 | |
Former names | Lesley School (1909–1944) Lesley College (1944–2001) School of Practical Art (1912–1967) Art Institute of Boston (1967–1998) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Perissem Ni Perstitissem (Latin) |
Motto in English | I Would Have Perished Had I Not Persisted |
| Type | Private university |
| Established | 1909; 116 years ago (1909) |
| Accreditation | NECHE |
| Endowment | $186.2 million (2020)[1] |
| President | Janet L. Steinmayer |
| Provost | Jonathan Jefferson (interim) |
| Students | 3,134[2] |
| Undergraduates | 1,342[2] |
| Postgraduates | 1,792[2] |
| Location | , U.S. |
| Campus | Urban, 15.87 acres (6.42 ha)[3] |
| Calendar | Semester |
| Colors | Green and white |
| Nickname | Lynx |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III New England Collegiate Conference |
| Website | lesley.edu |
 | |
  Location in Greater Boston area Show map of Greater Boston area Lesley University (Massachusetts) Show map of Massachusetts Lesley University (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
Lesley University is aprivate university inCambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1909 toeducate teachers. Originally founded as awomen's college, male students were admitted beginning in 2005.
TheLesley School (also known asLesley Normal School) was founded byEdith Lesley in 1909 at her home at 29 Everett Street, Cambridge. The school began as a private women's institution that trainedkindergarten teachers. It espoused the work ofFriedrich Froebel, who invented the concept of kindergarten as a complement to the care given to children by their mothers. Teacher and writer Elizabeth Peabody opened Boston's first Froebel-inspired kindergarten in 1860; more kindergartens followed. Central to the Froeblian philosophy is the idea that individuals are important and unique, a focus that remains today at Lesley University.
Edith Lesley, after having lived in Panama and Maine and studied in Freiburg, Germany, moved to Boston and became involved with public school teaching. She completed kindergarten training, took courses at Radcliffe College, and then began to plan her own kindergarten training school. She wanted a school that would "consider the individual of basic importance; to inculcate the idea of gracious living; and to foster the tradition of American democracy." [quote from "A Century of Innovation," Brown and Forinash, eds.] Now married, Lesley and her husband expanded the school by constructing an addition at the rear of their home, which today is known as Livingston Stebbins Hall.
Around 1913, the Lesley School began training for elementary teachers. In 1941, the Lesley School reorganized under aboard of trustees; in 1944, it received authority to awardbaccalaureate degrees and became known asLesley College. In 1954, the college began to award graduate degrees; it later added majors in the fields ofeducation,counseling,human services,global studies,art therapy, andmanagement.
TheSchool of Practical Art was founded by Roy Davidson in 1912. The school's early philosophy was based uponJohn Ruskin's words that it is "in art that the heart, the head, and the hand of a man come together" and Davidson's own belief that "beauty comes from the use."[4] The school increasingly embraced thefine arts and developed a growingliberal arts curriculum; in 1967 the school was renamed theArt Institute of Boston to acknowledge its increased focus upon fine art as well as design, illustration, and photography.
| Edith Lesley | 1909–1938 |
| Gertrude Malloch | 1938–1943 |
| Marguerite Franklin | 1943 |
| Trentwell Mason White | 1944–1959(died in office) |
| Sam Wonders | 1959–1960(acting) |
| Don Orton | 1960–1985 |
| Margaret A. McKenna | 1985–2007 |
| Joseph B. Moore | 2007–2016[6] |
| Jeff A. Weiss | 2016–2018 |
| Richard S. Hansen | 2018–2019(interim)[7] |
| Janet L. Steinmayer | 2019–present[8] |
In 1998, the Art Institute of Boston and Lesley College merged,[9] and became Lesley University in 2001.
When university status was gained, the original colleges became the undergraduate units of the university. Lesley College's two graduate schools rounded out the university's four main academic units. In 2005, Lesley College (at that point, an all-female liberal arts college) becamecoeducational.
