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Lasell University (LU) is a
private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...
in
Auburndale, Massachusetts Auburndale is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the western end of Newton near the intersection of interstate highways 90 and 95. It is bisected by the Massachus ...
. Lasell offers
undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
and graduate degrees in the
liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") 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 ...
, sciences, and professional fields of study.


History

Lasell was founded in 1851 as the Auburndale Female Seminary by
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
Professor of Chemistry, Edward Lasell, after he took a sabbatical from his job in Williamstown to teach at the
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...
in
South Hadley South Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. South Hadley is home to Mount Holyoke Colleg ...
, where the experience inspired him to invest more personally in
women's education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...
. He died of
typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
during the first semester, but his school proved highly successful as a first-rate educational institution and was soon renamed Lasell Female Seminary in his memory. Its name later changed to Lasell Seminary for Young Women and, in 1874, governance was given to a board of trustees and Principal Charles C. Bragdon. Bragdon further expanded the faculty to make Lasell renowned as a more academically rigorous institution, a prestigious school with a highly scientific approach to
domestic work A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
,
art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, and
music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
. As an innovative institution, known for a radical approach to women's education at the time, Lasell also administered the Harvard exams and offered law courses for women. Lasell also offered two years of standard collegiate instruction as early as 1852 and is cited as having been the "first successful and persistent"
junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...
in the United States. In 1932, the college changed its name to Lasell Junior College, and the school officially began offering
associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...
s in 1943. In 1989, Lasell adopted a
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
to become a four-year institution (it no longer offers any two-year undergraduate degrees), and began admitting male students in 1997. Lasell also began offering
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
s in 2002. Lasell faced controversy in 2000 when seven former students sued and claimed that the nursing program, which had been discontinued in 1999, had been a sham. The following year, the college built Lasell Village, an elderly education facility in which residents paid to live and attend classes. Although the college argued that the property was in line with its non-profit mission and exempt from property taxes, the city successfully sued the college for not paying property taxes for the property. In September 2010, a settlement was also filed in Suffolk Superior Court stipulating that Lasell would have to pay $191,314 to over 1,000 students over a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
in their
Financial Aid Student financial aid in the United States is funding that is available exclusively to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. This funding is used to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the p ...
Department. The investigation was done by the office of
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Martha Coakley Martha Mary Coakley (born July 14, 1953) is an American lobbyist and lawyer who served as Attorney General of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. Prior to serving as Attorney General, she was District Attorney of Middlesex County from 1999 to 20 ...
. The college explored merging with
Mount Ida College Mount Ida College was a private college in Newton, Massachusetts. In 2018, the University of Massachusetts Amherst acquired the campus and renamed it the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst. History The Mount Ida School for Girls, once a high sc ...
, another liberal arts institution located in Newton, in February 2018. The reasons given for the proposed merger were to help keep tuition cost as low as possible and maintaining academic quality. In 2019, the institution's application to become a university was approved by the State Board of Education and it changed its name to Lasell University.


Academics

Lasell has been accredited by the Commission on Institution of Higher Education (CIHE) of the
New England Association of Schools and Colleges The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) is a United States' regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation. NEASC serves over 1500 public, independent schools, and technical/career institution ...
(NEASC) since 1932 and offers
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
s in the
liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") 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 ...
and professional disciplines. Through its "Connected Learning" program, students work on off-site projects and assignments. Lasell also offers graduate degrees in education, communication, sport management, athletic training, criminal justice, human resources, marketing, management (MS and MBA), and rehabilitation science. In 2018, ''U.S. News & World Report'' listed Lasell College among only five other colleges with having 100 percent of its graduating seniors participate in an internship experience. According to ''U.S. News & World Report'', Lasell University has been ranked 9th for the category, "Great Schools at Great Prices" and ranked 25th for the "Best Regional College" in the North. Lasell ranked at 123 out of baccalaureate colleges in the United States for the ''
Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...
College Guide'', ranking at number 3 specifically on "a combined measure of the number of staff supporting community service, relative to the total number of staff; the number of academic courses that incorporate service, relative to school size; and whether the institution provides scholarships for community service."


