Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design

Last updated
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design Logo.png
Type Private for-profit art school
Established1963
President Brent Fitch
Academic staff
73 fulltime
Administrative staff
150
Location,
U.S.

39°44′37″N105°4′12″W / 39.74361°N 105.07000°W / 39.74361; -105.07000
CampusUrban, 23 acres (9.3 ha)
Colors Orange and black
Nickname RMCAD
Website www.rmcad.edu
RMCAD's Lakewood, Colorado Campus at night RMCAD Night.jpg
RMCAD's Lakewood, Colorado Campus at night

The Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD) is a private for-profit art school in Lakewood, Colorado. [1] The college was founded in 1963 by Philip J. Steele, an artist and teacher. [2]

Contents

History

RMCAD was established in 1963 by Philip J. Steele, an artist and educator. In January 1963, Phillip J. Steel purchased the Art for All Studios school from Dorothea Seeley Shulenburg (1901-1975). Steele renamed the school "Rocky Mountain School of Art" [3] [4] as a proprietorship and later incorporated the school on September 11, 1972. [5] The college relocated several times as it increased enrollment. In 2003, the college moved from its three-building Denver location to its current and larger location in the suburb of Lakewood. [6] In 2010, a group of investors who own Full Sail University purchased a controlling share of the college from the Steele family, and began an initiative to restructure the college and curriculum. [7] In 2014, amidst a turnover of a significant number of key faculty, RMCAD rescheduled its in-person campus courses to align with the scheduling of online classes, and to cut costs moved most liberal arts courses on line. [8] Currently, RMCAD is affiliated with Full Sail University. [9]

Academics

RMCAD is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) [10] and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. [11] The Interior Design program is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation. [12]

Students

Approximately 1,400 undergraduate students with a student body is 66% female, 34% male, 41% minorities and international students. Seventy-nine percent of students are out-of-state. [13]

Student to instructor ratio is above average at nine students for every instructor and the average class size is eight students. The average age of on-campus students is 23 and the average online student is 30. [14]

Campus

Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design campus comprises 23 acres (9.3 ha). [15] The RMCAD campus has the designation of National Historic District. [16] Currently, the campus has 17 structures, 11 of which are devoted to classrooms, common areas, and other support spaces, including four galleries and studio spaces. The campus is the former site of the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) and its successor organization, the American Medical Center, included in the National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Colorado [17] and is located in the 40 West Arts District [18] close to Casa Bonita. [19] The campus is located in the city of Lakewood, Colorado which is between the city of Denver and the foothills of Colorado's Front Range mountains. [20]

Galleries

The college has four main galleries; the Philip J. Steele Gallery, Rude Gallery, Alumni Gallery, and Student Gallery. [21] The Philip J. Steele Gallery is the largest gallery on campus and is named after the founder of the college. Rude Gallery is a more intimate space in the Rude Building, and the Alumni Gallery is located in the main foyer of the Texas building. [22] The student gallery is located in the EPiC building.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion Institute of Technology</span> Fashion school of the State University of New York

The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auraria Campus</span> Academic campus in Denver, Colorado, home to three higher education institutions

Auraria Campus is an educational facility located near downtown Denver, Colorado in the United States. The campus houses facilities of three separate universities and colleges: the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver (CCD), and Metropolitan State University of Denver. In 2017, there were approximately 54,812 students between the three schools, with rapid growth projected over the following few years. However, due to Covid and declining enrollment, the collective student population in 2022 was approximately 38,000, with an additional 5,000 faculty and staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watkins College of Art at Belmont University</span> Art school at Belmont University

Watkins College of Art at Belmont University is an art and design college of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. It is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and offers Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees as well as post-graduate degrees in film and visual arts. As of 2019, approximately 200 students were enrolled, mostly full-time. The college resides in a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) facility in the MetroCenter area of north Nashville and offers on-campus housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of Visual Arts</span> Former art school in Saint Paul, Minnesota

The College of Visual Arts (CVA) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, was a private, accredited, four-year college of art and design offering a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fine arts, graphic design, illustration, and photography. The fine arts degree offered concentrations in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Christian University</span> Christian university in Lakewood, Colorado

Colorado Christian University (CCU) is a private Christian university in Lakewood, Colorado. CCU was founded by Clifton Fowler in 1914 as the Denver Bible Institute.

