Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Last updated
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Seal.png
Former names
North Adams State College (1960–1997)
State Teachers College of North Adams (1932–1960)
North Adams Normal School (1894–1932) [1]
Type Public liberal arts college
Established1894;130 years ago (1894)
Accreditation NECHE
Academic affiliations
 Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges
Endowment $14.7 million (2020) [2]
President James F. "Jaimie" Birge
Academic staff
87 full-time
42 part-time
Students1,202 (Fall 2020) [3]
Undergraduates 1,076 (Fall 2020) [3]
Postgraduates 126 (Fall 2020) [3]
Location
North Adams
,
Massachusetts
,
U.S.

42°41′30″N73°06′14″W / 42.6917°N 73.1039°W / 42.6917; -73.1039
CampusRural, 105 acres (42 ha)
Colors    Navy and lime green (for academics)
   Navy and gold (for athletics)
Nickname Trailblazers
Sporting affiliations
 NCAA Division III, Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, North Atlantic Conference
MascotMurdock the Mountain Lion
Website www.mcla.edu
MCLA North Adams Logo.png

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) formerly known as North Adams State College (NASC) [4] is a public liberal arts college in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is part of the state university system of Massachusetts. [5] It is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Originally established as part of the state's normal school system for training teachers, it now offers programs leading to Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees, as well as a Master of Education track.

Contents

History

Murdock Hall, one of the college' s classroom buildings. MCLA-MurdockHall.jpg
Murdock Hall, one of the college' s classroom buildings.

MCLA was founded in 1894 as North Adams Normal School, and it offered first instruction at post-secondary level three years later. By 1897, the Normal School enrolled 32 students (29 women, 3 men) and employed 4 teachers. In 1932, North Adams Normal School became State Teachers College of North Adams, added an upper-division curriculum, and started awarding bachelor's degrees. In 1936, it instituted graduate program. In 1960, it changed its name to North Adams State College and, in 1997, to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, reflecting its position as the public liberal arts college within the Massachusetts state university system. [1]

In 2004, President Mary Grant led in the creation of the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education and MCLA Gallery 51. [6] MCLA also is the lead partner in the Berkshire STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Pipeline Network.

In 2008, the Massachusetts Higher Education Bond Bill included $54.5 million for a new Center for Science and Innovation at MCLA. It opened in 2013 as the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation. [7]

In 2014, Grant left the college and Cynthia F. Brown was appointed Interim President. Although Greg Summers was initially named the new president, he later withdrew his acceptance, citing family health concerns. [8] On December 9, 2015, Jamie Birge was named as president. [9]

Academics

Academic rankings
Liberal arts
U.S. News & World Report [10] 149

MCLA has a rolling admissions plan. It requires graduation from an accredited secondary school or a GED. MCLA uses SAT or ACT composite scores for entrance consideration. MCLA accepts transfer students with grade-point average requirements or with an associate degree. MCLA is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. [11]

MCLA awards the Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science on the undergraduate level and also confers master's degrees in both education and business administration, as well as a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS). MCLA offers 19 major programs of study and 35 minors. On average, MCLA offers 300 academic courses each semester. Graduation from MCLA requires completing 120 credits of academic work. Of these, about 40 must in the college-wide core curriculum. Another 40 credits are required for a major. At least 40 upper-division credits are required. At least 45 credits must be earned while the student is in residence at the college. Students must earn at least a 2.0 grade point average overall and a 2.0 in their major.

Distinctive educational programs

MCLA offers internships for undergraduates through the Berkshire Hills Internship Program. It also offers undergraduates coursework in other countries through its travel abroad program. MCLA belongs to the Massachusetts Council for International Education (MaCIE), College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS), and the National Student Exchange (NSE). Through these associations and connections, students are sent on semester- or year-long programs to different colleges.

The college Honors Program [12] includes ten percent of the student body for whom it offers special interdisciplinary courses in such topics as "The Mathematics of Fairness," "Ethics and Animals" or "The Romantic Movement." The college is authorized by the state to grant the distinction "Commonwealth Scholar" to students who complete the honors program with a capstone thesis.

Athletics

MCLA has 13 varsity sports. The college's varsity teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division III level in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC). Active intercollegiate female teams are basketball, volleyball, tennis, cross country, soccer, softball, and lacrosse; while active intercollegiate male teams are baseball, basketball, golf, cross country, tennis and soccer. The college also has NERFU club rugby which was re-activated in 2011.

