When Whitney Frazier came to Baltimore as an undergraduate student, she had only recently discovered that art college was even an option.

At that point, she was “technically a painter.” However, during her first week at MICA, she had the opportunity to help repaint a theater on Pennsylvania Avenue where Billie Holiday had once performed, a project that changed how she thought about art, Baltimore, and the communities she was a part of. 

“That initial experience helped me realize the broader social, emotional, cultural and economic impact art and design can have,” she said.

Through the College’s Community Arts Partnership, Frazier worked on art projects across the city, experiences that eventually led her to pursue an MA and MFA in Community Arts at MICA. After graduating, she launched her own public art business, where her projects included The Guardians of Baltimore, a celebration of 25 African American women leaders through large-scale photo portraits and oral histories. 

Frazier remained closely connected to the MICA community, too, teaching at the undergraduate level for 10 years before moving into her current role as the director of strategic partnerships and client solutions for the School of Creative and Professional Studies. Today, she is focused, in part, on opening the institution up to a broader range of learners through partnerships, customized training, and other professional development opportunities.

“Part of what we’re doing is making art and design education more accessible,” she noted. “Our programs are asynchronous and online, but our students still feel like they’re part of something bigger. They can reach out to someone, whether a faculty member, a fellow student, or one of us. There’s a larger network being created.”

Practicing What They Teach

This fall, the School of Creative and Professional Studies (SCPS) is offering asynchronous Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degrees in Business for Creatives, Data Visualization and Communication, Product Management, and User Experience (UX) Design, along with an online MA in Graphic Design. A new MPS in Game Design will be added in the spring. As another option, students who want to explore a particular topic without committing to a full degree can enroll in individual graduate-level courses through Professional Studio.

In addition, Frazier is working directly with organizations to develop learning experiences tailored to specific workforce needs. Recently, SCPS piloted a customized training model with Wide Angle Youth Media, creating a purpose-built Figma course for the organization’s design apprentices, taught by a senior designer at Google.

“They wanted something more specialized than the Figma classes we already offered,” she explained. “I worked with the faculty, priced it out and put together the contract, so now we have a foundation we can replicate.”

For Frazier, one of SCPS’s greatest strengths in delivering flexible, responsive education is its faculty, all of whom are active in their fields.

“Our faculty are practicing what they’re teaching,” she said. “They’re working full time in these industries, which are changing all the time, so they’re exposed to the latest programs and approaches.”

Applications remain open until August 27 for fall entry to MICA’s online MPS and MA programs. Professional Studio courses start in late August or late October. Learn more and apply.