The University’s College of Fine Arts aims continually to enhance its programs. In 1996, the Department of Visual Arts expanded its glass-art program, in existence since 1972, by founding the Glass Institute of the Southeast at Jacksonville University. Since its inception, the Glass Institute has brought to JU glass artists of international stature from Italy, England, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, as well as the American glass hub of Seattle. With its extensive glass studio within the Visual Art Annex, JU’s is today the largest, professional glassworking facility in the southeastern U.S.

In 1997, the Department of Visual Arts expanded its computer-art program, established in 1992, by founding the Center for Animation and Virtual Environments, the CAVE, a state-of-the-art teaching center. With the CAVE, JU computer-art students, led by faculty, are actively participating in the reconfiguration of the nature of the visual arts in our ever-increasingly technological world