© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

MCLA Starts School Year With New President And More Students

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts campus in North Adams.
Jim Levulis
/
WAMC
The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts campus in North Adams.

Students and staff at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts are starting out the school year with new leadership, more students and a pair of grants aimed at improving student success.President Jaimie Birge is embarking on his first full academic year at MCLA after taking on the role this past spring. Since then, Birge says he’s been meeting with local leaders to talk about worker retention and talent development. Out of those conversations he expects the college to create academic programs that respond to employers’ needs, specifically new software engineering and leadership programs. 

“Across various industries here on campus they’ve all talked about the concerns they have about leadership of their colleagues when executives retire or get drawn away to other places; how do these organizations replace that leadership internally?” Birge said. “They all have expressed a desire to strengthen that sense of leadership so I think you’ll probably see us starting to develop some leadership programs to address some of those issues.”

Birge says MCLA, despite being Massachusetts’ public liberal arts college, grants the second-highest percentage of STEM degrees in the state university system, second to Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

“The incoming class this year, a third of them have declared STEM degrees as their majors,” said Birge.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded MCLA a $2 million grant to increase retention and graduation rates of low-income and minority students. It recognized MCLA as one of 13 public institutions nationally for graduating low-income students at the same rate as high-income students. The “Strengthening Institutions Program” grant will help create online summer courses, support intensive advising and go toward the purchase of software to track student progress. President Birge says the five-year funding will improve student retention.

“Our retention rate right now for last year’s class of freshman is at a little more than 79 percent, the highest in our history,” Birge said. “We’ll be able to, with this grant, I think drive that number further higher probably to the low to mid-80 percent range.”

About 40 percent of MCLA students are from families that earn less than $40,000 a year and 46 percent receive federal Pell grants. Furthermore, the state education department recently awarded the college $45,000 to fund its participation in the commonwealth’s Dual Enrollment Program. It allows high school seniors to enroll in college courses for free. Birge says the program saves students money by getting ahead on credits.

“It also has a really positive impact for the student and for the institution because it prepares students for the kind of academic rigor that she or he will have when he or she gets to college,” Birge said. “It’s really good for the student, the family and the institution.”

Finally, MCLA estimates it has enrolled 440 new students this fall, with the Class of 2020 representing a 20 percent increase over 2015. Nearly all incoming freshman are entering with college credits. The North Adams college has about 1,600 students all together.

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org
Related Content