BA in Kunstgeschichte

Why choose art history at North Central College?

The art history program prepares students for 21st-century careers that require careful analysis, interpretation, and communication of visual information. Majors use visual analysis methodology to think critically about art from a range of historical periods and geographic regions while conducting graduate-level research and critical reading of theory. You can also enhance your studies with an additional major or minor, study abroad opportunities, and North Central’s proximity to world-class art institutions in Chicago. Graduates pursue opportunities in areas such as archives and curatorship, art therapy, commercial design and digital communications, education, arts administration, and historical preservation.

You can also:

• Intern at local museums, studios, galleries, auction houses, and organizations.
• Combine your love for art history and with a classical studies minor and learn about Greek and Roman influence on art and literature.
• Enroll in Chicago Term to experience living in the city while taking courses from North Central professors.
• Conduct graduate-level research with an independent study, College scholar's thesis, or a Richter Grant.
• North Central College is part of the University Partner Program offered by the Art Institute of Chicago. As part of this arrangement, all North Central students can gain admittance to the AIC free of charge with their North Central students identification cards and have access to lectures, educational programs, and other special events.

Since 1861, North Central has been a place where new ideas lead to unlimited possibilities. We’re an independent college dedicated to the power of the liberal arts and sciences to transform students into leaders both in their careers and communities. Our nearly 3,000 students study across more than 65 undergraduate and graduate programs, with their education, made richer by supportive faculty and staff, world-class facilities, and countless opportunities to learn beyond the classroom.

A College on the move

Building on the foundation of more than 150 years of excellence, North Central continues to grow with numerous new facilities, programs, and initiatives in the works.

The College opened with 40 students in a single two-story building in Plainfield, Illinois. Since then we’ve changed names twice (to North-Western, then North Central), moved once (from Plainfield to Naperville), and grown steadily (to about 3,000 students).

Over the years, thousands of dedicated students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends have helped us thrive through the toughest challenges – wars, economic crises, social upheavals, and more – and build a future brilliant with hope and promise.

We’ve met the changing needs of students from Civil War veterans to millennial entrepreneurs. And we’ve always stayed true to our heritage of moral courage and forward-thinking.

Today we’re a top-ranked private comprehensive college of the liberal arts and sciences. U.S. News & World Report counts us among “America’s Best Colleges,” one of the top six schools in the Midwest for a “strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.” Students choose from more than 55 undergraduate majors and five graduate program areas.

Although the College originally discouraged organized athletics as a distraction from weightier matters, our 26 intercollegiate sports in NCAA Division III make our athletic department the largest in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW). North Central is proud of its 32 team national championships and 123 individual national champions.

Though affiliated with the United Methodist Church, we welcome and encourage students and staff of all faiths. We are thoughtfully expanding our academic programs to respond to the needs of our ever-changing world, recently adding Middle Eastern and North African Studies, along with Arabic. And we’re transforming our facilities – most dramatically with a new interdisciplinary Science Center located at the corner of Brainard Street and Van Buren Avenue.

It’s been an amazing 150+ years. But it’s clear that the best is yet to come!