April 2020
PERFORMANCE REPORT 2019
MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
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MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
621 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115 617 879 7800 massart.edu
COLLEGE LEADERSHIP 2019-2020
Board of Trustees
Pamela Parisi, '67, Chair Karen Keane William McQuillan
Janice Saragoni, Vice-Chair Denise Korn Peter Nessen
Hazel Afamenfuna, ‘20 David Lee Linda L. Snyder
Elisa Hamilton, ‘07
Foundation Board 2019-2020
Officers Designated Directors Anthony Clayton
Valentine Talland, Chair David Nelson, President Richard M. Coffman
Jennifer Harrington, Vice Chair Peter Nessen, Trustee Amy Cueva
Michelle Ingari, Vice Chair Representative Joel Ellzey
Jeremy Pozen, Treasurer Kymberly Pinder, Provost Maura FitzGerald
Marjorie O'Malley, Clerk, VP of Advancement Josephine Holmboe
and Executive Director of the Foundation Chair Emeriti Sophie Hughes, '08
Susan Schechter Jeff Johnson, '86
Directors Trevania Henderson Wesley Karger
Robert Bachelder William Hicks Maureen Keefe
Hope Barkan Clare Villari Kathy Kiely, '78
Henry Biner Tali Kwatcher
Dusan Koljensic, '05
Richard Coffman Tricia Krupa Cha
Honorary Directors
Nina Fletcher, '91 Elizabeth O. Lowrey
Aisha Al Riyami
Deanna Fulp Claire Malagati
Caroline Collings
Robert S. Gatof Matt McLaughlin
Nicholas Greville
Charles Jobson David Nelson
Katherine Sloan
Alison Judd, '07 Marjorie O'Malley
Michael Tarnow
Ashley Karger Bob Perry
Fredrick Leichter Kymberly Pinder
Foundation Secretary
Fred Liang Abigail Welty James Read
James Mason, ‘81 Lee Rubenstein
Roberta Moore Corporate Advisory Council 2018-2019 Maryellen Schroeder
Deirdre Nectow Jennifer Harrington, Chair Tammy Skuraton
Paul Pflugfelder Anne Callahan, Vice Chair Anne Marie Stein
Patricia Rivers Judith Anderson Valentine Talland
Molly Shannon BK Boley David Valliere
Chiara Trabucchi Duncan Browne Richard Watson
Elissa Warner Ellen Carr
David Webster
President’s Cabinet
David Nelson, President Bob Perry, VP of Administration and Finance
Kymberly Pinder, Provost/Senior VP of Academic Affairs Kate Russell, Director of Internal Operations
Maureen Keefe, VP of Student Development Susana Segat, Chief of Staff/Secretary to the Board
Cecilia Mendez-Ortiz, Executive Director of CACP Lauren Wilshusen, Interim Dean of Admissions/Enrollment
Marjorie O'Malley, VP for Institutional Advancement Management
Lyssa Palu-ay, Dean of Justice, Equity, Transformation Office Gina Yarbrough, General Counsel
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1
Partnership Renewal Plan
Art College Peer Group
Reporting Periods
Working Toward Our 2023 Strategic Goals
KEY INDICATORS
Academic Quality 3
Admission Standards
Admissions Selectivity
Faculty Credentials
Access and Affordability 4
Enrollment in the BFA Degree Program
Urban and Community College Students
Tuition and Fee Structure and Financial Aid
Enrollment in Graduate and Certificate Programs
Student Success and Engagement 7
Retention Rate for First-time First-Year Students
Six-year Graduation Rates
Graduation Rate Benchmarks
Six-year Graduation Rates for ALANA Students
Service to the Commonwealth and the Economy 9
Degrees and Certificates Awarded Annually
BFA Degrees
Graduation
Financial Health 11
State Operating Support
Undergraduate Tuition and Fees
Tuition Dependency
Endowment
Peer Expenditure Benchmarks
*Cover photo by Althea Bennett.
