Art History courses are woven through your education at MIAD. Studying the history of making offers you a context for your own pursuits. Art History at MIAD looks beyond the aesthetic and function of art and design to develop an understanding of the why behind the work. These discoveries are complemented by active learning and professional experiences such as field trips and internships. MIAD’s educational partnerships with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago provide opportunities to access extensive, world-class collections of art and design in the Midwest.

Humanities is the study of what it means to be human. Courses at MIAD vary from “Queer Theory” to “Strategies for Storytelling” to “Disability Studies.” Through them you’ll enrich your awareness of the diverse forms of the human experience, which is key to a dynamic creative practice. As a creative, your influence on communities and culture can be transformative. The Humanities will enable your engagement with communities within and outside of MIAD, expand your understanding of the world and challenge you to make a difference.

Lakes, rivers, forests and prairies surround Milwaukee — they’ll be your playgrounds in the study of Natural Sciences. Here, you don’t just study, you do science: you touch, look and smell as you fully and deeply experience nature, whether that calls for drilling through the ice, wading in a river or figuring out what you see under a microscope. Natural Sciences will challenge you to go outside of your comfort zone, discover information, make sense of it, form your own thinking about it and share that information with your peers and community. The scientific method will provide a basis for your exploration and thinking in the natural sciences as you become a critical lifelong learner.

Writing at MIAD is about expression, ideation, innovation and representation of yourself and the world around you. As you learn to make meaningful decisions through language and form, you’ll take inventory of what you know, develop ideas and experience writing as a rich mode of inquiry. The Writing curriculum supports passion-led exploration of personal, creative and professional writing that speaks to the self, but also speaks to an audience and connects to the public. In your time at MIAD, you’ll become a better, more confident writer and discover the power of writing as making.