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students looking at art in the melvin art gallery

Bachelor of Arts in
Art History and Museum Studies

Every picture tells a story. Every object has a history.

As a major in our Art History and Museum Studies program, the only of its kind housed in a museum, you will gain the academic and technical expertise required for looking at, handling, speaking, and writing about art, artifacts, and their vital role in human culture.

With the Polk Museum of Art as your home base, your degree in Art History and Museum Studies will take you around the globe and across millennia as you come to understand the aesthetic, cultural, political, and social significance of art, artifacts, architecture, and visual culture upon world history. Delve into visual analysis, archaeology, anthropology, literary and art criticism, philosophy, and even the science and business of art, as you explore the inner workings of museums and experiment with research methods and conservation techniques.

Top Reasons to choose Art History and Museum Studies at florida southern college

Expert Faculty

As an art history and museum studies student, you will have the unique opportunity to study — and work one-on-one — with a museum director and chief curator as your professor, advisor, and mentor, along with art and art history professors who excel in their knowledge of the field.

Study Abroad

Immerse yourself in art history and museum studies. Visit the hubs of the art world with faculty-led study abroad trips to Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin and our Junior Journey trip to New York City.

Practical Experience

As an art history and museum studies student, you will have opportunities to help install and manage art exhibitions both at the college's Melvin & Burks Galleries and at the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College alongside professionals and visiting artists.

Tailored Career Paths

Art History and Museum Studies’ multi-disciplinary nature allows you to pair it with other degree paths to meet your unique career goals. Pair art history and museum studies with a communications major or minor for a career in social media or film, or with business for a career in marketing or non-profit management.

Employment Outlook

Top Alumni Skills

Alumni Job Titles

Alumni Employers

Meet our Mocs

Sera Shaw

I can pursue a multiplicity of interests, be them art conservation-focused, docent and historian-based, or creatively imaginative. While the field itself hosts these copious options, the FSC program offers unique opportunities by way of direct work and internships with the Polk Museum of Art, and even the first collegiate At History and Museum Studies Journal! Everyone in this program brings beautifully varied perspectives on life.

Rachel DiPofi

The Art History and Museum Studies Major at FSC is absolutely one of a kind. I am constantly impressed by how much attention is placed upon each student's individual success — every faculty member is there to support you both inside and out of the classroom.

Andrew den Boggende

The faculty in both the Art History Department and the Barnett School of Business are fantastic. They are all easy to talk to and are there to help you at every step during your time here.

Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College

Housed inside the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College, the Department of Art History and Museum Studies is a short walk from the main campus.

 

Florida Southern College’s affiliation with the Polk Museum of Art gives students the unique opportunity to study — and work one-on-one — with a museum director and chief curator as their professor, advisor, and mentor, along with gifted professors who excel in their knowledge of the field. The Museum offers semester-long and competitive paid summer internships, which enables students to collaborate with Museum professionals on exhibition research, managing Museum collections, and assisting with gallery tours, visitor services, and camps.

Students in the Art History and Museum Studies department are the focus of a program designed for them, centered on the history of art and their own immersion in the academic and professional applications of it.

The Wonders of the World Brought to You

In ART 3740 Renaissance Art and Architecture you’ll examine the wonders of painting, sculpture, and architecture through the eyes of the artists who lived during the Renaissance period. Explore the mastery and precision of the works of Michelangelo, Vermeer, Bosch, and other artists in the context of social, culture, religious, and political history.

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A visit is the next step. Online or In‑Person.

Schedule a campus tour or take our video tour of one of the nation’s most beautiful campuses. Participate in our daily online Admission Info Session or a MocTalk webinar to learn more about Florida Southern.

Learn More about visiting our campus

Save Time with a 4+1 MBA

At the end of the junior year, all Florida Southern College students are eligible to be considered for early admission to the Florida Southern MBA program.

Learn More about Save Time with a 4+1 MBA

Featured Art History Faculty

Dr. Alex Rich
- Art History and Museum Studies Department Chair

My primary goal as a teacher of art history is to provide students with the tools they need to study art critically. I have three overarching objectives for them: that they learn how to look at art, how to talk about art, and how to write about art. By honing their innate skills of observation, I want students to understand why the history of the art we study is as essential as the art itself.

Read More about Dr. Alex RichMeet Our Faculty

Clubs and More

We’re home to a chapter of Kappa Pi, the Art History Club, and the international student honorary art society.

Learn More about florida southern's clubs and organizations

Program Details

Available in: 

  • BA
  • Minor

First-Years

All freshman applicants to Florida Southern Colleges full-time degree programs must submit the following information:

Transfers

Applying to Florida Southern as a transfer student is easy.

If transferring less than 24 credits, we also need your:

  • Official high school transcript
  • SAT and/or ACT scores

Art History and Museum Studies Scholarship

Applicants interested in receiving scholarship funding at Florida Southern may prepare and submit one sample of any of the following for review (minimum 2500 words):

  • An excellent example of art historical writing
  • An exhibition review
  • An essay on (1) what the arts mean to you, (2) why this program speaks to you and your interests, or (3) why museums matter

Submissions will be assessed for originality, creativity, clarity of writing, and individual voice.