Facts and figures
Learn more about who we are and where we work and study.
- The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) is the second largest academic unit at Syracuse University and the largest professional college on campus. We are home to approximately 2,189 students (2,032 undergraduate, 157 graduate).
- VPA contains the School of Art and Design, Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Department of Drama, and Setnor School of Music. Together, these four areas offer a total of 33 undergraduate programs and 22 graduate programs.
- Our faculty members are all active creative professionals and scholars. Full-time faculty number 130, with approximately 106 part-time instructors.
- The college is located in nine different University buildings, ranging from those on Main Campus to those in downtown Syracuse.
- Origins of the college date to 1873, when the College of Fine Arts opened at SU. The college was the first degree-conferring institution of its kind in the United States. Its first alumnus graduated in 1875 with a bachelor of painting degree.
- And speaking of alumni, the college is proud to have approximately 22,000 active graduates. Some notable names include writer/producer Aaron Sorkin ’83; producer Arielle Tepper Madover ’94; model/author Emme Aronson ’85; artists Bill Viola '73, H'95, Sol LeWitt '49, and Warren Kimble ’57; broadcast journalist Ted Koppel '60; actors Frank Langella '59, Jerry Stiller ’50, Taye Diggs ’93, and Vera Farmiga ’95; actor/singer Vanessa Williams ’85; designers Betsey Johnson ’64 and Thom Filicia ’93; football pro Donovan McNabb ’98; singer-songwriter Pete Yorn '96, and syndicated cartoonists Brad Anderson '51 and Robb Armstrong '85.
