Biography of Emerson College

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Emerson College a Nonprofit Educational Institution

Emerson College is a nonprofit educational institution in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to its primary site in Boston, the school has campuses in Los Angeles, California, and the Dutch municipality of Bergen in the Netherlands. The renowned College boasts a highly regarded roster of academic programs in communication and the arts in North America and Europe.

Bay State-based Emerson is an independent, nondenominational college. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies the College as a comprehensive educational institution. From L.A. to the Netherlands via Boston, it draws energized, engaged, and independent minds from diverse backgrounds to engage in daring, innovative, and rigorous academic programs.

The College is a founding member of the ProArts Consortium, a Boston association of institutions dedicated to collegiate-level arts education. It is also notable for its well-known namesake public opinion poll, Emerson Polling, and for its many successful alumni in the Communication and Entertainment industry.

History

Charles Wesley Emerson founded Emerson College in Boston's Pemberton Square in 1880 as the Boston Conservatory of Elocution, Oratory, and Dramatic Art. Since then, it has relocated its main Boston campus several times, ultimately settling in the city's famous Theater District, where it remains today.

Founder Charles Wesley Emerson established the institution after the closure of Boston University's School of Oratory. Twelve months after opening its doors, the Boston Conservatory of Elocution, Oratory, and Dramatic Art became the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory in honor of Professor Lewis B. Monroe in 1881.

Monroe was one of Charles Wesley Emerson's former teachers at Boston University's since-closed School of Oratory. A decade later, the institution became Emerson College of Oratory. The school then shortened its name to Emerson College in 1939, remaining known as such since.

Mission

This College's mission is to educate students to assume leadership positions within communication and the arts, after which they can deliver all-important creativity, depth, diversity, and innovation to these two disciplines in the U.S. and overseas. Three core liberal arts values inform the College's long-held mission.

These core values encourage ethical practices, foster respect for human diversity, and promote civic engagement. Adherence to these inspiring, non-negotiable

values ensures that students can create freely and communicate clearly with conviction and integrity.

The result is highly educated future generations of industry-leading arts and communication professionals who are emboldened and creatively inspired for life. The College's mission also inspires civic pride by championing strengthened cultural, political, and social landscapes in New England and elsewhere across North America and worldwide.

Leadership Emerson College is led by an accomplished group of administrators. These executive-level and academic administrators are all immensely passionate about the institution's mission and values. Each has a demonstrated background relevant to the school's main focus areas in communication and the arts.

At the heart of the College's leadership team is its President's Council. A dozenstrong team of executive-level leaders form the President's Council. These executive-level leaders are responsible for the independent, nondenominational, and strictly not-for-profit educational institution's overall governance and the resulting success of its students.

Elsewhere, four dedicated school deans represent the College's academic leaders, who are responsible for shaping its curriculum and further ensuring the success of its current and future student bodies.

Accreditation

The New England Commission of Higher Education, formerly the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, fully accredits this College. The school most recently gained re-accredit from the New England Commission of Higher Education in 2023. Its following comprehensive assessment will happen in 2032, with an interim five-year review due in 2027.

Emerson College has maintained accreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education and previously from the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges since 1950. The institutional accrediting commission represents one of seven in the United States and is fully recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching also accredits the College as a comprehensive educational institution. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, chartered by the United States Congress, is a U.S.based research center and corresponding education policy founded by ScottishAmerican industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1905.

Impact

Its faculty, staff, and students implement and facilitate numerous public programs. In the School of the Arts, this includes an annual season of theatrical productions through Emerson Stage, plus a year-round series of free film screenings known as Bright Lights.

Meanwhile, students from the School of Communication run the nationally recognized surveying organization Emerson Polling. School of Communication faculty, staff, and students also manage the Robbins Center, an on-campus clinic established to help individuals struggling to overcome various communicationfocused challenges.

At the same time, the institution's Social Justice Collaborative works to advance social justice in the community. It also remains committed to making higher education more accessible for those presently incarcerated in Massachusetts via the pioneering Emerson Prison Initiative. ArtsEmerson is the College's professional presenting and producing organization, operating in two of the college-owned theater spaces and focusing on the theme of bringing the world to Boston and bringing Boston together.

Countless Emerson College graduates, after emerging as leaders in various communication and arts fields, now populate movie sets, newsrooms, schools, start-ups, and theaters worldwide. They continue to pursue daring ideas that shape culture in the 21st century by positively impacting society and inspiring progress throughout their communities.

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