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You Don’t Need to Be a Starving Artist

Graduates from the FHSU Department of Art and Design are highly sought after graphic designers, Web designers, interior decorators, educators and more. Your options are only as limited as your imagination and your ambition. With an excellent academic program, strong faculty mentorship and connections throughout education, industry and the non-profit world, you’ll be more than ready to pursue a career in art.

Possible careers in art and design include:

  •  Interior Designer
  • Artist
  • Art Director
  • Art Instructor
  • Video industry designer
  • Advertising designer
  • Art appraiser
  • Gallery owner
  • Graphic Designer
  • Gallery Manager
  • Design Manager
  • Motion Picture design affiliate
  • Publication designer
  • Illustrator
  • Art Consultant
  • Exhibition manager

Still not sure what to do with a degree in art or design? Contact the Department of Art and Design to speak with a faculty advisor or visit FHSU’s Academic Advising and Career Exploration web site for lots of information about other possible careers.

Our Art and Design graduates - out in the world


 Deloris Thompson (2005)
Photography Teacher
Dodge City High School
Dodge City, KS
Following my graduation from FHSU, I received opportunities to both teach photography at the high school level and run my own photography studio. My academic experiences at FHSU aided in my ability to teach photography. While at FHSU, I interned for Don Thomas Photography, where I learned much about the business. The opportunity to learn the trade outside of a standard classroom helped prepare me for a future in not only photography, but in teaching as well. Don helped me set up my own studio and get established with a processing lab.


Morgan Higley (2007)
Graduate Student
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO
I work as a teaching assistant, teaching classes in art appreciation, American art history and 19th-Century European art. My thesis research is focused on three portraits by Anne-Louis Girodet from the early nineteenth century in an attempt to understand their placement within developing ideologies of childhood. The art history program at Fort Hays provided me with a strong art historical background that helped my transition into a graduate program. The one-on-one experience with my professor allowed me to better understand the field and the opportunities I would have in art history. I was able to travel to Italy within one of my art history courses. My trip to Italy gave me first hand experience that was invaluable to my field. Being able to see original works of art, as opposed to reproductions, offered me the chance to experience the empirical aspect of art history and its research. The trip also provided me with new cultural exposures, which will always benefit me in my future travels.