Texas Art Schools – Reviewing the Best Art Colleges in Texas

The expansive state of Texas enrolls 10,000 students in art school and boasts 13 schools accredited by the Council for Interior Design. Among its leading programs are offerings at the University of North Texas-College of Visual Arts and Design, Rice University, and Baylor University.The University of Texas offers NSAD-accredited programs and has art departments in its nine campuses across the state including Austin, San Antonia and Arlington. Texas also boasts renowned museums including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, McNay Art Museum and the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Austin Museum of Art.The College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas in Austin recently completed a new Visual Arts Center. Two of its faculty members were named Guggenheim Fellows in 2010. Noted graduate Marcia Gay Harden was the 2010 commencement speaker at University of Texas at Austin-a school that clearly values the arts.Austin is one of the largest and most diverse art departments in the country. The Studio Art division offers seven areas of study: Ceramics, Metals, Printing and Drawing, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Transmedia, a major with an emphasis on experimental practices including working in such realms as sound, installation, web, interactive and hypertext. The school also offers a selective 3-year MFA in Studio Art program enrolling 30 students.The College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Art (SoA) at Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas offers NASAD-accredited degree programs in studio arts, art history, communication design and visual studies. The BFA in Studio Art focuses on the development of students’ personal artistic expression and technical skills as well imparting an understanding and appreciation of both artistic heritage and contemporary art. The school also offers Masters Degrees as well a doctoral program in Fine Arts focusing on Critical Studies and Artistic Practice.Rice University, one of the nation’s premier research universities, boasts a commitment to undergraduate education and offers a Studio Art major in its Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts. Students are encouraged to explore courses in areas such as philosophy, anthropology and history. Students at Rice have access to the creative resources of the dynamic city of Houston Texas and visit galleries, studios and exhibitions in their junior year in preparation for a senior year that focuses on intensive studio work.Baylor University, in Waco Texas, offers both a BFA and BA in Studio Arts. Baylor students can concentrate in Ceramics, Fabric Design, Painting and other fine arts. BA students are encouraged to take courses across the concentrations, and are required to enroll in a larger percentage of liberal arts coursework than students on a BFA degree track. Baylor also offers a BA in Architecture in cooperation with Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Students at Baylor complete discipline-specific exams, portfolios, exhibitions and research papers, depending on their degree track. Baylor houses the Martin Museum of Art, the Allbritton Art Institute for the study of nineteenth and twentieth century art and the Harding Black Ceramic collection and Archive dedicated to scholarship in the ceramic arts.There are dozens of other colleges and universities across the state of Texas that offer degree programs in fine art, design and commercial art fields. Individuals interested in these fields can explore the range of options available to them in Texas and seek out a balanced program to help launch their career.

