About the College of the Arts

Architecture graduate student gives presentation

Our College

PSU College of the Arts is one of a handful in the world combining the creative disciplines of architecture, design, fine arts, performing arts, cinema, dramatic writing, and critical studies under one roof.

Portland is one of the world's most innovative urban regions, known for its creativity, community engagement and sustainability. The College is strategically located in the center of downtown Portland, providing a working laboratory for our faculty and students to achieve cutting-edge work.

The College also strengthens Portland's extended cultural and creative community by providing outstanding professional training and education in partnership with the region's working artists, creatives, and cultural institutions.

Our Mission

The mission of the College of the Arts is to provide outstanding professional education and training in partnership with the region’s working artists, scholars, creative professionals and cultural institutions in the fields of architecture, art and design, music, theatre and film. We create and collaborate, and provide opportunities for faculty and students to shape the future by pushing boundaries.

The College of the Arts is a strategic partner in preparing talented young people for leadership in creative careers. Students are challenged to see their work within the artistic and critical traditions that provoke their own creative thinking and to seek interdisciplinary approaches and collaboration in both a local and global context.

Our Foundational Pillars

In the College of the Arts, our collective vision, purpose, and actions are guided by the following Foundational Pillars:

promoting excellence and genuine equity of expression, scholarship, and creativity,
employing the arts as catalysts for social change, providing new ways of seeing the world, and
expanding the reach of the arts, opening the experience to others

These foundational principles emphasize the role of the arts in honoring and raising up every person, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. They point to the power of the arts to increase our understanding of others’ experiences, expand our empathy, and deepen our generosity toward others. As educators in the arts, we have a solemn responsibility to live, work, and teach according to these foundational principles.

Meet the Dean

Dr. Leroy E. Bynum, Jr. is the dean of the College of the Arts at Portland State University. Before coming to PSU, he served as the dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Saint Rose from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he was a professor of voice and opera for 22 years at Albany State University in Georgia. While there, he also served 10 years as the chair of the Fine Arts Department and eight years as dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. Throughout his professional career, Bynum has remained active as a performing artist, appearing in operatic roles, as a featured soloist and in solo recitals throughout the United States, Europe and South America.

Bynum holds degrees from the University of Georgia, the University of South Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has received performance certificates from the Mozart Conservatory in Salzburg, Austria, and the Berlin Conservatory in Berlin, Germany. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for vocal study in Germany from 1990-92.

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