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37-616: Lasell offers bachelor's, master's, and graduate degrees in several disciplines. The university also participates in NCAA Division III athletics, as well as having a student newspaper, a student yearbook, and a student-run radio station. Lasell was founded in 1851 as the Auburndale Female Seminary by Williams College Professor of Chemistry, Edward Lasell, after he took a sabbatical from his job in Williamstown to teach at

74-539: A bachelor's degree prior to admission, but many institutions do not require that the candidate's undergraduate major conform with their proposed path of study in the MFA program. Admissions requirements often consist of a sample portfolio of artworks or a performance audition . The Master of Fine Arts differs from the Master of Arts in that the MFA, while still an academic program, centers-on professional artistic practice in

111-517: A graduate degree that typically requires two to three years of postgraduate study after a bachelor's degree , though the term of study varies by country or university. Coursework is primarily of an applied or performing nature, with the program often culminating in a thesis exhibition or performance . The first university to admit students to the degree of Master of Fine Arts was the University of Iowa in 1940. A candidate for an MFA typically holds

148-453: A mascot was introduced: Boomer the Torchbearer, named for the industrialists who sponsored Lasell's founding. Additionally, the school has a popular women's and men's rugby club, and has intramural sports such as flag football in the fall, as well as basketball in the winter. The student newspaper is called the 1851 Chronicle in reference to Lasell's founding year, and the student yearbook

185-460: A feature unique to D-III, the total number of required sports varies with each school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or less must sponsor five men's and five women's sports; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six for each sex/gender. Institutions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender (single-sex schools, plus a few historically all-female schools that are now coeducational) need only meet

222-486: A general policy. One exception was made in 2012, when RIT successfully argued for a one-time opportunity for colleges with a D-I men's team to add a women's team. Since no more colleges would be allowed to move individual sports to D-I, the five non-scholarship programs (led by RIT and Union) petitioned to be allowed to offer scholarships in the interests of competitive equity. D-III membership voted in January 2022 to extend

259-735: Is called the Lamp . Polished Magazine is made by Lasell students. A student-run online college radio station began operation in the fall of 2004; in 2016, the radio station began broadcasting on FM as WLAS-LP (102.9). NCAA Division III NCAA Division III ( D-III ) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their student-athletes. The NCAA's first split

296-548: Is cited as having been the "first successful and persistent" junior college in the United States. In 1932, the college changed its name to Lasell Junior College , and the school officially began offering associate degrees in 1943. In 1989, Lasell adopted a charter to become a four-year institution (it no longer offers any two-year undergraduate degrees), and began admitting male students in 1997. Lasell also began offering master's degrees in 2002. Lasell faced controversy in 2000 when seven former students sued and claimed that

333-501: Is designed to create more LGBTQ inclusion in D-III athletics within the NCAA . The program has facilitators from more than 40 colleges across the country, including Smith College , Agnes Scott College , and more. The group publicly condemned laws trying to limit transgender people in sports in 2021. A member of the program – Rhea Debussy who is a transgender rights activist – publicly left

370-680: Is roughly bounded by Grove St to the west, the Woodland Golf Club to the south, Washington St ( Route 16 ) to the east, and Commonwealth Avenue ( Route 30 ) and Central St to the north. Woodland Rd cuts east-west through the middle. The campus is located about half a mile from the Auburndale Commuter Rail station on the Framingham/Worcester Line , and about one mile away from the Riverside MBTA Station on

407-579: Is the NCAA's largest division with around 450 member institutions, which are 80% private and 20% public. The median undergraduate enrollment of D-III schools is about 2,750, although the range is from 418 to over 38,000. Approximately 40% of all NCAA student-athletes compete in D-III. D-III institutions must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, with each playing season represented by each gender. Teams in which men and women compete together are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes. In

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444-415: Is to benefit athletic programs. D-III schools "shall not award financial aid to any student on the basis of athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance". Financial aid given to athletes must be awarded under the same procedures as for the general student body, and the proportion of total financial aid given to athletes "shall be closely equivalent to the percentage of student-athletes within

481-696: The Green Line's D train, which takes commuters into the downtown Boston area. A shuttle runs regularly between the campus and Riverside Station. In 2018, of the 1,650 undergraduate students who attended Lasell, 73% lived on campus, 40% came from out-of-state, and 22% were students of color. Roughly 36% of students at Lasell were male. In Fall 2023, Lasell had 1,152 undergraduate students and 389 graduate students. The majority of both groups were white (63.28% of undergraduates, and 46.27% of graduates). The majority of both groups were also from in-state (62.2% and 63.9%, respectively). About 65% of Lasell's student population