Fashion program

Lasell University is known for its emphasis and strength in its
fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
program. Prospective students can major in Fashion Communication and Promotion, Fashion Retail & Merchandising, and Fashion Design & Production. The university is one of the few colleges that allow
freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...
,
sophomores In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
, and juniors to showcase their garments in the annual undergraduate fashion show in the spring. Seniors show their final collections on a separate day and showcase eight looks that walk down the runway. The fashion shows are orchestrated by the other fashion students through weekly workshops and back to stage communication.


Lasell Works

Lasell Works is a professionally focused, cost savings undergraduate program created by Lasell University to help lower the burden of higher education tuition. Students enrolled in the program spend their sophomore year living off-campus, taking all of their classes online, and working in a part-time job with ongoing mentor support. The program's declining tuition rate offers $22,000 in cost savings before financial aid is applied (as of 2019 rates).


Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program

In 2022, Lasell acquired the Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program from
Pine Manor College Pine Manor College (PMC) was a private college in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1911 and was historically a women's college until 2014. It currently serves fewer than 400 students, many of whom live on the 40-acre campus. Origin ...
, where it had been hosted since 2006. Solstice is four-semester
Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
program in
creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
. In the low-residency format, students complete five 10-day, on-campus residencies and four semesters in which they work with their faculty mentors remotely from their homes. Residencies occur in January and July and start the spring and fall semesters, respectively. Solstice students may concentrate in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, comics & graphic narratives, or writing for children and young adults.


Campus

The Lasell campus covers roughly in the
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
, village of Auburndale, adjacent to the Lasell Neighborhood Historic District. There are approximately 58 buildings, 27 of which are student
dormitories A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
. Dormitories include 33 Victorian-era homes (built between 1837 and 1901), suite-style residence halls, and contemporary quad-style halls. The college opened its Science and Technology Center (STC) in the fall of 2017. It covers of space and includes seven labs designed for anatomy and physiology, chemistry, physics, exercise science, and math. Lasell's campus includes a day-care facility (the Barn), Rockwell Preschool, and Lasell Village, a senior living community focused on lifelong learning designated as an Age-Friendly University (AFU). The campus is located about half a mile from the Auburndale
Commuter Rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
station on the
Framingham/Worcester Line The Framingham/Worcester Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system runs west from Boston, Massachusetts to Worcester, Massachusetts through the MetroWest region, serving 17 station stops in Boston, Newton, Wellesley, Natick, Framingham, Ashland, ...
, and about one mile away from the Riverside MBTA Station on the Green Line's D train, which takes commuters into the downtown
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
area. A shuttle runs regularly between the campus and Riverside Station.


Student life

Of the 1,600 students who attend Lasell, 73% live on campus, 40% come from out-of-state (undergraduate students), and 22% are students of color. Roughly 36% of students at Lasell are male.


Athletics

Lasell University is a member of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
's
Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...
athletics. The Lasell Lasers compete as members of
Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...
, the
North Atlantic Conference The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division III, consisting primarily of small liberal arts colleges in the Northern New England states of Maine and Vermont, as well as New York. The conf ...
, and the
Great Northeast Athletic Conference The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. History Chronological timeline * 1995 - In 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Co ...
s in
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
,
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...
,
field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
,
softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
,
lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...
, and
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
as inter varsity sports. In 2009, a
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
was introduced: Boomer the Torchbearer, named for the industrialists who sponsored Lasell's founding. Additionally, the school has a popular women's and men's rugby club, and has intramural sports such as flag football in the fall, as well as basketball in the winter.