In 2006, the university acquiredProspect Hall, a former church listed on theNational Register of Historic Places, with the goal of bringing the Art Institute of Boston to Cambridge.[10]
In 2007, Joseph B. Moore became president of Lesley. The following year, the university entered into a partnership withEpiscopal Divinity School to jointly operate their Brattle Street campus and purchase several buildings. This move added dormitories, a dining hall, and classrooms, as well as an expansion in library services and administrative space.[11]
In 2009, the university celebrated its centennial and embarked on its first major construction since the 1970s. Dormitories at 1 and 3 Wendell street were added to the residential life offerings. Both buildings areLEED Gold–certified.[12]
In 2013, construction on the Lunder Arts Center began in Porter Square. The project was built on the former site of theNorth Prospect Church, which was moved slightly to the south and repurposed.[13] Also in 2013, Lesley University's constituent colleges, the Art Institute of Boston and Lesley College, were renamedCollege of Art and Design andCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences, respectively; the change is reflective of the cohesion and growth of the two colleges.[14]
In 2015, the College of Art and Design officially left Kenmore Square[15] in Boston and joined the remainder of the university in Cambridge. This move marked the completion of the Lunder Arts Center as well as the first time in 17 years that the university was entirely housed in Cambridge. The Lunder Arts Center was awarded a LEED Gold certification[16] from theU.S. Green Building Council. Lesley also won a prestigious Preservation Award[17] from the Cambridge Historical Commission for the restoration of the historic former North Prospect Church as part o the Lunder Arts Center project.
At the end of the 2014–15 academic year, President Joseph B. Moore announced that he would retired the following year.[6] In 2016, Jeff A. Weiss[18] became president and resigned in 2018 due to personal health reasons (he almost immediately became Chief Strategy and Transformation Office at Mass General Brigham[19].). In 2018, Richard S. Hansen became interim president.[20]
In July 2018, Lesley announced the purchase of the historic buildings formerly owned by the Episcopal Divinity School (EDS), making Lesley the sole owner of the 4.4-acre Brattle Campus.[21] The purchase included five buildings – St. John's Memorial Chapel, Wright Hall, Burnham Hall, Reed Hall and 4 Berkeley St. – and the remainder of Sherrill Hall.[22] Since 2008, Lesley and EDS had jointly owned Sherrill Hall as part of the schools' condominium agreement.
In 2021, Lesley briefly piloted a community-based partnership with DeMello International Center inNew Bedford, Massachusetts.[23] Janet L. Steinmayer became university president in July 2019.[24]
Part of a long-term demographic trend of fewer college attendees in the United States, enrollment at Lesley declined by about a third from 2011 to 2021.[25] In fall 2023, Lesley laid off 30 faculty members and 20 staff, largely from the undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The university also eliminated some ostensibly low-enrolled academic programs, including all of the social sciences majors, and announced an overall restructuring of the university, branded as "Better Lesley."[25]
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Lesley University isaccredited by theNew England Commission of Higher Education.[26]The university, with its component undergraduate colleges, graduate schools, and centers, offers more than 20 undergraduate majors and over 90 Adult Bachelor's, Master's, Certificates of Advanced Graduate Study, and PhD programs at its Cambridge and Boston campuses, as well as off-campus and online. The Lesley Center for the Adult Learner offers an adult bachelor's degree program, including on- and off-campus courses as well as online and hybrid courses targeted toward adult learners.
The university is made up of the following academic units:[27]
The university library system is made up of the following units:[28]
The South Campus, formerly called the Brattle Campus, is onBrattle Street in theOld Cambridge Historic District, just west ofHarvard Square.[30] It is the former site of theEpiscopal Divinity School. Lesley purchased the property completely in 2018, having previously shared it with Episcopal Divinity School.[31] At some point between 2018–2020, it was renamed "South Campus".
It is home to four residence halls, a dining hall, classrooms, the Sherrill Hall, and the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences—that building is also the birthplace ofCharles Sanders Peirce.[citation needed]
The Doble Campus is betweenHarvard Square andPorter Square. It is named for Lesley benefactor and former chair of the Lesley Corporation, Frank C. Doble.[32]
It is home to residence halls and a dining hall, classrooms, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,[32] as well as Marran Theater and a variety of administrative offices. It is also home to many student life facilities, such as the Margaret McKenna Student Center, the Information Commons (a 24-hour computer lab and study space), and the fitness center.
The Porter Campus is inPorter Square.
It is home to the majority of the university's classroom space, the College of Art and Design, the Lunder Arts Center, the Graduate School of Education, as well as Student Administrative and Financial Services, the university bookstore, the Moriarty Library and the majority of the university's art galleries.[citation needed][when?]
Lesley University participates in theNCAADivision III's[33]New England Collegiate Conference.[34] Its athletic teams' nickname is theLynx.[35]
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Cross country |
| Cross country | Soccer |
| Soccer | Softball |
| Tennis | Tennis |
| Track and field | Track and field |
| Volleyball | Volleyball |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
42°22′47.98″N71°07′01.63″W / 42.3799944°N 71.1171194°W /42.3799944; -71.1171194
