Southeast Missouri State University is a comprehensive institution that offers more than 150 different areas of study. The University is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau, a college town of about 40,000 residents, just two hours south of St. Louis. Average class sizes range from 25-30 beginning in the freshman year and our students reap the benefits of a low student-faculty ratio of 17 to 1. With this advantage, Southeast students experience success in many ways. The nearly 10,000 students who attend Southeast take advantage of a myriad of activities, from the University Symphony Orchestra to theatre productions to an active group of national fraternities and sororities.
Programs in the visual and performing arts at Southeast are challenging and intellectually stimulating and represent the kind of educational experience that talented students expect, desire and deserve. The faculty in these programs are accomplished artists who have performed throughout the United States and abroad, gaining recognition in China, Japan, England, Germany and other international venues. In addition, they are learned scholars who have studied at such prestigious institutions as the Juilliard School, Tulane University, Smith College, Michigan State University, Cornell University, the University of Notre Dame, Washington University, the Paris Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. At Southeast, you receive a comprehensive, liberal arts education as well as rigorous training in the visual and performing arts.
Art
If your enthusiasm is sparked by art, then Southeast is a great place for you to begin your formal education. For those interested in teaching the next generation of aspiring artists, Southeast offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education. This allows you to become certified to teach art at the high school level in grades 9-12. For those interested in pursuing a career as an artist or in going into other aspects of the art field, we offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art. Your educational experience is heightened by the exciting new facilities that will be available at the new River Campus—studios and labs for creative workspace, new kilns and much, much more.
Music
The Department of Music offers a variety of degree programs to prepare you to teach, perform or compose music. Each has a strong element of performance experience, and our music education programs allow you to experience the classroom atmosphere beginning in your first year.
The Bachelor of Music in Performance has instrumental and vocal options and while studying at Southeast, you may perform with many vocal and instrumental ensembles including the University Symphony Orchestra, the University Choir, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the famed Golden Eagles Marching Band and various chamber groups. These groups have performed great works such as Handel’s Messiah and Orff’s Carmina Burana. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble has a tradition of touring and performing throughout the state. In addition, the University Choir recently completed a summer performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Golden Eagles Marching Band is only the second American university marching band invited to perform in the prestigious Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Studying music performance at Southeast prepares you for auditions at
the finest graduate schools, conservatories and studios in the country.
As a music education major, you may choose between instrumental and vocal music options. The Bachelor of Music Education degree allows you to be certified to teach music in kindergarten through grade twelve. The program is strongly field-based and you may interact with young students beginning in your freshman year. Students with a more general interest in music also may choose from the Bachelor of Arts in Music, a degree ideal for those who wish to go into music business, copyright law or another type of graduate study, as well as the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Performing Arts and the Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre.
As the Department of Music combines with the Departments of Art, Theatre and Dance to become the
new School of Visual and Performing Arts, exciting possibilities for students of music will be available. New practice rooms and rehearsal halls will give you the best possible venues in which to sharpen your technique, and a new performance hall will provide the acoustics and space necessary to shine in performances of all types. The new rehearsal hall also will attract guest artists of all kinds to give performances and masterclasses to add dimension to your musical education.
Theatre and Dance
Theatre and Dance are a large part of the cultural life of Southeast. From lively musicals such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Puss in Boots, to classic Shakespearean productions such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, Southeast’s Department of Theatre and Dance offers audiences the chance to experience the exciting world of drama. You also have the chance to be a part of some of the finest pieces of contemporary and classical drama.
The new River Campus will offer larger, improved dance studios and will have a new performance hall in which students can showcase their abilities. If you wish to pursue a career on the stage or behind the scenes, the Department of Theatre and Dance offers a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Performing Arts with emphases in Dance, Theatre Performance and Design and Technology. If you are interested in teaching Speech and Theatre in grades 9-12, Southeast also offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech and Theatre Education. Minors in Theatre and Dance also are offered.
Unlike other institutions, Southeast offers many performance opportunities for undergraduate students. Equipped with an impressive portfolio of experiences, our graduates have gone on to work in on- and off-Broadway productions, and have had work and internship opportunities with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Lincoln Center, the Berkshire Theatre Festival and the Santa Fe Opera, to name a few. In addition, our graduates have gone on to some of the most prestigious graduate schools in the country including those at Northwestern University, the Juilliard School, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, Michigan State University and the New England Conservatory of Music. Our programs are filled with the rigorous instruction and challenging classes needed to prepare you for a variety of careers in the visual and performing arts. If you have a love for art, music, dance or theatre, then Southeast is the perfect place for you to study.
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