Organizations

The student newspaper is called the ''1851 Chronicle'' in reference to Lasell's founding year, and the student yearbook is called the ''Lamp''. ''Polished Magazine'' is made by Lasell students/ A student-run online college radio station began operation in the fall of 2004; in 2016, the radio station began broadcasting on FM as WLAS-LP (102.9). There are social justice, service-oriented, religious, and multicultural organizations: Umoja Step Team, Fashion and Service Society, Hope for Humanity, Hillel Club, Multicultural Student Union, Niños de Veracruz, Students Against Drunk Driving, and Students Advocating For Equality. There are also academic organizations (Accounting/Finance, Fashion, Graphic Design, Hospitality, Psychology, Sports Management, and TV/Media) and athletic organizations (
Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
,
Crew A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involve ...
,
Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
, Roller Hockey,
Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
,
Skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
and
Snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...
,
Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, and
Wiffle Ball Wiffle ball, a team sport developed in 1953 in Fairfield, Connecticut, is a scaled back variation of baseball designed for playing in a confined space. The sport is played using a perforated light-weight plastic ball and a long hollow plastic b ...
clubs).


Notable people


Alumni

*
Annie Montague Alexander Annie Montague Alexander (29 December 1867 - 10 September 1950) was an explorer, naturalist, paleontological collector, and philanthropist. She founded the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoolo ...
– explorer, naturalist, paleontological collector, philanthropist * Martha Atwood – operatic soprano * Sarah Lord Bailey – elocutionist and teacher * Ada Langworthy Collier – poet, writer * Nancy Donahue – fashion model *
Elizabeth Jane Gardner Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau (October 4, 1837 – January 28, 1922) was an American academic and salon painter, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. She was an American expatriate who died in Paris where she had lived most of her life. ...
– American painter * Catherine P. Jarvis (1924–2013) — former editor of the ''Portsmouth Herald'' * Louisa Venable Kyle – historian, author, journalist


Faculty

*
James Anderson James Anderson may refer to: Arts *James Anderson (American actor) (1921–1969), American actor *James Anderson (author) (1936–2007), British mystery writer *James Anderson (English actor) (born 1980), British actor * James Anderson (filmmaker) ...
– government defense official and academic *
Anna Barrows Anna Barrows (1861 – February 11, 1948) was an American educator and author, known for being a pioneering woman in the field of home economics. She contributed to the foundation of the Home Economics Movement through her unique demonstrations, ...
– pioneering woman in the field of home economics *
Todd J. Leach Todd J. Leach is an American administrator who is the Chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire, which consists of University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Keene State College, and Granite State College. Leach was former ...
– president of
Granite State College Granite State College was a public college in Concord, New Hampshire. It was part of the University System of New Hampshire. In 2023, it merged into the University of New Hampshire as the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, College of Pro ...
, began his academic career at Lasell *
Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln (July 8, 1844 – December 2, 1921) was an influential Boston cooking teacher and cookbook author. She used Mrs. D.A. Lincoln as her professional name during her husband's lifetime and in her published works; after ...
– considered one of the pioneers of the
domestic science Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...
movement in the United States, taught at Lasell from 1885 to 1889 *
Florence Jepperson Madsen Florence Jepperson Madsen (December 15, 1886 – April 8, 1977) was an American contralto singer, vocal instructor, and professor of music. She served as the head of the music department of Brigham Young University (BYU) for ten years. She was b ...
– contralto singer, vocal instructor, and professor of music * Rev. Dr. George McKendree Steele, D.D., LL.D. – educator and Methodist minister, former president of Lawrence University *
Lucy Johnston Sypher Lucy Johnston Sypher (August 6, 1907 – December 1990) wrote a series of four children's books based loosely on her childhood in the small prairie town of Wales, North Dakota: ''The Edge of Nowhere'' (1972), ''Cousins and Circuses'' (1974), ''Th ...
– children's book author


References


Further reading

*


External links


Official website
{{authority control Liberal arts colleges in Massachusetts Universities and colleges in Newton, Massachusetts Great Northeast Athletic Conference schools Educational institutions established in 1851 1851 establishments in Massachusetts * Private universities and colleges in Massachusetts