Professional Practice Experience

Overview

Junior Professional Practice (PROFPRAC 39XX or DEPARTMENT 39XX) provides third-year students (between 60 and 90 credits completed) with various professional practice activities so that they will be prepared for life after SAIC in a wide variety of professional contexts. The course emphasizes a hands-on, real-world curriculum. Students will engage in a semester-long, faculty-defined creative project (such as applying for an on-campus exhibition, submitting a proposal for an off-campus exhibition, hosting a community event, etc.), as well as an online project (such as an online portfolio, an artist website, or a class website organized around a particular event or theme). Additional course activities may include preparing a CV, networking with alumni and other key figures in their fields of interest, or giving an artist talk or scholarly presentation.

Junior Professional Practice course is usually a three-credit course, and as determined by each department, the course can function as either a seminar or a studio. Depending on course format, each section will meet for either five hours weekly or for three hours weekly. The sections that meet for three hours weekly include the expectation that students are completing six hours of work outside class, which might include portfolio development, project development, proposal writing, and networking in fields of artistic or scholarly interest. Some Professional Practice courses integrate studio projects while others focus exclusively on the stated professional practice learning goals. Courses listed as PROFPRAC 39XX are open to all third-year students who have completed Sophomore Seminar or Research Studio for Transfer Students. PROFPRAC 39XX courses can be either interdisciplinary or discipline-specific with departmental prerequisites.

Junior Professional Practice is the second course in the three-course sequence of the Academic Spine (Sophomore Seminar, Junior Professional Practice, and Senior Capstone), which is required for all freshmen who began their undergraduate degrees at SAIC (transfer students must take Research Studio for Transfer Students, Junior Professional Practice, and Senior Capstone). Junior Professional Practice is offered in both the fall and spring semesters, to give students flexibility in incorporating this requirement into their schedule. PROFPRAC 39XX should always be taken when students have between 60-90 credits completed (roughly third or junior year for a full-time student). This course is a prerequisite for all Senior Capstone courses, to ensure the Spine courses are completed in sequential order.

At the conclusion of the Professional Practice Experience course, students will be able to:

1. Implement a well-planned creative project, applying professional skills relevant to their artistic, creative, and/or scholarly practice. (Student learning outcomes demonstrated by: project proposal, including a budget; CV; grant application; exhibition proposal)
2. Present a professional body of work in an online context, demonstrating a critical awareness of audience and selection of work. (Student learning outcomes demonstrated by: website, online portfolio, blog, etc.)
3. Create connections and linkages with relevant practitioners, organizations, and institutions in students’ field(s) of interest, with an attention to identifying key figures as well as situating their own work within these fields. (Student learning outcomes demonstrated by: alumni/artist interview; short summary of experience attending networking events such as a gallery opening, a panel/symposium, visiting an alum at a job site, etc.)
4. Demonstrate the ability to think, speak, and write clearly and effectively with regard to the creative and/or scholarly practice. (Student learning outcomes demonstrated by: artist talk, blog, project statement, scholarly presentation, PechaKucha, etc.)

Junior Professional Practice Courses

The information below updates twice a week—it is possible that changes may occur between updates. Up-to-the-minute information for enrolled students can always be found at PeopleSoft Self-Service.

Contact Us

For all questions about the undergraduate Academic Spine curriculum, please email saic-academicspine@saic.edu.