518-545: The Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley , where the experience inspired him to invest more personally in women's education . He died of typhoid fever during the first semester, but his school proved highly successful as a first-rate educational institution and was soon renamed Lasell Female Seminary in his memory. Its name later changed to Lasell Seminary for Young Women , and in 1874, governance

555-786: The liberal arts and professional disciplines. Through its "Connected Learning" program, students work on off-site projects and assignments. Lasell also offers graduate degrees in education, communication, sport management, athletic training, criminal justice, human resources, marketing, management (MS and MBA), and rehabilitation science. In 2018, U.S. News & World Report listed Lasell College among only five other colleges with having 100 percent of its graduating seniors participate in an internship experience. In February of 2024, U.S. News & World Report named Lasell University's Master of Science in Criminal Justice Program one of its 2024 Best Online Programs. In 2022, Lasell acquired

592-484: The NCAA does not split into divisions. Teams in these sports are not counted as playing in a different division from the rest of the athletic program. D-III members cannot award scholarships in these sports. In 2003, concerned about the disparity of some D-III athletic programs and the focus on national championships, the D-III Presidents' Council, led by Middlebury College President John McCardell , proposed ending

629-480: The Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program from Pine Manor College , where it had been hosted since 2006. Solstice is four-semester Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing . In the low-residency format, students complete five 10-day, on-campus residencies and four semesters in which they work with their faculty mentors remotely from their homes. Residencies occur in January and July and start

666-436: The athletic scholarship exemptions for D-I programs, eliminating redshirting, and limiting the length of the traditional and non-traditional seasons. At the January 2004 NCAA convention, an amendment allowed the exemption for grandfathered D-I athletic scholarships to remain in place, but the rest of the reforms passed. D-III announced the creation of a LGBTQ inclusion program in 2019. Named as their LGBTQ OneTeam Program, it

703-402: The grandfather clause to allow all ten colleges to offer athletic scholarships, effective immediately. Football and basketball may not be D-I programs at D-III institutions, because their revenue-enhancing potential would give them an unfair advantage over other D-III schools. In 1992, several D-I schools playing D-III football were forced to bring their football programs into D-I, following

740-403: The nursing program, which had been discontinued in 1999, had been a "sham." The following year, the college built Lasell Village, an elderly education facility in which residents paid to live and attend classes. Although the college argued that the property was in line with its non-profit mission and exempt from property taxes, the city successfully sued the college for not paying property taxes for

777-399: The organization's requirements for "all-sports" status. Ten D-III schools currently field Division I programs in one or two sports, one maximum for each gender. These schools are allowed to offer athletic scholarships only for their D-I men's and women's sports. Five of them are schools that traditionally competed at the highest level of a particular men's sport prior to the institution of

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814-478: The particular field, whereas programs leading to the MA usually center on the scholarly, academic, or critical study of the field. Additionally, in the United States, an MFA is typically recognized as a terminal degree for practitioners of visual art, design, dance, photography, theatre, film/video, new media, and creative writing—meaning that it is considered the highest degree in its field, qualifying an individual to become

851-527: The passage of the "Dayton Rule" (named after the University of Dayton , whose success in D-III football was seen as threatening the "ethos" of Division III sports). This led directly to the creation of the Pioneer Football League , a non-scholarship football-only Division I FCS conference. In addition to the D-III schools with teams that play as D-I members, many other D-III schools have teams that compete alongside D-I and D-II members in sports that

888-401: The program after changes to the NCAA transgender policy in 2022. Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts ( MFA or M.F.A. ) is a terminal degree in fine arts , including visual arts , creative writing , graphic design , photography , filmmaking , dance , theatre , other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts administration . It is

925-624: The property. In September 2010, a settlement was also filed in Suffolk Superior Court stipulating that Lasell would have to pay $ 191,314 to over 1,000 students over a conflict of interest in their Financial Aid Department. The investigation was done by the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley . The college explored merging with Mount Ida College , another liberal arts institution located in Newton, in February 2018. The reasons given for

