The College of Fine and Applied Arts includes seven academic units offering undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate degrees: the Schools of Architecture, Art and Design, and Music and the Departments of Theatre, Dance, Landscape Architecture, and Urban and Regional Planning. In addition, the college operates Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Krannert Art Museum, Japan House, and several other specialized units.

No other college of the arts in the country can boast having as many accredited programs that are ranked as highly overall. The individual units of the College of Fine and Applied Arts are repeatedly ranked in the top twenty among their respective disciplines and collectively represent a rich and robust academic environment. The diverse but complementary structure of the college’s units provides fertile ground for interdisciplinary programs to develop and grow.

Students in the college participate in art in its many forms: they cut and weld large pieces of metal, producing graceful curves; manipulate the smallest pixels on a computer screen to create new shapes, forms, and colors; bound across dance floors and theatre stages; and perform delicate movements to make instruments sing beautifully. They use the latest tools, technologies, and ideas to design and analyze buildings, landscapes, and cities.

The School of Architecture has particularly strong ties to the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning which are also based in Temple Hoyne Buell Hall.