Mount Ida College

Mount Ida College
Former names
 Mount Ida School for Girls, Mount Ida Junior College
Type Private
Active 1899–2018
Endowment $23.5 million[1]
President Barry Brown
Provost Ronald E. Akie
Students 1,450
Location Newton, Massachusetts, United States
Campus Suburban
Colors Green & White
Nickname Mustangs
Affiliations NCAA Division III
Website www.mountida.edu
Holbrook Hall

Mount Ida College was a private college in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, offering professional undergraduate and graduate degrees. The college closed after spring commencement in 2018; the University of Massachusetts Amherst acquired the campus and plans to rename it the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst.[2][3]

History

The Mount Ida School for Girls, once a high school, became a finishing school and was founded in 1899 by George Franklin Jewett, named after the hill on which it was located in Newton Corner, Massachusetts. The first junior college level courses were offered at Mount Ida in the mid 1900s, and the school was officially rebranded as a Junior College in 1961. It was granted the ability to award associate degrees and the first were awarded in 1967.[4] After encountering severe financial difficulties, it was forced to close during the Great Depression,[5] but was purchased by William Fitts Carlson in 1939 and relocated to its present location in Oak Hill section of Newton.

The school was later renamed as Mount Ida Junior College, and became a co-educational institution in 1976, a logical step since so many Vietnam veterans were attending in the 1970s thanks to the G.I. Bill. Several Boston-based institutions also merged with Mount Ida on the Newton campus, Chamberlayne Junior College (1988),[6] New England Institute of Funeral Service Education (1989),[7] and Coyne Electrical and Technical School.[4] The Senior College division awarding bachelor's degrees began in stages. In 1982, Massachusetts allowed Mount Ida to grant three Bachelor degrees as Mount Ida filed to drop the Junior part of the college name. The Senior Degree program was fully accredited in 1984, with an emphasis on career and professional education.[4] In 2012, Barry Brown was appointed president of the college.

Closure

In February 2018, the college explored merging with Lasell College, another liberal arts institution located in Newton. The reasons given for the proposed merger were to help keep tuition cost as low as possible and maintaining academic quality.[8]

Two weeks later, UMass Amherst announced plans to acquire the Newton campus. Classes ended after the commencement in the spring of 2018, and students of the small school were offered automatic admission to UMass Dartmouth (though that school does not have all of the same academic programs).[2] Newbury College announced that it would grant full transfer credit to Mount Ida students and would help them finish their degrees.[9] Keene State College in New Hampshire and Worcester State University located in Worcester, Massachusetts also invited students to their campuses, and committing to review applications for immediate acceptance and full credit transfer.[10]

In response to the campus closure, an immediate meeting was called by Mount Ida faculty. During the meeting, students and parents voiced their frustration with President Brown and the Board of Trustees.[11][12] Some questioned the pay of administrators such as President Brown, who made over $445,000 in 2015 even as the school was struggling financially.[13]

In mid-April 2018, students were angered when they learned their private transcripts and records were shared with UMass Dartmouth without their authorization. This sharing was done with the goal of facilitating the transfer of students to the University of Massachusetts system.[14]

Campus

Located in Newton, Massachusetts, the 72-acre campus[2] of Mount Ida College is located on a tract of land that once belonged to William Sumner Appleton (1840–1903), father of William Sumner Appleton Jr. The estate was transferred after Appleton's death to Robert Gould Shaw II. Shaw commissioned Boston architect James Lovell Little Junior to build a carriage house and horse stable in 1910; this building was subsequently refurbished and is now known as Holbrook Hall.[15] The building now known as Shaw Hall, which became the nucleus for the new Mount Ida campus, was also commissioned by Shaw and designed by Little in 1912. The building now known as Hallden Academic Support Center was also constructed in 1912, presumably by Little.[16]

The Shaw fortune had collapsed during the Great Depression, which enabled Dr. Carlson to purchase the vacant and decaying Shaw Estate and reopen Mount Ida Junior College in 1939. In 1956, a two story dormitory designed by architect Albert C. Rugo was added to Shaw Hall. Rugo designed several other buildings that were added to the complex in the 1950s and 1960s.[5]

Academics

Mount Ida College consisted of four schools:

  • The School of Applied Sciences
  • The School of Design
  • The School of Business
  • The School of Social Sciences and Humanities

The Gallery at Mount Ida College held exhibitions of regional, national, and international fine artists and designers. The Gallery had featured works in photography, painting, sculpture, video, and a variety of other art forms. The Gallery opened in 1999, allowing artists and designers to have a showcase for traditional and alternative media works as an innovative part of the Mount Ida College Learning Community.[17]

Athletics

Mount Ida's athletes competed as the Mustangs in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in NCAA Division III varsity sports, as well as IHSA equestrian competition.[18][19] Three teams captured North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championships: the 1999, 2000 men's soccer team, the 2002 women's volleyball team,[20] and the 2007 men's lacrosse team.[21]

Mount Ida Sports
SportMen'sWomen's
BasketballYesYes
Cheerleading Yes
Cross CountryYesYes
Equestrian Yes
Field Hockey Yes
FootballYes 
LacrosseYesYes
SoccerYesYes
Softball Yes
Tennis Yes
VolleyballYesYes

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ As of June 30, 2016. "990 tax filing" (PDF). Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mount Ida College to close; UMass to acquire Newton campus - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  3. ↑ Stendahl, Max (April 22, 2018). "Mount Ida spent $30M to upgrade campus that will be sold to UMass". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 "History of Mount Ida College". About Mount Ida. Newton, Massachusetts: Mount Ida College. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-05. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  5. 1 2 "Shaw Hall". Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges. 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  6. ↑ Brown, Ray C. (October 3, 2008). "Massachusetts Colleges that have Closed, Merged, Changed Names". Retrieved 2014-12-22.
  7. ↑ "History of New England Institute". New England Institute at Mount Ida College. Newton, Massachusetts: Mount Ida College. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-05. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  8. ↑ Krantz, Laura (2018-02-25). "In effort to save money, two small colleges move toward merger". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  9. ↑ "A Message to Mount Ida Students". newbury.edu. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Keene State offers quick decisions for Mount Ida students". The Boston Globe. AP. April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Mount Ida College Associated Student Government -ASG". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Mount Ida deal hit kids 'like a ton of bricks' - The Boston Herald". BostonHerald.com. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  13. ↑ http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2016/042/104/2016-042104736-0e2fd936-9.pdf
  14. ↑ Krantz, Laura (2018-04-14). "Mount Ida students' records shared without their permission". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
  15. ↑ "Holbrook Hall". Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges. 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  16. ↑ "Hallden Academic Support Center". Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges. 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  17. ↑ "The Gallery at Mount Ida College: About". ARTINFO. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
  18. ↑ "Affiliations - Mount Ida". mountidamustangs.com. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Sports - Mount Ida". mountidamustangs.com. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  20. ↑ "2002 Women's Volleyball Team". mountidamustangs.com. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  21. ↑ "2007 Men's Lacrosse Team". mountidamustangs.com. Retrieved April 13, 2018.

Further reading

  • "Mount Ida College reaches agreement with UMass regarding educational continuity for students with acquisition of its campus". mountida.edu (Press release). April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  • "Mount Ida-UMass Agreement Fact Sheet". umass.edu. April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  • "Statement from President Meehan on the UMass agreement with Mount Ida College". University of Massachusetts (Press release). April 12, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2018.

Coordinates: 42°17′39″N 71°11′36″W / 42.29417°N 71.19333°W / 42.29417; -71.19333

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