jmcnyc

I would suggest go visit the UCSC Visual Studies program site (http://havc.ucsc.edu/visual_studies_phd), try to visit in person or at least via email/phone, and make up your own mind.

From what I know about the Visual Studies program at UC Santa Cruz, it's small in a good way which means you'd get a lot of 1on1 attention without having to compete for time with your peers. Also, the new Dean of the Arts has definitely turbo-charged the school's development. More outreach to donors, coming up with smart ways to be sustainable financially, and better connections to the real world (academia, the art industries and the street). Plus, I believe they're working out an affiliation with the Getty Center, but that's still a work in progress so don't quote me. As for African art, Elisabeth Cameron is the go-to person in the department (http://havc.ucsc.edu...abeth-l-cameron). As far as size, I believe angieray is mistaken. Cornell has about 20k students, Santa Cruz about 15K and Texas about 50k. Cornell is FAR from NYC, no matter what the bus costs. Santa Cruz is about 1 hour from San Francisco which is a big West Coast art center.