"MCLA’s location provided me with endless opportunities to gain professional experience in the arts. I had a lot of fun working as a tour guide at MASS MoCA and in the education department at the Berkshire Museum, which allowed me to figure out what kinds of jobs I would like and to meet a lot of interesting arts professionals along the way. MCLA’s small size helped me develop close working relationships with my favorite professors who always took time to advise me on academic and professional concerns. I really felt like they were with me all the way."
Monica Henry ’07 Education Coordinator, Clark Art Institute
News & Press Releases
NORTH ADAMS, MA – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have established a 3 + 2 dual degree program in engineering. Graduates of this program will receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from MCLA and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from UMass.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students who want to go into the engineering field and receive a strong foundation in physics,” said Monica Joslin, MCLA dean of academic affairs. “Students enrolled in this program will earn two degrees after five years.”
Under the agreement, qualified MCLA students will be accepted into the UMass College of Engineering. Successful completion of the five-year program leads to two degrees – a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from MCLA and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical, industrial or civil engineering from UMass.
After completing their junior year at MCLA, dual-degree students complete their senior year at UMass under the auspices of the National Student Exchange Program (NSE) and remain MCLA students. They will pay tuition, room, board and fees and receive financial assistance via MCLA, according to NSE guidelines. To continue for a fifth year at UMass, students will apply as post-graduate students.
Joslin said the College was grateful for the work of physics professors Adrienne Wootters and Bill Seeley for their work on the affiliation agreement. As a result of the agreement, a new course, “Introduction to Engineering,” is being offered this fall at MCLA.
The dual degree program is one of a number of science-related partnerships MCLA is working on. Currently, MCLA is hosting more than 1,200 fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade students and teachers from throughout the region through Nov. 17 for the Bose “In Harmony with Education,” program, which connects science, music and math.
Developed by Bose to meet national standards and state curriculum frameworks, the program is being implemented by Lisa Provencher, MCLA’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) coordinator, physics professors Mike O’Neil and Bill Seeley, music professor Christine Condaris, and MCLA students in music, physics and education.
Other science partnerships include a collaboration with NASA and a team of five K-12 educational institutions in the Washington D.C. region to develop special projects that focus on sustaining life on Earth as it relates to the Sun-Earth connection, as well as the “Upper Housatonic River Experience” graduate course, taught by MCLA and Berkshire Community College professors and developed with area business and industry partners.
