Endicott College Awarded Prestigious Arts Accreditation

BEVERLY – The School of Visual and Performing Arts at Endicott College received  official notification  this week from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) that  the College had been granted membership in the organization. NASAD is the national accrediting agency for art and design and related disciplines. It produces statistical research, provides professional development for leaders of art and design schools, and engages in policy analysis. (http://nasad.arts-accredit.org). This year NASAD granted new memberships to only six institutions, one of which is Endicott College. 

Dean of Visual and Performing Arts, Mark Towner, recalls that the application process was “quite rigorous, involving all of the art and design faculty, hundreds of students, several lengthy reports, an on-campus site evaluation with exhibitions and interviews, and a lot of anxious waiting.” Five years have passed from beginning the process with the first internal drafts to the recent granting of membership. 

On the broader level, Endicott College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Founded in 1885, NEASC is the nation’s oldest regional accrediting association whose mission is the establishment and maintenance of high standards for all levels of education, from pre-K to the doctoral level. (http://www.neasc.org) 

In addition to these two accreditations, the Department of Interior Design at Endicott College is also accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). CIDA is an independent, non-profit accrediting organization for interior design education programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. (http://accredit-id.org) 

The importance of accreditation may best be described by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation in their publication, The Value of Accreditation, “An institution or program that has successfully completed an accreditation review has in place the needed instructional, student support and other services to assist students to achieve their educational goals. Accreditation is a both a process and a status. It is the process of reviewing colleges, universities, institutions and programs to judge their educational quality – how well they serve students and society. The result of the process, if successful, is the award of ‘accredited status’.” 

Visual and performing arts programs at Endicott College include; art education, art therapy, art history, arts administration, dance, graphic design, interior design, Intermedia/digital media, music, photography, studio art (both 2-D and 3-D), and theater. The programs are housed in the recently completed Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts. Dean Towner reflected on the impact of the NASAD accreditation news in concert with the young arts facility, “Endicott is a student-centered, teaching institution – at the core of everything we do we have our students’ best interests at heart. Having a state-of-the-art facility coupled with arts accreditation highlights the fact the College is accomplishing its mission to deliver a professional art/design curriculum within a liberal arts education. I am blessed and proud to be a member of this team.”