University of New Haven President Steven Kaplan said the school’s recently announced merger with the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts will offer students from both institutions an opportunity to explore new forms of expression.
UNH will add Lyme Academy’s Bachelor of Fine Arts to its curriculum, including painting, sculpture, drawing and illustration. UNH is known for preparing students for careers in business and engineering, as well as in fields like forensic science and criminal justice.
Kaplan said college curricula should not be too narrowly focused, however. "These students that are graduating from this institution will be working in fields that don’t exist right now," he said. "It's very short-sighted to worry about the first job. It's more important to think about the skills and level of inspiration and vision that you give students that will allow them to help create the jobs of the future, and those types of skills are grounded in things like communication and the arts -- what’s made this country, what it is historically is an incredibly entrepreneurial creative spirit."
Kaplan said he envisions sending engineering students each fall to study art on the Lyme campus. Art students from Lyme Academy will be able to access a broad range of courses at the UNH main campus in West Haven, as well as study abroad opportunities in Tuscany, Italy.