Member Engagement: A “Must-Have” for Health Plans Today

As Health Reform continues to unfold, the pace of change is picking up speed, as new models of reimbursement, care delivery and access are taking shape.These shifts on the provider side should represent good news for millions of Americans that need better support from the healthcare system, especially since many of those with chronic disease aren’t currently getting recommended care. Coupled with the fact that most patients do not adhere to their medication and treatment regimens or recommended lifestyle and health behavior changes, and it’s easy to spot some of the challenges ahead.Here’s where the payer side, particularly health plans, can really help.Health plans have ready access to claims data and other relevant clinical information plus a direct line to their members for targeted messaging and clinical interventions. While not a traditional strategic imperative, health plans do have a significant opportunity to help drive behavior change, reduce risk, and produce positive health outcomes for their members.Most plans already provide member portals and other helpful resources, and many have begun to focus on enhancing these activities and initiatives to enhance their value and impact. But, to compete effectively, in this rapidly shifting market, they will need to re-orient their mindset and approach to be far more consumer-centric.Consumer PowerAfter a decade of slow growth, Healthcare Consumerism has begun to take hold. Participation in high deductible health plans (HDHPs) is at a record level with 23% of all those with employer-sponsored insurance now enrolled in an HDHP. Other emerging factors such as price comparison tools, quality ratings, and retail health alternatives will continue to put more power into the hands of consumers.Health plans need to respond to this trend and design strategic solutions or partner with best-in-class service providers for their member populations. This puts a greater burden on member engagement outreach and interactions that are positive, relevant and trust-building.This will not be easy. Recent surveys reveal a deep trust gap between insurance companies and their members. The KMB Group survey of 34,000 consumers, find that only 22% of members identify their health plans as a “trusted source.” This compares to 80% for physicians.And this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) report indicates that customer satisfaction with health plans declined between 2013 and 2014, stating, “There is no area where health insurance companies offer an outstanding experience.”Member EngagementMember engagement is new territory for most health plans, and with Medicaid expansion, the influx of age-in Medicare members and the newly insured, it is increasingly important to provide consumer-oriented communications interactions, and interventions.As Star Ratings and other quality metrics rise in prominence, and consumer brand preference and loyalty begin to become important factors, health plans will find themselves striving for excellence in consumer experience, though outstanding member engagement.We see a number of areas that need to be addressed in developing an effective member engagement strategy:1. Understand how consumers think and operate in their own health and healthcare world.Health plans need to conduct a thorough and honest review of the outreach that goes to members, along with any and all on-going interactions, the customer service function, and related areas. This is the essential starting point for meaningful change and can help uncover insights about the consumer decision process. Additionally, areas such as behavioral economics provides many important learnings and can be a good guide for creating a messaging strategy to members.2. Adopt a member-centric marketing system designed around their concerns and interests.Using a consumer marketing mindset in establishing the communications strategy and identifying measurable actions, health plans need to become be a valued partner. Strategic messaging needs to be incorporated into all member touch points and aspects of outreach. Too many health plans still rely on dated letters from their Chief Medical Officer as the introduction to any number of health enhancement initiatives. Scrap them and find ways to make the content meaningful, relevant, and credible to the recipient.3. Strategically align and integrate all health improvement service offerings.Most health plans can check all the boxes relative to their service offerings in wellness, care management, disease management, pharmacy coordination, and an array of other services – but bringing them all together in a seamless solution is what members truly want and need. And by providing an overlay of measurement and feedback, plans can help ensure members receive what is most meaningful to them.These are ways health plans can think about advancing their capabilities toward being member-focused and engagement-oriented. There’s a lot they can do to actually change member behavior, lower risk and contribute to better overall health outcomes – which should produce stronger margins and returns.Health plans can learn and adopt many consumer marketing strategies from other industries, all of which can more create positive experiences in healthcare. In a consumer health plan market, the winners that emerge will likely be those that excel in member engagement.

Make Money on eBay – A Great Part Time Opportunity

eBay presents an almost perfect work from home opportunity for many entrepreneurs. You can make money on eBay to supplement a full time job, it is great for stay at home moms and what an opportunity for retirees. In fact many of eBay’s full time sellers today started as part time sellers when they first entered the eBay marketplace.Unlike many business opportunities you can make money on eBay from almost anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you live in downtown New York City or the remote reaches of Montana, there is an opportunity for success.You can make money on eBay no matter who you are. It doesn’t matter whether you are just out of school or retired. It doesn’t matter whether you have a high school diploma or a college degree. The eBay opportunity is equal for all.One of the real advantages to an eBay business is that you have a huge number of ready, willing and able prospective buyers just waiting. You can make money on eBay without many of the traffic generation challenges that come with other online businesses. Your initial challenge is finding the right products and then just getting that existing traffic to come to your listings. As you gain experience you can learn more sophisticated traffic strategies to make even more sales.Give eBay a try. You can simply register as a buyer and learn the ropes while you start to develop a solid positive feedback record. After making a few purchases the next step is to register as a seller. Make a few sales and you will soon know the basics of sales. From there you can decide if the opportunity to make money on eBay is right for you.To Your eBay Success!