Mission and Values:

Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a public, independent college of art and design. The college's professional baccalaureate and graduate programs prepare students to participate in the creative economy as fine artists, designers, and art educators, and to engage in the well being of their society. As a national leader in visual art and design education, the college influences contemporary culture through the accomplishments of its alumni and the creative activities of its faculty and staff.

We base our priorities on a set of shared values:

We affirm the inherent value of the arts as a life enhancing force.
We recognize the power of art and design in many spheres of public life.
We take pride in our unique heritage as the only publicly supported freestanding college of visual arts in the United States.
We are committed to being an educational and cultural resource for the citizens of Massachusetts.
We believe that academic excellence is fundamental to professional education in the visual arts.
We believe that diversity-in background, status, culture, and viewpoint-is essential to a vital and creative community.
We respect the roles and views of all members of our college community and operate our institution in a spirit of collegiality.
We aspire to an ideal of service to the wider community and of advocacy for the value of the arts.

As artists, designers, and educators, we are committed to the following priorities:

We provide rigorous professional programs in the visual arts, grounded in the broader context of liberal learning and designed to encourage individual creativity.
We challenge students to develop their talents to their highest potential, questioning the traditional boundaries of disciplines.
We work to build diversity and inclusiveness in our faculty, staff, and student body.
We foster community-building both inside and outside the college.
We educate students to examine critically the form and content of art, both their own and others', to understand it in historical, social, and global contexts.
We choose faculty who are practicing professionals in their disciplines and whose work reflects the level of excellence we promote for our students.
We seek students with excellent potential, regardless of limitations in their opportunities for preparation.
We nurture the development of students as artists and as individuals, through services which meet their academic, personal, and social needs.
We embrace new technologies as opportunities to advance the creative potentials of our disciplines, and we promote innovative and responsible uses of technology in the realization of artistic concepts.
We recognize that artists and individuals educate themselves over a lifetime and are dedicated to serving that need.