Incoming students of all interests and backgrounds can apply to be a part of the First Year Fellows program in Ecosystems, Sustainability, and Justice. MICA has space for approximately 15 students for Fall 2022. Students selected for this experience will take two courses together in the fall term and participate in co-curricular programming that will expand the notion that artists and designers can have a powerful voice in communicating the complexities and incongruities of our current planetary and political predicaments.
Incoming students who have been admitted to MICA for Fall 2022 are eligible to apply for the First Year Fellows in Ecosystems, Sustainability, Justice or the First Year Fellows in Creative Entrepreneurship.
Program Highlights
- Small learning community focused on integrating creative practice with contemporary environmental and social justice issues
- Monthly Fellows Talks with artists, designers, activists, farmers, and Baltimore-based creative thinkers
- Shared summer reading and engagement with participating FYF faculty
- Fall enrollment in two shared classes:
- FF130B Body/World/Machine
- HMST 101 Frameworks
First Year Fellows in Ecosystems, Sustainability, Justice Application
Application Guidelines:
In a 1-2 minute video or a 500-word essay, answer the following questions:
1. Why are you interested in MICA's First Year Fellows in Ecosystems, Sustainability, and Justice program?
2. What are you passionate about?
3. What unique qualities will you bring to a first year program focused on environmental and social/climate justice issues?
Application Considerations:
Your candidacy will be considered by a jury of faculty and staff that will review your video or essay as well as the portfolio you submitted in Slideroom as a part of your application to MICA.
Courses for Fall 2022 and Spring 2023
FF130B Body/World/Machine
Unpack the intricate relationships between the human body, technology, and our material environment. This first-year fabrication course provides a comprehensive introduction to the creation of multi-dimensional works in a variety of media. In addition to discovering new ways to understand how our human bodies interface with built form and physical space, students will also undertake a crucial primer on how to use tools and materials safely. This course’s innovative conceptual framework scaffolds a holistic education in a wide range of technical skills.
HMST 101 Frameworks
Previously titled Critical Inquiry, this topic-based introductory course will examine how we think about and write in our cultural landscape. Each section will be organized according to a specific and overriding theme, issue or question and will include different genres of writing. This topic will be addressed through several of these critical frameworks: Power and Inequity, Environment, Values, Borders and Margins, Self and Identity, and Evidence and Authority, which are essential for future coursework in the Humanistic Studies department. Students will pursue questions, such as how we encounter and create meaning in responses to texts of various kinds, how we understand and measure the texts' power, impact, and influence, and how we critique in forms tailored for different audiences and ends.