Lesley University

1909–1998 The Lesley School (also known as Lesley Normal School ) was founded by Edith Lesley in 1909 at her home at 29 Everett Street, Cambridge. The school began as a private women's institution that trained kindergarten teachers. It espoused the work of Friedrich 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 a board of trustees ; in 1944, it received authority to award baccalaureate degrees and became known as Lesley College . In 1954, the college began to award graduate degrees; it later added majors in the fields of education , counseling , human services , global studies , art therapy , and management . The School of Practical Art was founded by Roy Davidson in 1912.

The school's early philosophy was based upon John 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 the fine arts and developed a growing liberal arts curriculum; in 1967 the school was renamed the Art Institute of Boston to acknowledge its increased focus upon fine art as well as design, illustration, and photography. Presidents of Lesley University [ 5 ] 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 2021, Lesley briefly piloted a community-based partnership with DeMello International Center in New 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 ]

Undergraduate Admissions on the Doble Campus The historic landmark which was once the North Avenue Congregational Church and the North Prospect Congregational Church, is now Lesley University's John and Carol Moriarty Library, part of the Lunder Arts Center completed in January 2015 University Hall on the Porter Square campus Lesley University is accredited by the New 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 ] College of Art and Design College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Center for the Adult Learner Graduate School of Education Center for Reading Recovery & Literacy Collaborative Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences Threshold Program The university library system is made up of the following units: [ 28 ] Henry Knox Sherrill Library – Main collections Teaching Resources Collection Evelyn M. Finnegan '48 Collection for Children's Literature [ 29 ] University Archives John and Carol Moriarty Library – Lunder Arts Center Art and Design Collection