History of Our School
“A Vision Where Time Has Come”
The School of Visual Art and Design at Southern Adventist University was founded in 1998 by Wayne and Maria Hazen. Wayne Hazen, a visionary painter and sculptor, served as the department’s dean from 1998 until 2005.
As the millennium countdown began, the communications industry continued to undergo rapid changes. The rate of artists and designers in society was changing as well—creativity and technology drew ever closer together. In this accelerated age, artists needed to speak the language of mass communications and the time was right to develop an art school that met those needs. In particular, a contemporary Christian art school that could develop young communicators to address this age of high-tech mass media. The School of Visual Art and Design grew rapidly, adopting the theme of “where art meets technology” for its mantra.
Right from the start, the School of Visual Art and Design has stressed art fundamentals, drawing skills and design—realizing that without such foundations, the most advanced technological equipment skills would be ineffective in establishing solid communication.
The school’s early years sparked with excitement. Through Hazen’s recruiting and the generous donations of philanthropists who believed in the department’s unique vision, by 2002 the School of Visual Art and Design was one of the best equipped, most modern learning environments anywhere, featuring multi-station high-tech animation, multi-media, and graphic design labs in a futuristic interior design setting that accentuated a new era of art education (see the virtual lab tour).
