Coastal Carolina University's Department of Art has been named an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), an organization of schools, colleges and universities that offer art and design studies.

NASAD's Commission on Accreditation granted Coastal's Department of Art an associate membership based on a self-evaluation and peer- review study conducted during the past three years as part of the accreditation process. Two NASAD evaluators visited Coastal in October 2000 to verify the department's self-study document. Their visit focused on the programs and activities housed in Coastal's Art Center, as well as the art facilities under construction in the new Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts Building and the sculpture studio located in Coastal's Atlantic Center facility.

"Being accredited by NASAD is an acknowledgment of the outstanding achievement of the department's faculty, staff and students," said Charles Wright, chair of Coastal's Department of Art. "Accreditation, in practical terms, is a stamp of approval, a sign that the department has met an external set of basic criteria for the programs we offer. The rigorous evaluation process has placed us in a position to advance to another level of excellence as we move into the new Edwards Humanities and Fine Arts Building, which has state-of-the-art facilities for all the arts."

NASAD has accredited 227 institutions throughout the United States. Accreditation standards emphasize an institution's history of achievement and its goals and priorities regarding future programs. Coastal's Department of Art joins the ranks of some of the nation's most prestigious art institutions, including the San Francisco Art Institute, the School of the Chicago Art Institute, the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Five other South Carolina institutions – Columbia College, Francis Marion University, Lander University, University of South Carolina and Winthrop University – are accredited institutional members of NASAD.

Approximately 90 Coastal students are art majors. Coastal's Department of Art has seven full-time faculty members.