Master of Education in Art

The Master of Education in Art degree offered by the Department of Art in conjunction with the School of Education is an advanced graduate degree in art education combined with advanced work in studio art.

The person who has earned this degree has reached a new level of maturity as an experienced and well-prepared art educator. This degree shows that the degree holder of a Master of Education in Art has achieved a higher capability as an educator and is also working at higher standards of creative work. M. Ed. graduates are capable of taking their places in the educational world as teachers with higher credentials and a deeper understanding of creative art.

Mississippi College is one of only four undergraduate art education programs in the state, and we are the only Mississippi institution to offer a graduate Art Education degree. Being an integral part of an institution that has since 1826 made a place for itself for its commitment to Christian education, and with challenging and respected academic standards, gives students and faculty a reason to strive for the higher achievements required at the master’s level. Mississippi College is a Christian university serving more than 5,300 students from 39 states and 23 countries.

Ratliff Hall’s spacious basement served as the birthplace of the Mississippi College Art Department in the 1950s.

The Art Department’s initial home made perfect sense given the austere budget at the time for the small Baptist college in Clinton. Constructed in 1913, Ratliff Hall played a vital role as an Mississippi College dormitory for decades; but it also became the campus residence of a couple of young dorm “parents,” Sam Gore and his wife, Margie.

Following graduation from the Atlanta College of Art, and completion of his bachelor’s degree at Mississippi College in 1952, Sam and Margie Gore, the school nurse, served as resident counselors at Ratliff Hall. The Gores lived in the dorm for five years. A year earlier, in 1951, Sam Gore became Mississippi College’s first full-time art instructor when academic dean Dr. Howard Spell hired him.