The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) is an intellectually engaging teaching and learning environment. CLAS is made up of faculty and students whose work ethic and passions for learning and doing lead to them making real positive differences in this country and abroad. Early access to faculty expectations, robust and coherent programs of study, compelling intellectual engagement with ideas, faculty and student peers, are hallmarks of CLAS. Intensely engaging classes permit individualized learning and collaborative pedagogical approaches in academic programs that systematically provide richer, deeper, broader and more meaningful knowledge and career opportunities. In CLAS, faculty mentors and professional advisors help create innovative and highly structured career networks that provide students with deeper insights and pathways to careers, and graduate and professional school.
In CLAS early engagement in learning---reading, discovery, curiosity, debate, research and experiential applications, whether in in class, in the lab, or at a field placement or internship site, positively influence student success, faculty happiness and an improved experience across the liberal arts and sciences, pre-professional and professional programs. Within and across CLAS to the College of Art and Design (LA+D), our goal is to educate students for life-long learning, the generation of new ideas and knowledge, and careers in the pursuit of a better world. Teacher education candidates and students with aspirations to enter PhD programs immediately or enter the world of work, will do so armed with foundational knowledge of their disciplines, applied learning within and across programs of study, and a life-long curiosity for learning and effective community engagement.
Toward a Future of Excellence
Students develop academic and professional skills in an environment that supports and promotes intellectual and individual growth. Along with the students enrolled in the B.F.A. program at the College of Art and Design, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students live and study in a setting of 1,900 on-campus undergraduate students. Additionally, as part of a larger university that includes graduate programs, we offer students the resources of a major higher education institution of 5,000 students while providing the advantages of a small college community. Students have access to the faculty and courses of the University's various schools, including the opportunity to develop creative and independent programs of study that challenge and support their learning goals and plans. The decision to maintain a small college setting reflects the conviction that our community educates students in a unique way, and the commitment that every Lesley student be perceived, and know, that s/he is a vital member of the college.
Running through the rich diversity of the college is a pervasive and unifying theme: what you do matters. The philosophy endorses the notion that each student should be encouraged to strive for one's personal best. The curriculum and community is informed by one guiding purpose: to provide all Lesley students with an exceptional opportunity to make an impact through the development of leadership skills, creative problem solving, and solid theoretical and hands-on preparation to influence the communities and people with whom they will work.
Degree Programs
More than twenty degree programs lead to either the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. These programs combine liberal arts and professional study with practical field experience that begins in the very first year. Students choose or create majors that integrate or combine liberal arts coursework with the theoretical and practical foundations of professional preparation in their chosen field. Students also have the opportunity to explore new areas of academic study through elective courses, independent study, and experiential learning.
In conjunction with the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, there are several accelerated and dual programs available to students: the B.A./M.A. in Global Studies and International Higher Education and Intercultural Relations, the B.S./M.A. program in Art Therapy, the B.S./M.A. program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, the B.S./M.A. in Counseling Psychology, the B.S./M.A. in Expressive Art Therapies: Dance Movement Therapy Specialization and Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Dance Movement, and the B.S./M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapy. In conjunction with the Graduate School of Education there are B.A./M.Ed. programs that prepare students to teach in four licensure areas. See specific program sections of this catalog and the Graduate Academic Catalog for a more detailed explanation of the curriculum and degree requirements.