The course of study at the Department of Visual Arts provides for mobility within a range of traditional and media-based components and encourages collaboration. In addition to working in a broad array of mediums, MFA students have also been recognized widely for their accolades as well as exhibitions and are also actively involved in the regional arts community. The program is designed to provide professional training for the student who proposes to pursue a career within the field of art -- including art-making, criticism, and theory. The scope of the UC San Diego MFA Program includes but is not limited to painting, sculpture, performance, installation, environmental art, photography, film, video, and computing for the arts. The Department seeks to provide an integrated and comprehensive introduction to the possibilities of contemporary art production, the intellectual structures which underlie them, and the "world view" which they entail. All art-making activities are considered serious intellectual endeavors, and all students in the program find themselves confronted by the need to develop their intellectual and critical abilities in the working out of their artistic positions.