Following the unanimous positive response to the student-composed Live Magazine project this past year, it is becoming an ever-present reality that graphic design and graphic art are two areas of study that are becoming increasingly popular in the college community. As businesses continue to go digital with much of their advertising, positions in these areas are at a very high demand.
To respond to this, Geneseo should consider strengthening and broadening its own graphic and computer art programs. The School of Arts at Geneseo provides an impressive array of concentrations, but there has yet to be a significant program dedicated to this area of high commodity.
If this is too much to ask for right away, Geneseo could at least work at improving the courses it currently provides for graphic artists and designers, which are often in complete disarray. Courses are often aimless and without proper guidance by professors; add to that the arbitrary functionality of the computers and equipment, and you often have a class that consists of staring blankly at your computer screen while the class waits in agony for a CIT representative to arrive.
The first thing to do is make sure the computers are always functional. Tuition-paying students who enroll in these courses should not have to memorize which computers in the labs automatically crash upon opening certain programs, so they know to avoid them. Also, capable faculty with extensive computer expertise should be hired to teach these classes. Courses in graphic design and graphic art are futile if students are forced to self-teach. Especially for introductory classes, faculty are needed that can be relied on for technical questions and suggestions.
Part of the responsibility of Geneseo's administration is recognizing an aspect of academia that is growing in popularity and reinforcing it. There are many graphic-artist hopefuls on Geneseo's campus, and too many of them have been severely disappointed by the selection this school offers.