Proposal to Rename the School of Art and Design (LUSAD)

Senate

Subject: Proposal for a Change to the name of the Loughborough University School of Art and Design

Origin: Professor Marsha Meskimmon

Executive Summary/Senate Action Required:

Senate is asked to approve a change to the name of the Loughborough University School of Art and Design (LUSAD) to The School of the Arts at Loughborough University (SALU) with effect from 1 August 2010.

Over the past two years, colleagues in the School of Art and Design have been reflecting critically on significant structural changes within the Department, ranging from a substantive redistribution in the student population, designed to capitalise on our successful PGT and PGR recruitment, to a complete redevelopment of the physical configuration of our facilities and space.

In keeping with such major change, colleagues have been invited to, and have participated eagerly in, various forms of discussion and debate about our identity, both within LU and at national and international level. Through this process, we have arrived at the decision that the School should be renamed to represent its centre of gravity more effectively.

Debate within the Department was lively on the issue of the name and, in addition, consultation was undertaken with Design &Technology (in relation to the naming of the new Loughborough Design School) and English & Drama, so as to find an appropriate descriptor that was, at the same time, open-ended.

We propose that the Department change from Loughborough University School of Art and Design (LUSAD) to The School of the Arts at Loughborough University (SALU). The plural, ‘Arts’, is imperative here, since that incorporates, intellectually, historically and conceptually, the design disciplines that are intrinsic to our work, as well as our more text-based, theoretical practices. The plural further ensures that our activity cannot be reduced to the more limited designation of ‘fine art’, which would be insufficient in this context.

We trust that the University as a whole, through Senate and Council, will support this change and the developments being undertaken within the Department to ensure its future success.