Red Rocks Community College (RRCC) is a public community college in Lakewood and Arvada, Colorado. It is part of the Colorado Community College System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Institute of Colorado</span> Former for-profit art school as part of The Art Institutes

The Art Institute of Colorado was a for-profit art and culinary school in Denver, Colorado. It briefly operated as a non-profit institution before it closed in 2018. The school was one of a number of Art Institutes, a franchise of for-profit art colleges with many branches in North America, owned and operated by Education Management Corporation. EDMC owned the college from 1975 until 2017, when, facing significant financial problems and declining enrollment, the company sold the Art Institute of Colorado, along with 30 other Art Institute schools, to Dream Center Education, a Los Angeles–based Pentecostal organization. Dream Center permanently closed 18 Art Institute schools, including the Art Institute of Colorado, at the end of 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laguna College of Art and Design</span> Art school in Laguna Beach, California

Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) is a private college in Laguna Beach, California. With an enrollment of more than 700 students, the college offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in 11 majors and three Master of Fine Arts degree programs as well as a post-baccalaureate certificate program in Drawing and Painting.

University of the Rockies was a private university in Denver, Colorado. It operated from 1998 to 2018 and offered graduate and postgraduate instruction in the social and behavioral sciences both online and at its Denver Instructional Site. The university's programs were organized into two schools: The School of Professional Psychology (SOPP) and the School of Organizational Leadership (SOL), offering masters and doctorate degrees as well as graduate level certificate programs. The university's parent organization, Zovio, is a for-profit higher education company based in San Diego, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaii Loa College</span> Private college in Kaneohe, Hawaii, U.S.

<i>Intermountain Jewish News</i> Weekly newspaper published in Denver, Colorado

The Intermountain Jewish News (IJN) is a weekly newspaper serving the Denver-Boulder communities and the greater Rocky Mountain Jewish community (Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anschutz Medical Campus</span> University of Colorados health sciences-related schools and colleges

The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the academic health sciences campus in Aurora, Colorado that houses the University of Colorado's six health sciences-related schools and colleges, including the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the CU College of Nursing, the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, and the Colorado School of Public Health, as well as the graduate school for various fields in the biological and biomedical sciences. The campus also includes the 184-acre (0.74 km2) Fitzsimons Innovation Community, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Affairs hospital, and a residential/retail town center known as 21 Fitzsimons. CU Anschutz is the largest academic health center in the Rocky Mountain region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Front Range Community College</span> Community college in Colorado, U.S.

Front Range Community College (FRCC) is a public community college with three campuses in Colorado, located in Westminster, Longmont, and Fort Collins. It is the largest community college in Colorado and the most popular transfer institution for the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and CSU Global. The average class size at FRCC is around 15 students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakewood, Colorado</span> City in Colorado, United States

Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census, making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Colorado and the 167th most populous city in the United States. Lakewood is a suburb of Denver and is a principal city of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Colorado Denver</span> Public university in Denver, Colorado

The University of Colorado Denver is a public research university located in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. Established in 1912 as an extension of the University of Colorado Boulder, CU Denver attained university status and became an independent institution in 1973. CU Denver is the largest research university in Colorado, and is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities - Very High Research Activity. The university's graduate programs award more master's degrees than any other institution in the state, serving roughly 5,000 students annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Ellsworth Fisher</span> American architect

William Ellsworth Fisher was an architect who founded the Denver, Colorado firm that became Fisher & Fisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan State University of Denver</span> Public university in Denver, Colorado, U.S.

