Alabama Art Schools – Top Choices For Art Colleges

For individuals with artistic talent who are considering a career in the arts, Alabama is home to four major universities, as well as liberal arts and community colleges, that all have Art Departments offering majors in commercial and fine arts. The University Of Alabama Department Of Art, located in Tuscaloosa, is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, as is the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa is also accredited by the Council for Interior Design, as are Samford University and Auburn University. Alabama students can pursue arts degrees in design, architecture and technical arts at Alabama’s independent technical schools as well.Alabama offers a combination of small, charming towns and bustling urban areas. Students can choose between study at urban universities or small-town liberal arts colleges. Alabama hosts the Birmingham Museum Of Art, the Alabama Theatre and the annual Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Smaller communities are home to galleries of Native American, African America and Folk Art, reflecting the region’s rich heritage.Students attending the University of Alabama in Birmingham, for example, participate in internships and a program that draws on the creative resources of Alabama’s largest city, working with local museums and galleries. The Art Department offers concentrations in ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, printmaking, culture, time based media, art history and art education.The highly-regarded Tuskegee University, in Tuskegee. Alabama, one of the nation’s leading historically black colleges, houses a department of Fine and Performing Arts that seeks to develop appreciation and understanding of aesthetic expression and development of skills through individual critique, studio activity and classroom instruction.The smaller Spring Hill College in Mobile Alabama, the third oldest Jesuit College in the U.S., set in a charming neighborhood of towering Oak trees and historic buildings, houses a Division of Communication, Fine and Performing Arts where students are encouraged to gain an understanding of art as communication and explore how personal expression reflects and changes the broader culture. Fine Arts majors can focus on Studio Art and Art Business to prepare for careers as artists, designers or illustrators, or as arts managers or employment in galleries or museums. Students who major in graphic design can prepare for jobs in web and multimedia environments.Auburn University, in the small town of Auburn Alabama, founded in 1856, was the first large land grant university in the south and currently enrolls over 24,000 students. The Auburn Department of Art offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art where students can concentrate in ceramics, painting & drawing, printmaking or sculpture. BFA students complete 48 hours of studio work, along with in-depth coursework in their concentration. Students are challenged to develop their own approach to their work and personal creative expression.Students wishing to pursue careers in the arts can attend Alabama’s historical institutions and develop their aesthetic, intellectual and art-making skills. Undergraduate arts majors often go on to graduate school as preparation for their careers. Bachelor of Arts programs in most of Alabama’s colleges and universities include general liberal arts studies and often a specific core curriculum in the traditional areas of literature, history, science, etc. Students then focus on arts courses, especially in their upper division years.Exploring art on the undergraduate level in a nurturing, supportive atmosphere can help students develop a sense of their own artistic vision and career direction. While some graduates may choose to take the challenging road of being an independent artist or artisan, others can apply their skills to jobs in commercial and communications fields, as graphic designers, advertising creative staff, interior decorators, web and media artists and commercial illustrators. A college degree will facilitate entry into arts careers, as well as develop individual technique and skill.

What Is Worksite Wellness All About? – A Series – The Health Status Concept (Today’s Approach)

The various definitions of health status indicate that it can be determined on the basis of both objective and subjective measures. Typically, in the workplace, it is determined on the basis of clinical biometric measures such as BMI (body mass index), blood pressure, weight, cholesterol levels and blood sugar level. These objective measures are derived through a process commonly known as biometric screening.Since health status can involve both objective and subjective data, knowing these different data points is important.Subjective Data Sources• Biographical information• Physical symptoms• Past health history• Family history• Health beliefs and values• LifestyleObjective Data Sources• Physical characteristics• Appearance• Health, lifestyle and other behaviors• Body systems functioning• Measurements and screening results• Results from lab testingSince there is no standard for health status, it can be based on either objective or subjective data. Generally though, current approaches are focused almost exclusively on the effects of illness and the varying states of ill-health.How individuals conceptualize their health has been shown to vary as a function of:• Age and gender• Social class• CultureThis means that how they view their health status will vary as well. Given that the conceptualization can vary, it is important to make the assessment about the individual employee as a whole person and not just about their current biometric data. This means that the employee needs to be viewed in the various contexts that can and will influence their health and not just as an isolated individual. An effective health assessment requires a contextual awareness and understanding in addition to observing and understanding any objective measurement and test results.Despite the worksite wellness community’s heavy reliance on objective measures as indicators of health, I found it interesting to read that “self-assessed health contributed significantly to the prediction of mortality, even after controlling for a wide array of objective health indicators.” (Wright, 1977)In his book, Healing Beyond the Body, Dr. Larry Dossey wrote: “Our own opinion about the state of our health is a better predictor than physical symptoms and objective factors such as extensive exams, laboratory tests or behaviors.” Dr. Dossey also wrote that how people answer the question “Is your health excellent, good, fair, or poor is a better predictor of who will live or die over the next decade than in-depth physical examinations, and extensive laboratory tests.”The quotes by Wright and Dossey are particularly note-worthy given the worksite wellness community’s heavy promotion of workplace biometric screening results as being indicators of an employee’s health status. Given that health can be defined in very broad conceptual terms and health status can be very subjective as well, it might behoove the worksite wellness community to take a look at its current approach to wellness being limited to just individual employee health status that is based on biometrics and health risk assessments.When it comes to the status of an employee’s health, the worksite wellness community would be wise to look beyond just the results of biometric screenings.ResourcesDossey, Larry. MD. 2001. Healing Beyond The Body. Boston: Shambhala Publications.Wright, Stephen. 1997. Health Status Assessment in Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine. Baum, Andre. Newman, Stanton. Weinman, John. West, Robert. McManus, Chris. (Eds.) New York: Cambridge University Press.

Conducting a Job Search Targeted For a Mentoring Position

Are you someone who wants more out of your job or career than simply moving forward and helping yourself? Should your job have an element of service in it and do you get a kick out of helping people move forward? You will find that when you are looking for a career that can put you into a mentoring position, you are going to be able to move forward with many different options in front of you. One of the most valuable assets that anyone can have is the willingness and the ability to teach and no matter what industry you are going to be in, you will find that capitalizing on this aspect can be quite important. Take some time and make sure that you understand how to move forward with this.When you are looking for a Mentoring Position, think about where you want to direct your energies. Education is definitely one important field where mentoring is important and it is true that teachers are in high demand all over the country. Take some time and make sure that you consider what your options are going to be and how well you teach children. Education, especially primary education is not something that you should get into unless you like and enjoy working with children. Take some time and make sure that you look into the work that you are looking into doing and also look into how you are going to be able to get the right kind of results.Also remember that mentoring is something that can affect adults as well. There are many people out there who find that they need more skills than they currently have to get where they need, and if you have the right kind of knowledge, you need to look into how you are going to be able to move forward to get that information out there. Take some time and make sure that you look into your repertoire and to think about who you want to teach. The more you are able to move forward with this, the better off you are going to be. Where are your options going to take you and where do your inclinations run towards?Think about how you are going to be able to move forward and think about what your area is. Where is your expertise located? Are you an expert in computer languages or do you have an interest in history or in making sure that people understand correct processes in industry? The more you are able to move ahead, the better off you are going to be and the better off the people around you are going to be as well. Considering what your area is an important part of conducting a Job Search like this one, and the more you move ahead like this, the more you are going to be able to get the results that you are after. Take some time and consider how you are going to make this work for you!An inclination towards service and towards instruction is a bad thing to waste, so see what your options are going to be. This is something that can change the look of your life, so see where it can take you if you pursue it!