ARC MISSION:

The Academic Resource Center (ARC) at MassArt collaborates with students and faculty to support instruction, enhance academic success, and retain a diverse student body. Academic Advisors, Success Coaches, Peer Academic Liaisons, and Writing Specialists in the ARC guide students in identifying strengths, managing challenges, planning courses of study, and in developing the communications skills necessary to share their artistic vision. The ARC serves as a space for peer-to-peer interactions that enhance the academic and studio experience. Student Accessibility Services within the ARC ensures that students with disabilities are provided the necessary accommodations and supports that assist in their success at MassArt. All services offered through the ARC are included in the cost of tuition for students enrolled in a graduate, undergraduate, or certificate program.

ARC SERVICES:

Academic Advising

All full-time faculty serve as advisors to students within their department. Faculty in Liberal Arts and History of Art also serve as advisors for first-year students along with faculty from Studio Foundation. Academic Advisors in the ARC provide training and support to faculty and provide additional guidance to students on such issues as major exploration, academic planning, taking summer classes, and transferring credit. Advisors assist students in navigating the extensive resources offered by the college and provide connection to classes offered through the Colleges of the Fenway and the Pro-Arts Consortium.

Peer Support

Peer Academic Liaisons (PALs) are undergraduate student advisors who provide mentoring, tutoring, and logistical assistance to all students, specifically new students in transition. They assist new students in adjusting to life at MassArt by planning information sessions, one-on-one meetings, tutoring, and providing overall academic support.

Peer Advisors are trained to answer a wide range of questions and provide resources for support that ultimately assist students to achieve their goals while developing academic skills.

Success Coaching

Academic Success Coaches encourage students to become actively engaged in the learning process and to develop new strategies for academic self-support. Working with students on a one-to-one basis, success coaches introduce skills such as time management, self-motivation, confidence building, and study skills to bring about project completion. Coaching is available to all MassArt students.

Writing Support

ARC Writing Specialists work with students to develop written communication skills that support students’ success throughout MassArt and beyond. All college-related writing projects are eligible to be reviewed by a specialist including general course assignments, research papers, artist statements, grant proposals, internship applications, and cover letters.

Student Accessibility Services

Student Accessibility Services within the Academic Resource Center (ARC) provides support to students with learning and psychiatric disabilities, neurodivergent students, as well as students with visual, mobility, and hearing impairments.

Academic Accommodations are adjustments designed to provide students with disabilities equal access and equal opportunity to participate in programs, courses, services, and activities. Appropriate accommodations allow students to be evaluated based on their true abilities and are designed to “level the playing field” for students with disabilities. All students must learn the same material and are graded according to the same standards. Likewise, all students must comply with the behavioral standards set forth in MassArt’s Code of Conduct.

MAICEI@MassArt

The Academic Resource Center is pleased to partner with The Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative (MAICEI). This program provides support to high school students aged 18-22 with intellectual disabilities so that they can participate in the MassArt college experience. MAICEI@MassArt students enroll in one class each semester with an educational coach provided by their school district, attend a weekly seminar led by Peer Mentors, and participate in extracurricular activities at MassArt and the Colleges of The Fenway.

The ARC is located on the 2nd floor of Kennedy in the Student Development Suite. Appointments can be made at massart.edu/arc-appt. Learn more about the ARC at massart.edu/academic-resource-center.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design is committed to fostering the academic, personal, and professional growth of our students. We are especially committed to ensuring that students with documented disabilities, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the subsequent Amendments Act (ADAAA), are provided equal access to all campus resources and opportunities.  If you are a student and have a disability that may warrant accommodations, we encourage you to make an appointment with Student Accessibility Services staff within the Academic Resource Center (ARC) at https://massart.edu/arc-appt. For more information, please visit the web page: https://massart.edu/student-accessibility-services.

The Center for Art and Community Partnerships (CACP) partners with people and communities within and beyond MassArt to radically expand access to transformative creative experiences. 