962-468: The proposed merger were to help keep tuition cost as low as possible and maintaining academic quality. In 2019, the institution's application to become a university was approved by the state board of education and it changed its name to Lasell University. Lasell has been accredited by multiple agencies, including the New England Commission of Higher Education , and offers bachelor's degrees in

999-489: The same in 2014. Hartwick College , which had been grandfathered in men's soccer and women's water polo, moved its men's soccer program to D-III in 2018 and dropped women's water polo entirely. The other five schools chose to field D-I programs in one sport for men and/or one sport for women after the original grandfather clause went into effect, so they were not grandfathered and thus were not allowed to offer athletic scholarships. Academic-based and need-based financial aid

1036-468: The same treatment, a full scholarship. Another aspect that distinguishes D-III from the other NCAA divisions is that D-III institutions are specifically banned from using the National Letter of Intent , or any other pre-enrollment form that is not executed by other prospective students at the school. The NCAA provides for one exception—a standard, nonbinding celebratory signing form that may be signed by

1073-474: The sponsorship requirements for that sex. There are minimum contest rules and participant minimums for each sport. D-III athletic programs are non-revenue-generating, extracurricular programs that are staffed and funded like any other university department. They feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability. Student-athletes cannot redshirt as freshmen, and schools may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose

1110-580: The spring and fall semesters, respectively. Solstice students may concentrate in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, comics & graphic narratives, or writing for children and young adults. The Lasell campus covers roughly 54 acres (22 ha) in the Newton, Massachusetts , village of Auburndale , adjacent to the Lasell Neighborhood Historic District . There are approximately 58 buildings, 27 of which are student dormitories . The campus

1147-487: The student body". The ban on scholarships is strictly enforced. As an example of how seriously the NCAA takes this rule, in 2005 MacMurray College became only the fifth school slapped with a " death penalty " after its men's tennis program gave grants to foreign-born players. The two service academies that are D-III members, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard , do not violate the athletic scholarship ban because all students, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive

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1184-432: The student upon his or her acceptance of enrollment. However, this form cannot be signed at the campus of that college, and staff members of that college cannot be present at the signing. An "all-sports conference" is defined here as one that sponsors both men's and women's basketball. While the NCAA has a much more detailed definition of the term, every NCAA conference (regardless of division) that sponsors basketball meets

1221-801: The three division classifications in 1973, a decade before the NCAA governed women's sports. These five colleges (plus three others that later chose to return their D-I programs to D-III) were granted a waiver (a.k.a. a grandfather clause ) in 1983 to continue offering scholarships, a waiver that was reaffirmed in 2004. Presumably due to Title IX considerations, grandfathered schools are also allowed to field one women's sport in D-I, and all five schools choose to do so. Three formerly grandfathered schools moved completely to D-III. The State University of New York at Oneonta , which had been grandfathered in men's soccer, moved totally to D-II in 2006. Rutgers University–Newark , which had been grandfathered in men's volleyball, did

1258-649: Was female, and 34% male; the remainder were transgender/non-binary. Lasell University is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association 's Division III athletics. The Lasell Lasers compete as members of Eastern College Athletic Conference , the North Atlantic Conference , and the Great Northeast Athletic Conferences in baseball , basketball , volleyball , soccer , cross-country , field hockey , softball , lacrosse , and track and field as inter varsity sports. In 2009,

1295-576: Was given to a board of trustees and Principal Charles C. Bragdon. Bragdon further expanded the faculty to make Lasell renowned as a more academically rigorous institution, a prestigious school with a highly scientific approach to domestic work , art , and music . As an innovative institution, known for a radical approach to women's education at the time, Lasell also administered the Harvard exams and offered law courses for women. Lasell also offered two years of standard collegiate instruction as early as 1852 and

1332-552: Was into two divisions, the University and College Divisions, in 1956, the College Division was formed for smaller schools that did not have the resources of the major athletic programs across the country. The College Division split again in 1973 when the NCAA went to its current naming convention: Division I , Division II , and Division III. D-III schools are not allowed to offer athletic scholarships, while D-II schools can. D-III

1369-414: Was still available, as is the case for all of D-III. In addition, Lawrence University was formerly a non-grandfathered program in fencing, but the NCAA no longer conducts a separate D-I fencing championship. Lawrence continues to field a fencing team, but that team is now considered D-III (see below ). In August 2011, the NCAA decided to no longer allow individual programs to move to another division as

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