Senior Thesis Program & Exhibition
In your final year of study, you have the option to apply to our Senior Thesis Program.
Thesis students participate in a year-long journey of research, writing, and art-making centered around critical dialogue with peers, faculty, visiting artists, and arts professionals.
For those students who are accepted, this program acts as a capstone to the undergraduate experience, helping them to assess the progress they’ve made and clarify the directions they’ll take next. Students work closely with dedicated Senior Thesis faculty as they plan, create work for, and mount a final public exhibition. Along the way they cultivate skills in the planning and development of ambitious projects, form bonds with their classmates, refine writing and professional presentation skills, all while honing their concept and craft. The professional practices developed during Senior Thesis serve as a platform for the development of an ongoing, independent art practice.
"My thesis has been a conduit for all the things I’m interested in to come through without feeling like any one has to be compromised or sacrificed."
- NICHOLAS PAPA, BFA '18
Past Senior Thesis Exhibitions
2024 Senior Thesis Exhibition: Building Backwards
Building Backwards featured the capstone projects of forty-eight graduating BFA and Combined Degree students.
More about the 2024 exhibition
2023 Senior Thesis Exhibition: for the record...
for the record...featured the work of twenty-four undergraduate students who completed the Senior Thesis Program
More about the 2023 exhibition
2022 Senior Thesis Exhibition: if you draw a _____ it could be the ground
if you draw a _____ it could be the ground featured the work of fourteen undergraduate students who completed the Senior Thesis Program.
More about the 2022 exhibition
2021 Senior Thesis Exhibition: Proximity
Proximity featured the work of fourteen undergraduate students who completed the Senior Thesis Program.
More about the 2021 exhibition
2020 Senior Thesis Exhibition: Outrageous Plans for Sensible Ideas
Outrageous Plans for Sensible Ideas presented the work of 14 undergraduate students who completed the Senior Thesis Program in the midst of the COVID-19 2020 global pandemic.
More about the 2020 exhibition
2019 Senior Thesis Exhibition: Liminal Space
Liminal Space, a term to describe the transition between past and future, showcased emerging artists from different backgrounds, coming together to speak of their own experiences.