From 1963, the college's athletic teams were known as the Mohawks, after the Mohawk Trail which runs along Massachusetts Route 2. In response to concerns over using a Native American name (Francis Boots, cultural-preservation officer of the Mohawk tribe, has told college officials that his people were not honored by the name [13] ), the mascot was changed to the Trailblazers in 2002. In 2013, a new mascot, the Mountain Lion, was adopted while in April 2019, the Trailblazer community named the Mascot "Murdock" after a vote of the campus community, alumni, and community members. [14]

The most successful team in the college's history was the men's ice hockey team, which was cut in 2003. [15] However, MCLA will have men's and women's hockey teams beginning to compete again in the 2023-24 academic year. [16]

Organization and administration

Smith House, previously the residence of the sitting college president, currently serves as administrative offices. NorthAdamsMA MCLA SmithHouse.jpg
Smith House, previously the residence of the sitting college president, currently serves as administrative offices.

MCLA is governed by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. Beyond that, MCLA has extra-institutional representation of 11 voting members and the Board of Trustees, whose members are appointed by the governor which has 11 voting members. A student representative to the board of trustees is elected every spring by the student body to sit for one academic year. Administration positions include 12 men and 24 women. Academic affairs is headed by the vice president for academic affairs. Business and finances is headed by the vice president for administration and finance. Student affairs is headed by the vice president of student affairs. The full-time instructional faculty has 52 men and 36 women. The academic governance body, All College Committee, meets an average of nine times each year.

Publications

The school has two student publications: The Beacon, [17] a weekly newspaper, and Spires, a literary magazine published each year. Radio Station WJJW broadcasts for 140 hours each week, and episodes of the student-run college TV news program, Beacon Web News, are produced once a week. MCLA also has one faculty publication: The Mind's Eye, [18] and one alumni publication, Beacons & Seeds, [19] which comes out twice a year.

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal arts college</span> College with an emphasis on the liberal arts and sciences

A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and general sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional or vocational curriculum. Students in a liberal arts college generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including general sciences as well as the traditional humanities subjects taught as liberal arts. Although it draws on European antecedents, the liberal arts college is strongly associated with American higher education, and most liberal arts colleges around the world draw explicitly on the American model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal arts education</span> Traditional academic course in Western higher education

Liberal arts education is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. Liberal arts takes the term art in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. Liberal arts education can refer to studies in a liberal arts degree course or to a university education more generally. Such a course of study contrasts with those that are principally vocational, professional, or technical, as well as religiously based courses.

The University of Minnesota system is a public university system with five campuses spread across the U.S. state of Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amherst College</span> Liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British forces of North America during the French and Indian War. Originally established as a men's college, Amherst became coeducational in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellesley College</span> Womens liberal arts college in U.S.

Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial grouping of current and former women's colleges in the northeastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curry College</span> Private liberal-arts college in Milton, Massachusetts, U.S.

Curry College is a private college in Milton, Massachusetts. It was founded as the School of Elocution and Expression by Anna Baright in 1879. In 1885, it was taken over and renamed by Samuel Silas Curry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Massachusetts Lowell</span> Public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell is a public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Massachusetts public university system and has been accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) since 1975. With 1,110 faculty members and over 18,000 students, it is the largest university in the Merrimack Valley and the second-largest public institution in the state. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emerson College</span> Private university in Boston, Massachusetts

Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," the college offers more than three dozen degree and professional training programs specializing in the fields of arts and communication with a foundation in liberal arts studies. The college is one of the founding members of the ProArts Consortium, an association of six neighboring institutions in Boston dedicated to arts education at the collegiate level. Emerson is also notable for the college's namesake public opinion poll, Emerson College Polling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Massachusetts Dartmouth</span> Public university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, U.S.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is a public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly Southeastern Massachusetts University, it was merged into the University of Massachusetts system in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of the Holy Cross</span> Private college in Worcester, Massachusetts, US

The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. Holy Cross was the first Catholic college in New England and is among the oldest Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartwick College</span> Private college in Oneonta, New York, U.S.

Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the Seminary moved to expand into a four-year college and was offered land by the city of Oneonta to move to its current location. The college has 1,161 undergraduate students from 30 states and 22 countries, 187 faculty members, and a student-faculty ratio of 11:1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Baldwin University</span> Private university in Staunton, Virginia, U.S.