CACP works to build and nurture bridges between MassArt and Boston creatives, community organizations, schools, libraries, and businesses  through mutually beneficial, sustainable partnerships. CACP has opportunities for faculty, students, and staff at MassArt to participate in community-based art and design experiences with CACP and community partners of all ages and stages. There are opportunities within course curricula or in co-curricular roles as artists, designers, educators, and participants. 

Three of CACP’s main areas include…

PartnershipWORKS

CACP’s PartnershipWORKS community-based student employment program supports students in being productive citizen artists and designers whose work has a positive impact in society. Students work with community organizations and sparc! the ArtMobile as teachers, illustrators, designers, curators, and more. Monthly gatherings of all CACP-employed students provide opportunities to build relationships, explore complex social issues, learn local history, and celebrate the opportunities and challenges for community engaged work.

• Check out these videos of MassArt students employed through PartnershipWORKS

• Questions? Please contact Elena Belle White, CACP Associate Director + Director of PartnershipWORKS: ewhite@massart.edu

sparc! the ArtMobile

sparc! the ArtMobile is CACP’s most visible, community-based homegrown initiative. Powered by a MassArt student team, sparc! is a retrofitted van fully equipped with art supplies that travels the city to lead innovative and intergenerational art workshops, programs, and special events designed to stimulate cross-cultural conversations and build community. sparc! collaborates with schools, libraries, community organizations, and artists to ignite art and design in the neighborhood. 

• Visit sparc!’s blog!

• Questions? Please contact Ekua Holmes, CACP Associate Director and Director of sparc! the ArtMobile: eholmes@massart.edu   

Community Engaged Coursework

CACP supports MassArt faculty in conceptualizing and developing Community Engaged Coursework that engages students in addressing goals identified by community partners. Through mutually beneficial partnerships that highlight the expertise of community members, students use art and design as vehicles to develop creative and professional practices. CACP works with faculty members to develop ideas, identify partners, and share promising practices for engaging with community/ies. 

• Visit this link for a brief presentation on Environmental Forum: Community Building for Healthy Ecosystems. CACP co-teaches this course with Studio Foundation Professor Stephanie Cardon for all students of Colleges of the Fenway. Presentation begins at 8:40. Password = x@4PDEJ4

• Questions? Please contact Ceci Méndez-Ortiz, CACP Executive Director: cimendez@massart.edu 

CONNECT WITH CACP!

• Please follow CACP on Instagram: cacp_massart

• Please check out CACP’s Humanifesto here!

• Click here to receive CACP’s monthly e-newsletter!

• Want to collaborate? Please share your ideas through the Partnership Inquiry Form!

Professional and Continuing Education

Full-time faculty in the day school may apply to their department chair to teach courses in the Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) program. Full-time faculty may teach one evening or weekend course in each of the fall and spring semesters, and additional courses in the summer term; opportunities also exist to teach special weekend workshops. A salaried part-time faculty member may teach additional courses during the academic year and summer. Please see the staff associate of academic affairs regarding contractual obligations.

Graduate Education

If approved by the Graduate Program Director (DGCE Chair), the Graduate Dean, and the Provost, full-time faculty may teach in the graduate program as part of their regular undergraduate course load (counting as one of the three courses of a full time teaching workload). Alternatively, they may elect to teach as an overload for additional compensation, as per the DGCE contract. All three-credit graduate courses will count as four work-load credits for faculty. Undergraduate faculty may also act as independent study faculty, for overload compensation. For more information on the DGCE contract see the MSCA contracts website.

The Graduate Education Council, a contractual MSCA governance committee, is responsible for overseeing graduate program curricula, and for addressing appeals from graduate students about the programs. 

More information on the Graduate Programs can be found on the following sites:

Graduate Faculty and Student Resources

Graduate Course Timeline + Policies

See information here: MassArt's Human Resources pages provide information including but not limited to MassArt employment, benefits, retirement, professional development, training, labor relations, employee engagement, and wellness.

