For Artists, M.F.A. or Ph.D.?

By Daniel Grant. Earning his master of fine arts degree in photography from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2004 should have been a moment of satisfaction for Matthew Liam Conboy, who knew that the M.F.A. was a requirement for getting a college art teaching position, and teaching is what he wanted to do. However, when he went to the annual College Art Association conference that year to hear about and apply for teaching jobs, “I heard rumblings that the M.F.A. may not be the terminal degree for artists anymore and that I might have to get a Ph.D."
So, a few years later, he entered the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University, one of the few programs in the United States oriented toward visual and performing artists (with M.F.A.s) who are seeking a Ph.D. Read more...