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 INTRODUCTION
Partnership Renewal Plan
Art College Peer Group
Reporting Periods
Working Toward Our 2023 Strategic Goals
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INTRODUCTION
Partnership Renewal Plan Working Toward Our 2023 Strategic Goals
The underlying premise of the MassArt New In June 2019 the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approved MassArt at
Partnership Plan is that the college, as a specialized 150, Strategic Plan 2018-2023. Through the strategic planning process, MassArt
public institution, can and should be held to high clearly articulated what we aim to achieve and why it matters for the growth,
standards of accountability and therefore should also health, and wellbeing of our community as we approach our 150th anniversary
in 2023. A few of our major accomplishments include:
be granted substantial freedom to determine how
it achieves those outcomes. Legislation contained • Renovation of South Building and launch of the MassArt Art Museum
in Section 634 of the FY04 Massachusetts State • Raised $12.5 million, surpassing the UNBOUND Campaign’s (for MAAM) $12
Budget authorized the college to establish its own million goal
performance standards appropriate to the unique • Welcomed a new Provost and Dean of Graduate Programs
nature of its mission and mandates a report each “We pursue a just, compassionate, and equitable learning environment” is the
year. This report provides quantitative and qualitative first phrase of our values statement and is the clear driver of our community
data on selected performance measures from the to ensure that MassArt moves deliberately to be more just and equitable, and
performance agreement included in the second to do so with compassion. Recently, we have worked to address retention and
Partnership Plan renewal, approved in September completion by:
2016, and highlights notable MassArt events, • Updating our Pronoun and Chosen Name policy
accomplishments, and directions in the past year. • Establishing the Office of Justice, Equity, and Transformation to promote
systemic equity and campus cultural transformation
Art College Peer Group • Facilitating conversations about race such as the Anti-Racism Dialogues,
implicit bias training, Undoing Racism and faculty development workshops
Peer institutions, approved by the BHE in March • Removing financial barriers for our Pre-Semester orientation program
2010, are listed below. This group includes colleges • Creating an orientation program to assist students with emotional
that are up to 50% larger or smaller than MassArt in challenges
enrollments, offer different configurations of programs
As noted above, we established a new Office of Justice, Equity, and
and majors, and have varying financial resources; but
Transformation (JET), one of the many ways we organized to implement our
when considered in the aggregate, average measures plan in ways that would benefit our campus community. JET’s work is shaped
for the group provide valid benchmarks for MassArt by the elements of our strategic plan that focus on justice, equity, diversity, and
on most performance indicators. These institutions are inclusion, and centers on the cultural transformation necessary to move toward
used for benchmarks for the key indicators included in systemic equity and a thriving campus for all. While the JET office leads efforts
the second section of this report. to transform campus culture, a separate compliance office will concentrate
exclusively on managing complaints and is responsible for EO, ADA, and Title
Art Center College of Design IX. The search for the leader of the compliance office is complete and we look
California College of the Arts forward to welcoming them to campus in 2020.
California Institute of the Arts
College for Creative Studies Other organizational changes made this year in Academic Affairs better
aligned our curricula, data analysis, and enrollment goals across MassArt so
Columbus College of Art and Design
we can serve all of our learning communities in the best way possible. The
Maryland Institute College of Art
Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning, and the Office
Ringling College of Art and Design of Admissions and Enrollment Management both now report to the provost,
Rhode Island School of Design and the Academic Resource Center is now part of the Division of Student
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Development. Professional and Continuing Education has been integrated into
The University of the Arts graduate studies and the provost’s office. The position of Executive Director of
Youth Pathways and Programs was established. Creating more ways in which
Reporting Periods we deliver our curriculum to provide more pathways to our degrees is our first
step towards systemic equity.
ENROLLMENT Final FY2019, preliminary FY2020
ADMISSIONS Fall 2019, Fall 2018 AICAD The Fiscal Year 2020 budget allocated a separate line item for strategic
FINANCIAL AID FY2019, Fall 2019 initiatives and the understanding that funding would be reviewed during two
RETENTION AND GRADUATION RATES FY2018, FY2019 budgetary inflection points in October and February. The President’s Cabinet
TUITION AND FEE REVENUE FY2019 identified a list of strategies to be advanced in FY2020, including four that were
considered essential to the plan’s success thus receiving immediate funding
PEER FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS FY2018
commitments: 1) anti-racism and anti-bias workshops and training; 2) the
hiring of additional academic administrative assistants; 3) the purchase and
Benchmarks use the most recent available peer data. deployment of an advanced space reservation system; and 4) the launch of the
Colleague Modernization Project. Progress on these and other strategies can
be followed online at Our Vision for the Future, where there is a live dashboard
providing an overall update of items, as well as other reports.
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 KEY INDICATORS
Academic Quality
Access and Affordability
Student Success and Engagement
Service to the Commonwealth and the Economy
Financial Health
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 ACADEMIC QUALITY
ADMISSIONS STANDARDS ADMISSIONS SELECTIVITY
First-time First-Year Students In Fall 2018, MassArt ranked in the middle of our AICAD peer
The admission process at MassArt is holistic and considers group for admission selectivity, accepting 67% of completed
both academic achievements and artistic potential. For first- undergraduate applications. The most selective college in the
time first-year students, decisions place the greatest weight on group was California Institute of the Arts, with a reporting
high school GPA and the quality of the application portfolio. In acceptance rate of 23%. The least selective was the Columbus
Fall 2017, MassArt became part of the Test-Optional pilot and College of Art and Design, at 88%, tied with California College
no longer considers standardized test scores in this decision of the Arts. The median acceptance rate was 67%. Fall 2019
process. data is not yet available for AICAD peers.
3.48 was the average weighted GPA FACULTY CREDENTIALS
84% had GPA of 3.0 or higher
61% did not submit standardized test scores The current MassArt student to faculty ratio (student FTE to
2.55 was the lowest high school GPA reported faculty FTE) for the BFA program is 9.7:1, which is less than the
peer group average of 10.7. In Fall 2018, full-time faculty made
Transfer Students up 59% of the faculty FTE for MassArt’s BFA program, which
Providing access to transfer applicants, particularly those exceeds our AICAD peer average of 58%. Ninety-two percent
from community colleges, is an important priority in MassArt's of MassArt full-time faculty hold advanced degrees. This is the
enrollment plan. The transfer admissions process strives to third-highest percentage in the peer group.
both maintain high standards and minimize time to degree
for transfer students. The average college GPA for entering
transfer students was 3.26 in Fall 2019; 72% had a college GPA
of 3.0 or above.
Weighted High School GPA of Entering First-Year Students Tra