The Morton R. Godine Library is located on the 12th and 13th floors of the Tower building. We welcome classes coming in to use the space and collection. Our extensive holdings--books, journals, digital images, videos, films, posters, archives, artists’ books, and other special collections—are richly supplemented by online resources and the physical collections of nearby institutions. Online databases provide twenty-four hour access to more than a million high-res images, millions of full-text articles, and over 200,000 e-books. Faculty and students may also use the collections of our eight Fenway Library Organization partner libraries, with which the Godine shares a common online catalog. Please note: books in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts do not circulate, but can be used at their library. For general inquiries about library collections and services please call 617-879-7150 or email library@massart.edu.

Hours 

During the semester the library’s hours are: 

Monday-Thursday: 8 am to 9 pm  

Friday: 8 am to 6 pm 

Saturday: 11am to 5 pm 

Sunday: 11am to 5 pm 

Loan Policies 

Faculty may borrow books and DVDs from the Godine Library for one semester. Renewals are available for most material. Materials borrowed from other libraries are subject to the loan policies and fines of the owning library. If you have questions about loan policies or your library account, please contact Gabrielle Reed at gabrielle.reed@massart.edu or 617-879-7102. 

Off-site Access to Online Resources 

Faculty and students can use the username and password of their MassArt Google account to access electronic resources and tools from any remote location. This includes access to online books, videos,  images, and articles. 

Reference 

The reference desk is staffed 10 am - 6 pm Monday to Friday, and a librarian or library staff person can be reached by email or phone for questions during library open hours. E-mail greg.wallace@massart.edu or call our main line at 617-879-7150. 

Library Classes

The library has an active and varied instruction program. Faculty are invited to schedule one or more of  our sessions for their courses. These typically last an hour and take place in the library although some  can be held in your classroom. We’re happy to customize classes to fit your needs. We offer a wide range  of session types: 

RESEARCH WORKSHOP 

Required for first-year Thinking, Making, Writing sections. With guidance from a librarian, students do hands-on research on previously selected topics. The session covers evaluating information especially when it comes from the web, how to use the Godine Library’s catalog and databases to access credible sources, as well as finding books in the stacks and requesting materials from other libraries. (Faculty teaching courses other than Thinking, Making, Writing can request a shortened version of this workshop as long as it is connected to a specific assignment.)

ARTISTS' BOOKS PRESENTATION

A presentation of the Godine Library’s collection of artists' books, with works by Julie Chen, Suzanne Lacy, Sol LeWitt, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Kara Walker, and more. Students learn about bookbinding techniques, book structures, the use of materials, the relation of text and image, and how form and content interact in artists’ book design. The presentation can also include some examples from the library’s collection of zines.

COLOR THEORY PRESENTATION

An introduction to the Munsell Color System (created by MassArt alum Albert Munsell) and the Interaction of Color by Josef Albers. Through interactive devices based on the Munsell System, students learn about the role that color standards play in everyday life. By looking at silkscreen plates from the original 1963 edition of the Interaction of Color, they discover that color is fluid and relative--that the chromatic environment of a hue determines how we perceive it. 

POSTER PRESENTATION

A presentation of the Godine Library’s collection of social justice posters dating from the 1970s to now. Themes include the Vietnam War, the AIDS crisis, gender and sexuality, environmental issues, Black Lives Matter, reproductive rights, and the opioid epidemic.

GRAPHIC NOVELS PRESENTATION

An overview of the library’s collection of comics and graphic novels. Students learn about the history of comics and graphic novels, different stylistic traditions and approaches, and how works reflect and comment on social and political issues. Artists include Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, Emil Ferris, Katsuhiro Otomo, Marjane Satrapi, and Chris Ware.

PHOTOBOOKS PRESENTATION

A presentation of highlights from the Godine Library’s collection of photographic books. It can be led by either an instructor or a librarian. Photographers include Diane Arbus, Sophie Calle, Roy De Carava, William Eggleston, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Rinko Kawauchi, Laura McPhee, Susan Meiselas, Dayanita Singh, and Stephen Shore.

