Hello, alums and friends,
As we begin a new academic year at PNCA, I’m excited to share some of the changes. Much of this work has been years in the making and is grounded in what we’ve learned from our alumni, faculty and national research about how we can best prepare artists and designers for meaningful, resilient creative careers.
Last year, I told our community about our reimagined general education curriculum–it finally launched this fall. We have exciting new classes from Visual Mathematics to new client/community project courses like Public Murals with the Portland Street Art Collective. Our alumni gave us clear feedback, “we love professors”, but we wish we had more practical and career oriented classes that tackled the non-creative part of arts work like networking, entrepreneurship, financial skills–we delivered and these new courses are a game changer!
Alongside the new courses we welcomed three new full-time Faculty.
- Liza Rietz, Assistant Professor of Creative Entrepreneurship
- Noa Taylor, Lecturer in Foundation & Studio Art
- Kate McCallum, Lecturer in Quantitative Studies
Our Pre-College program for high school creatives has grown 350% since we redesigned it post-Covid. We’ve launched new Saturday school classes and doubled our engagement in Summer Intensives, launching our first ever Animation program intensive. If you have a high schooler that might be interested, contact Riley Currie rcurrie@willamett.edu
We’re recruiting now for a new BFA in Interaction Design, that will launch in fall 2027 alongside a UX/UI minor.
Just a few weeks ago, we hosted our first annual PNCA Paints with faculty Michelle Ross and Ardis Defreece. More than 70 neighborhood members, current students, alums and former faculty joined us for an amazing night of fun! 
If you missed out on PNCA Paints!, don’t worry, PNCA hosts over 90 public programs each year including: exhibitions, lectures, visiting artists and hands-on experiences. This spring, a Ford Family Foundation-supported collaboration Double Vision will highlight Chinese and Japanese diasporic artists while exploring the history of makers in Portland’s Old Town and partnerships with area cultural institutions from the Lan Su Gardens and the Portland Japanese American Museum. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to stay in the know about programs!
There is tremendous energy at PNCA right now. As alumni, you remain an important part of this creative community, and I hope you’ll find an opportunity to visit, reconnect with us and experience firsthand what’s taking shape.
All my best,
Jen Cole
Jordan Schnitzer Dean of PNCA