Active Students (as of Fall 2025)*
Undergrad majors: 1,858
Undergrad minors: 307
Graduate students: 45
2025-26 Student Credit Hours: 36,715
*All active students with declared CAH programs are included in the enrollment counts.
The School of Visual Arts and Design (SVAD) at the University of Central Florida continued to build its national reputation for creative excellence, interdisciplinary innovation, and community engagement during the 2025–26 academic year. Through impactful exhibitions, nationally recognized student achievement, faculty scholarship, expanded outreach initiatives, and new academic opportunities, SVAD reinforced its role as a leading center for visual arts, animation, design, and emerging media education.
SVAD once again played a major role at UCF Celebrates the Arts, contributing exhibitions, performances, and interactive experiences that highlighted the breadth of creative work happening across the school. Lobby exhibitions featured work from advanced painting, 3D design, MFA Studio Art, character animation, animation and visualization, architecture, and UCF’s Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology, and Entertainment (CREATE) programs. The festival included signature events such as the Architecture Showcase and Awards, Creative Clash, the Graphic Design Showcase, and Animation Showcase. Across the venue, UCF Celebrates the Arts hosted more than 50 events, welcomed over 15,000 guests, and engaged more than 3,000 participants.
The fourth annual Art Knight! open house continued its rapid growth, welcoming more than 1,700 guests to the Visual Arts Building the Friday before Thanksgiving. The evening featured open studios, interactive demonstrations, student organization showcases, live music by Knights of the Turntables, local food vendors, and an appearance by Knightro. Art Knight! also coincided with the opening reception for Penumbra: Fall 2025 BFA Exhibition at the UCF Art Gallery. The event highlighted the vibrancy of SVAD’s creative community while fostering meaningful connections among students, alumni, faculty, and the public.
SVAD’s Distinguished Artist Series brought acclaimed artists and creative professionals to campus throughout the year. Featured guests included curator Jade Dellinger and artists Alex Jackson and Bahareh Khoshooee, offering students opportunities to engage with contemporary voices across disciplines. Additional visiting professionals included themed experience designer Kirsten Ruhs, themed construction expert Matthew Casto, and Adobe industry specialist Lisa Carney, who led a series of workshops exploring creative workflows using Adobe Firefly and Creative Cloud technologies.
SVAD faculty and staff earned significant recognition through exhibitions, residencies, presentations, awards, and community-engaged scholarship. Keri Watson was recognized with a 2025 Luminary Award, while Deborah Starr Leitch was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Robert Aiosa served as the 2025 Borgeson Artist-in-Residence at Hope College, and Lindsay Deifik completed artist residencies in both Maine and New York. Kevin Haran presented his solo exhibition Ballistic at Northwest Florida State College and was also featured in Engines of Dominion at Gulf Coast State College. Njeri Kinuthia continued her nationally recognized community-engaged practice through workshops with youth mentorship organizations and presented her multimedia installation RECONSTRUCTION at ArtCube.
Faculty also expanded SVAD’s impact through outreach and professional leadership. Tommy James and Joshua Treadway continued their collaboration with Black Architects in the Making – Orlando, introducing middle and high school students to architecture and design careers. Victor Davila was reelected to the AIGA Board of Directors and illustrated the children’s book Beep Bop Boop. Ashley Taylor hosted a series of community-centered “RISO@SVAD” workshops throughout the academic year, while Matt Dombrowski presented Limbitless Solutions’ accessible gamified training research at SIGGRAPH 2025 in Vancouver.
SVAD welcomed two new faculty members — Amy Avalos and Will Truran — during the academic year, strengthening instructional expertise across the school’s expanding programs.
National recognition for SVAD’s animation and emerging media programs continued to grow. UCF ranked #5 among the top public animation schools in the United States, #3 among animation schools in the South, and #2 among animation programs in Florida. The school also launched a new minor in Digital Arts and Emerging Experiences, further expanding opportunities for students interested in immersive and interdisciplinary creative technologies.
SVAD students and alumni continued to distinguish themselves through creative achievement, scholarship, and professional success. Students earned multiple honors at the 59th Annual American Advertising Awards and swept every scholarship award at Creative South 2026, one of the nation’s premier design conferences. Amelia Bitting earned the Undergraduate Judges’ Choice Award at the UCF Student Scholar Symposium under the mentorship of Keri Watson.
Graduate and undergraduate students also showcased their work across Central Florida and beyond. MFA students Lenee Peterson and Kaitlin Kirsch debuted thesis exhibitions at the Casselberry Sculpture House, while SVAD students exhibited work in Identity: Reflections of Self, a collaborative exhibition between the Albin Polasek Museum and SVAD. Sydney Bosch received Best in Show honors, Marlon Green Jr. earned the Curator’s Choice Award, and Julia Hofacker Kingsly received the People’s Choice Award. Animation students premiered original 2D and 3D films during the annual Animation Premieres, and graphic design and studio art students presented work at the UCF Screenprint Show at The Chained Gallery Framework Coffee.
The UCF Art Gallery continued to serve as a cornerstone of SVAD’s creative ecosystem, hosting eight exhibitions during the academic year featuring undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and visiting artists. These exhibitions provided meaningful opportunities for public engagement while showcasing the breadth and diversity of creative research taking place within the school.
SVAD’s influence also extended through national media recognition and alumni success stories. Faculty, students, and alumni were featured in numerous university and regional news stories covering topics ranging from immersive experience design and animation careers to community-engaged art practices, prosthetics innovation through Limbitless Solutions, and public art initiatives. Alumni achievements included recognition through the UCF Alumni 30 Under 30 awards and continued success in themed entertainment, animation, and creative industries.
The 2025–2026 academic year reflected SVAD’s continued commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence across creative disciplines. Through nationally recognized programs, impactful community partnerships, faculty achievement, and student success, the school continued to expand its influence both within Central Florida and across the broader creative industries.
This year also marks an important transition in the school’s leadership. After ten years of service as director of the School of Visual Arts and Design, Rudy McDaniel will step down from the role at the conclusion of the academic year. During his tenure, SVAD experienced significant growth in enrollment, national recognition, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement. The school will welcome Keri Watson as director of SVAD beginning Aug. 8 as the program enters an exciting new chapter focused on continued innovation, creative excellence, and student opportunity.