Metropolitan State University of Denver is a public university in Denver, Colorado. It is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver, in downtown Denver, adjacent to Speer Boulevard and Colfax Avenue. MSU Denver had an enrollment of 15,682 students in the fall of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel and Dorothy Tanner</span> American installation & light artists

Mel Tanner was an American light sculptor, painter, installation artist, and videographer. His wife, Dorothy Tanner, was an American light sculptor, installation artist, musician, videographer, and spoken word artist based in Denver, Colorado. The couple worked very closely for over 40 years. Their main project was the creation of Lumonics that consists of their light sculptures, live projection, video, electronics, and music as a total art installation. Author and art historian, Michael Betancourt, described this visual music performance work as a Gesamtkunstwerk in his book, The Lumonics Theater: The Art of Mel & Dorothy Tanner, published in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society</span> Hospital in Colorado, U.S.

When the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) opened its doors in September 1904, it had only seven patients housed in white wooden "Tucker" tents. Over the next fifty years, however, the JCRS served over 10,000 patients, more than half of those patients were from New York City. While National Jewish Health was founded earlier to also treat tuberculosis, and both were nondenominational, JCRS was established to serve the West Colfax Jewish community with an Orthodox kitchen as opposed to the more secular National Jewish Health. The campus was also home to the first synagogue in Jefferson County, Colorado. Completed in 1926, the Isaac Solomon Synagogue was the third synagogue on the JCRS campus and was actively used from 1926 until the 1950s. Since 1980, the campus has been on the National Register of Historic Places, though the original application does have several factual errors, such as confusing the 1926 synagogue with its 1911 predecessor.

Charles David Spivak was a Russian Empire-born American medical doctor, community leader, and writer. He was one of the founders of the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society in what is now Lakewood, Colorado. He was the editor of The Sanatorium as well as the first editor of the Denver Jewish News (now known as the Intermountain Jewish News. With Yehoash, he is also the author of what was once the premier Yiddish-English Dictionary.

References

  1. Vandewart, Lindsay (5 May 2017). "One of Denver's Old Art Galleries Sets Sale this Weekend". 303 Magazine.
  2. Hahn, Nancy. "Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design – A Blend of the New and the Old in Lakewood". Neighborhood Gazette.
  3. Stajich, S. (1980). RMSA: One Man’s Contribution. Life on Capitol Hill, 6(2). February 6, 1980.
  4. Hurd, J. (1980). Fundamentals for creating your own character for your comic strip. Cartoonist Profiles, 47(September). p.58.
  5. Colorado Secretary of State Business Entity Database
  6. Jones, Corey. "Upheavals Lead To Uncertainty At Colorado Art School". Archived from the original on 2019-04-26.
  7. Jones, Corey. "Upheavals Lead To Uncertainty At Colorado Art School". Archived from the original on 2019-04-26.
  8. Vaccarelli, Joe (15 October 2013). "Students stirred over structural changes at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design". The Denver Post.
  9. "Full Sail University: Policies and Guidelines".
  10. "HLC Statement of Accreditation Status". Higher Learning Commission.
  11. "NASAD Accredited Institutions". NASAD.
  12. "Summary of Accreditation Findings". Council for Interior Design Accreditation.
  13. "Students at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design". Niche.com.
  14. "Big Future – Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design". CollegeBoard. College Summary.
  15. "Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design Ranking". U.S. News & World Report.
  16. "Jefferson County Historic Site Listings". History Colorado.
  17. Newton, Joel. "JCRS and the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society". Neighborhood Gazette.
  18. "40West Arts District Destinations". 40 West Arts District.
  19. "South Park Casa Bonita". IMDB.
  20. "Lakewood". Colorado.com.
  21. "Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design – A Blend of the New and the Old in Lakewood". Neighborhood Gazette.
  22. Rinaldi, Ray (7 June 2012). "Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design exhibit showcases works by Guerra de la Paz, others". Denver Post.