Dean to CVPA Students on August 28

August 28, 2023

Dear CVPA Students, 

I’m writing with an update on the tremendous progress we are making in finding alternate teaching and learning spaces for the CVPA programs that formerly were located in the Star Store in downtown New Bedford.

The university is now able to confirm the following spaces for CVPA programs for the 2023-2024 academic year:

  • The Fashion Design program will be housed at the heart of campus in the Marketplace North meeting room and adjacent space that was in the process of being renovated.
  • Undergraduate Ceramics courses will be taught in CVPA 306/308. 
  • We have been allocated two good-sized classrooms in the main campus’s Textile Building to accommodate some CVPA courses that need more traditional classroom space.
  • The Art Education program will be taught in a blended modality, and housed in a customized modular classroom building that we expect to have up and running by mid-October.
  • We will provide personal workspace for Interior Architecture and Design majors in customized modular classroom buildings.
  • We are establishing a temporary “Art & Design Studio” in a large, empty storefront space in the Dartmouth Towne Center, which is very close to campus. This temporary new “Art & Design Studio” will provide ample space for our graduate student studios, as well as for our Textile, Jewelry/Metals and Ceramics programs. 

The CVPA Dean’s Office, staff and faculty are continuing to work closely with the Provost’s Office and Facilities to ensure that the new spaces are set up well to meet our needs for teaching, learning and creative work. We are also continuing to partner on the move of all of the furniture, equipment, materials, artwork and personal belongings to these new spaces. I’d like to thank all our CVPA students for your cooperation and understanding as we work around the clock to ensure a successful relocation.

Finally, I would like to assure students that the university will continue to run a shuttle service to New Bedford, and is working to determine the most appropriate schedule now. The Art & Design Studio is also accessible from the SRTA Route 10 bus service from New Bedford. 

I look forward to welcoming many of you back to campus very soon, and to the start of what I know will be an engaging, productive and creative year of making art together. 

Best regards,


Lawrence Jenkens

Dean, College of Visual & Performing Arts