This page highlights the history of the New York State College of Ceramics and current glass art and engineering programs of study at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
Alfred offers classes and facilities to make art in a wide variety of media. The Sculpture/Dimensional Studies Division enables students and faculty to create glass sculpture using blown and cast glass, create neon works, and more. The hot glass studios and neon light studio are state-of-the-art. There are also exciting opportunities to collaborate with glass scientists, in addition to the richly creative world of the School of Art and Design.
Alfred offers programs in Glass Science at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels. Glass is utilized in a wide variety of technologies, from windows to communications to medicine (and more). Students in the Glass Science programs have access to cutting-edge lab equipment. There are also rich opportunities for collaboration across engineering disciplines and with the creators and innovators in the School of Art and Design.
Samuel R. Scholes, Sr. (1884-1974) was a world authority in the field of glass science and established the department of glass technology at Alfred University in 1932, where he remained a professor (and later Dean of the College of Ceramics) until his retirement in 1952.
Modern Glass Practice, Scholes' seminal work in glass science, was first published in 1935, received seven editions and remains in print today.
Scholes is the namesake for the Scholes Library of Ceramics, a special library focused on art and engineering. In addition to serving the students, faculty, and staff of the School of Art and Design and the Inamori School of Engineering, Scholes Library is a destination for domestic and international researchers, scholars, and artists.