assistance towards educational expenses. Some of these include the Esther Saylor Rothenberger Scholarship and the Friedland Project Grant. Other available awards such as those through the Graduate College, include the Dean’s Fellowship and the Presidential Fellowship. The university is transitioning to Scholarship Universe in Fall 2026 where these types of awards will be visible in an online database. In the meantime, more information about fellowships and awards can be found on the Graduate College website and the VAAH Awards and Scholarships blog.

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

Faculty are active in the arts community and regularly engage with regional institutions, connecting students with opportunities at museums, galleries, academic, and cultural organizations, particularly in South Florida. These relationships can lead to exhibition opportunities and professional positions after graduation. Faculty typically remain in contact with graduates and continue to support them as their careers develop. In addition to working in other arts-related fields, alumni have gone on to become practicing artists, curators, and professors.

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

The alumni network is solid and remains connected to the program. Because the program is small, relationships formed here tend to be deep and lasting. Many graduates stay in touch with faculty and one another, return for exhibitions and events, and share opportunities with current students. Alumni also come back for studio visits and as guest lecturers.