Faculty interested in scheduling a session should contact Greg Wallace at 

greg.wallace@massart.edu or 617-879-7108. 

Pop-Ups

We will bring library collections to you. Let us know a topic, time, and location and we will deliver a cart of books to your classroom. This can be especially valuable for studio classes that don’t want to take time out of class to visit the library. Contact Greg Wallace at greg.wallace@massart.edu or 617-879-7108 for more information or to schedule a Pop-Up library cart

Reserves 

The library offers physical and electronic reserves to faculty who want to make course material readily available to their students. For more about Reserves, please contact Abi Sweeney at asweeney@massart.edu or 617-879-7104. 

Acquisitions 

Each academic department has a designated liaison among the librarians. Please send requests for book purchases to your liaison or contact Kathryn Riel at kriel@massart.edu. 

Interlibrary Loan 

If you’d like an article from a journal we don’t subscribe to or would like to borrow a book that you can’t find in the library catalog, please contact Damian Lavoice at dlavoice@massart.edu or 617-879-7150.

Student Accommodations 

The Library provides digital/audio books for students who have documented accommodations through the Academic Resources Center at MassArt. If you need information about MassArt's disability consulting, please contact the Academic Resource Center or contact Gabrielle Reed at gabrielle.reed@massart.edu or 617-879-7102. 

Library meeting rooms 

Faculty can reserve one of our meeting rooms for 3-hour blocks during the regular semester. We  restrict regular weekly bookings to ensure that we have space available for library classes. Each room  has a flat screen TV and DVD player. We also have a VCR available. To make a reservation, please stop by the library or email library@massart.edu. 

Museum Passes 

Faculty get free admission to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Institute of Contemporary Art  (ICA) and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM). 

Find more information: Museum Passes | MassArt.

More Information 

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.massart.edu/library or contact the Library  Chair, Rachel Resnik, at rresnik@massart.edu or 617-879-7115.

The Marketing and Communications Department is part of the Office of the President, and serves as a resource for the entire MassArt community. 

It is responsible for advancing and protecting the college's reputation. 

The MarCom team:

• Sets the strategic direction for the college's integrated marketing program

• Advises colleagues on effective marketing and communication tactics

• Coordinates all media relations on behalf of the college

• Oversees development and maintenance of web content 

• Manages the website events calendar

• Provides editorial oversight for college publications

• Establishes and maintains editorial and design standards

• Facilitates college-wide communication with faculty, students, and staff

If you need assistance with marketing and communications for your area, please contact a member of the Marketing and Communications staff:

Ellen Carr

Executive Director, Marketing and Communications

Susie Stockwell

Director of Public Relations

Jen Roy

Associate Director of Digital Media

Katy Morris

Content Producer

Daisy St. Sauveur

Social Media Manager

Online Technology Knowledge Base: The Knowledge Base is designed to be a self-service tool, organized in a logical way, with tagged content and a comprehensive search function to help you find what you need. For additional ways to get support and service, see the Tech Central / Service Desk page. 

Technology Resources

Learning Management System and other online tools

MassArt uses Moodle as its primary learning management system, although we can also assist in helping you set up a blog or other kind of web site for your course. Contact Hubert Hohn at 617-879-7289, or hhohn@massart.edu.

Other technology needs

If you have specific technology or equipment needs that require a purchase, please speak with your department chairs. This can include specialized equipment, laptop adaptors and peripherals, software or software licenses. All technology purchases need to be made through both the department chair and the technology department.

Cell phones and smartphones

You are welcome to configure your smartphone to receive your MassArt email; stop by Tech Central (Tower 3rd floor, 617-879-7888) if you need assistance doing so.

Instructional Laptops

Faculty may also check out laptops for instructional purposes from Tech Central. These differ from the standard loaner laptops in that their software is updated to match what is available in classrooms and labs. These laptops are only available for the day, and must be returned after class has concluded.