The Visual and Performing Arts Department at Michigan Tech is a multidisciplinary department that provides students with great resources for expressing their creativity through a technological lens.
The department features three different majors. Bachelors of arts in Sound Design, Bachelors of Science in Audio Production, and Bachelors of Science in Theater & Entertainment Technologies, as well as nine different minors.
Students who are in the department gain access to five sound & recording studios, a lighting lab, a costume lab, and the Mcardle Theater space. While primarily for class & instruction, students can also use them for personal projects & events.
One of the benefits of the department being multidisciplinary is the ability for students and teachers to collaborate across disciplines. Such as sound students recording other events and presentations put on by students outside of the department. . As well as large scale internal events such as the annual McRave, which brings in students from each discipline to collaborate on a rave to cap off the Spring semester.
Students can also work at Rozsa Theater to gain immediate experience within the industry, as the theater hosts a wide variety of entertainment, pulling in talents from across the United States, locally from Houghton, and occasionally internationally.
Alumni from this department have gone to work at a wide variety of opportunities. This includes working for Smart Monkeys, Inc. on the Las Vegas sphere to being hired by touring and production companies, Disney’s cruises & on-ice shows, and many different small and large scale venues for sound, lighting, and a plethora of other jobs.
More information about this department can be found at mtu.edu/vpa.