Mary Baldwin University is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a residential college and women's college with a focus on liberal arts and leadership, as well as co-educational residential college for undergraduate programs within its University College structure. MBU also offers co-educational graduate degrees as well as undergraduate degree and certificate programs for working professionals and non-traditional students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheaton College (Massachusetts)</span> Private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachusetts

Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachusetts. Wheaton was founded in 1834 as a female seminary. The trustees officially changed the name of the Wheaton Female Seminary to Wheaton College in 1912 after receiving a college charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It remained one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States until men began to be admitted in 1988. It enrolls 1,669 undergraduate students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kutztown University of Pennsylvania</span> University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, US

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is a public university in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard Extension School</span> Extension school of Harvard University

Harvard Extension School (HES) is the extension school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1910, it is one of the oldest liberal arts and continuing education schools in the United States. Part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Extension offers both part-time, open-enrollment courses, as well as selective undergraduate ALB and graduate ALM degrees primarily for nontraditional students. Academic certificates and a post-baccalaureate pre-medical certificate are also offered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lasell University</span> Private university in Auburndale, Massachusetts, US

Lasell University (LU) is a private university in Newton, Massachusetts. Lasell offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional fields of study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelina College</span>

Angelina College is a public community college with its main campus in Lufkin, Texas. It has nine off-campus centers in Crockett, Hemphill, Jasper, Livingston, Nacogdoches, Pineland, San Augustine, Trinity, and Woodville. The college enrolls more than 4,000 students in its undergraduate degree programs. In addition to its academic/vocational programs, the college has a community services division that oversees the college's Adult Education Consortium, Continuing Education Units, and Career Development initiatives.

Berkshire Community College is a public community college in Berkshire County, Massachusetts with its primary campus in Pittsfield. It also has a satellite campus in Great Barrington and classroom spaces in the city of Pittsfield. Established in the 1960s, it is the oldest college founded by the Massachusetts Community Colleges Executive Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale-NUS College</span> Liberal arts college in Singapore

Yale-NUS College is a liberal arts college in Singapore. Established in 2011 as a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore, it is the first liberal arts college in Singapore and one of the first few in Asia. With an average acceptance rate of 5.2%, it is among the most selective institutions in the world. Yale-NUS was the first institution outside New Haven, Connecticut that Yale University had developed in its 300-year history, making Yale one of the first American Ivy League schools to establish a college bearing its name in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Barrett (Massachusetts politician)</span> American politician

John Barrett III is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was elected to the post on November 7, 2017, filling the vacant seat previously held by Gailanne Cariddi, who had died of cancer in June 2017. He represents the furthest northwest district in the state, the 1st Berkshire district. Barrett serves on three committees in the chamber: the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, and the Joint Committee on Election Laws. Barrett was reelected to the House of Representatives in 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 "MCLA History". Archived from the original on 2021-08-31. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  2. ↑ As of June 30, 2020. U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Archived 2021-09-14 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Archives · North Adams Archives". northadamsarchives.com. Archived from the original on 2022-08-15. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  5. ↑ "About MCLA". Archived from the original on 2015-05-20. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  6. ↑ "About MCLA | MCLA G51 About". Archived from the original on 2010-11-23. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  7. ↑ "Feigenbaum Center For Science and Innovation". Archived from the original on 2015-12-20. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  8. ↑ Damon, Edward (31 March 2015). "MCLA presidential pick Greg Summers bows out, citing family health issues". Berkshire Eagle. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  9. ↑ "MCLA selects Jaimie Birge, higher education veteran and former Lee resident, as next president". Berkshire Eagle. 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "Best Colleges 2024: National Liberal Arts Colleges". U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  11. ↑ Massachusetts Institutions – NECHE, New England Commission of Higher Education, archived from the original on October 9, 2021, retrieved May 26, 2021
  12. ↑ "Honors Program". Archived from the original on 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  13. ↑ Flores, Christopher (10 May 2002). "Mascot Watch". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 48 (35): A8. ProQuest   214690218.
  14. ↑ "MCLA Mascot - MCLA". Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  15. ↑ Administrator, Site (2003-06-19). "MCLA Drops Hockey". College Hockey | USCHO.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-13. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  16. ↑ "MCLA Athletics Announces Multi-Year Plan, Including Hockey and Facility Upgrades". 2022-04-21. Archived from the original on 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2022-12-23.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ↑ "TheBeacon_MCLA - MCLA's Student Newspaper". Archived from the original on 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  18. ↑ "Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Eugene L. Freel Library : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive".
  19. ↑ "Home - Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts". alumni.mcla.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-06-05. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  20. ↑ "MCLA Announces Appointments to Board of Trustees" Archived 2018-03-08 at the Wayback Machine , MCLA, April 2016 (accessed 2018-03-08).
  21. ↑ "About MCLA | Biography". Archived from the original on 2010-06-09. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  22. ↑ 1992 Topps baseball card # 664
  23. ↑ Anton Strout. Anton Strout Archived 2023-02-15 at the Wayback Machine 's official Facebook page, accessed June 6, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.