2016-42

Arizona State University
University Senate
Spring 2016

Senate Motion #2016-42

Motion Introduced by: Curriculum and Academic Programs Committee, Steven Semken, Chair

Date of First Reading: March 28, 2016

Date of Second Reading: April 25, 2016

Title of Motion: Request from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts – School of Film, Dance and Theatre – for the establishment of a graduate certificate – Dance Teaching Artist Praxis

Action Requested: This curricular proposal has received all college, school, unit and university administrative approvals, and is being presented to the Senate for review and voting decision.    

Rationale: We would like to position the School of Film, Dance and Theatre dance program as a leader in the realm of graduate dance teaching artist praxis through the creation of an ASU graduate certificate. Increasingly, universities and PreK-12 schools are moving towards employing teaching artists, or highly skilled artists who have strong teaching foundations and qualifications. Most higher education dance programs have chosen to focus on either the educational/scholarly dimension of dance or the performative/creative. In the progressive and innovative ASU dance program and curriculum, we are focused on developing highly qualified graduates who blend their skills as artists, leaders and teachers to change the communities in which they will engage and teach. There has been a longstanding division in the dance field between those who are perceived as dance artists and those who are trained as dance pedagogues and educators. Although there is a lot of rhetoric around changing this paradigm, there are no known current graduate dance certificate programs that have addressed this division from a curricular offering/graduate program options point of view.