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While studies in the arts are relatively new to Lesley, with the pioneering of two unique programs in the 1970's, the University has become internationally recognized as an innovator in arts education. Today more than 1,600 Lesley students are pursuing graduate degrees in the arts in the Creative Arts in Learning, Expressive Therapies, and Independent Study Degree programs. They are taking courses in Cambridge, across the country, in Canada, Europe and Israel.
The arts have played a vital role in Lesley's growth over the past twenty-five years and reveal a pattern of innovation. The environment in which these unique programs flourished is perhaps best described by Henry David Thoreau: "If a man does not keep pace with his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
Hearing a different beat was Lesley Professor Shaun McNiff, who, in recognizing the healing power of the arts, imagined an approach to therapy which would incorporate all the arts. Believing in this multifaceted approach, McNiff began in 1974 recruiting faculty with expertise in music, art and dance. By creating and learning together, these early pioneers created a curriculum that transcended the use of single art modalities, which was the current practice at that time. Professor Emeritus Paolo Knill coined the term "intermodal expressive therapy" to describe this unique approach which helps people to express feelings and experiences through nonverbal communication.
Deborah Brown Education, 1976 
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Today approximately 400 students from the world over are pursuing Lesley degrees in expressive therapies. Under the leadership of its new director, Professor Julia Byers, and the director of International and Collaborative Projects, Professor Vivien Marcow Speiser, the Expressive Therapies program continues to flourish, and new faculty carry on the pioneering spirit.
Soon after founding the Expressive Therapies program, McNiff brought Professor Nancy Langstaff to Lesley to develop another arts-based program. The Creative Arts in Learning program builds on an underlying philosophy that the arts are central to learning, and that educators who can engage the arts will be able to transform their classrooms into stimulating environments where teachers are rejuvenated and children learn more.
Each Creative Arts in Learning faculty member is an artist in her or his own right and an educator well versed in both K-12 and adult pedagogy. As a result, students in the program have the opportunity to develop the artist within themselves using all of the arts modalities, and then are guided by faculty and their peers in making applications to their own individual teaching situations.
Alison Carroll-Mieusset Counseling Psychology 1989 
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This program is the only interdisciplinary arts-based education program in the country leading to teacher certification. Graduates of the program have gone on to assume leadership roles as heads of arts-based schools, educational directors of national arts in education initiatives, museum educators, college faculty, and curriculum specialists.
In addition to Expressive Therapies and Creative Arts in Learning, three other Lesley programs provide students the opportunity to design their own programs. Through the Independent Study Degree program in the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, the Intensive Residency Option in the Adult Baccalaureate College, and the Ph.D. in Educational Studies, students work with artists and educators to complete degree programs in the visual or performing arts, interdisciplinary arts, or creative writing.
Just a sample of some of the current students and graduates of these programs provides insight into the significance of these options for completing degrees that are unique to Lesley. Marie Romero Cash, the leading New Mexican santeros (artist of traditional religious figures), came to Lesley to create a bachelor's degree program that would build on her published writing and career as a nationally exhibited fine artist. Louise Pascale worked with a group of expert faculty to develop an arts-based multicultural curriculum for children with special needs. This curriculum is now taught nationwide by Pascale in her role as education director for Very Special Arts Massachusetts. Ed Bullins sought out Lesley to pursue a doctoral program in arts administration that would build on his creative talents as a playwright and director. He found that Lesley encouraged this individualized approach. And it was to Lesley that Joan Bennett Kennedy came after leaving Washington to continue her study in music education through the Independent Study Degree program. Working with a team of musicians and educators, Kennedy created a degree program that provided the foundation for her book, The Joy of Classical Music.
Recognizing the importance of the arts for all, several initiatives have been introduced to provide encounters with the arts for the larger Lesley community. Lesley's institutional culture has been enriched with an influx of performances and lectures by visiting artists, poets, musicians and dancers, and the creation of permanent art gallery space.
Poetry Events At Lesley, created by faculty member and poet Elizabeth McKim, is an annual poetry series. Chosen poets exemplify the richness and diversity of poetic voices and include nationally known artists, writers and performers; poets working in schools with children and teachers; and Lesley faculty and staff poets. Among those who have performed at Lesley are Marge Piercy, a major American poet, novelist, feminist and political activist, and Poets Who Teach, a group of poet-educators who launched the original Poets in the Schools program in Massachusetts.- - -
Pioneering educators recognize the healing powers of the arts and their stimulating effect on learning.
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Through the collaboration of the Student Affairs Office and the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, an exhibition space was created at the University to provide an opportunity for all members of the community to exhibit their creative works. Organized by Professor Naomi Just, the inaugural exhibition was held in fall 1996 to showcase the works of students, alumni, faculty, staff, board members and families. Celebrating the theme of diversity, this exhibit set the standard for inclusion and excellence for successive exhibits. Each semester a new exhibit transforms the walls of the third floor of Porter Exchange and engages the community in discussing the art works created by Lesley's own community. "Kinship," the current exhibit of alumni works (several of which grace this article) will be on display through September.
In the early 1990's, through the generosity of the Titus family, the Titus Lecture Series in Expressive Therapies was created in memory of their daughter Jill who had studied music therapy at Lesley. Each year three symposia are held which involve a performance or lecture for the Lesley community, followed by a day of workshops for expressive therapies students. Leaders in the field of expressive therapies come from all over the country to participate.
The most recent happening in Lesley's creative arts history is the opening of our extension college in Netanya, Israel. Officially approved by the Israel Council for Higher Education in August 1997, the Lesley University Extension began operations in October. While the University has offered arts programs in Israel for nearly two decades, this marks a first for Lesley: the establishment of a true satellite annex.
Denise Malis Expressive Therapies, 1992 
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Then, in fall 1995, the Creative Arts in Learning program was introduced. As with the first program, students earn their degrees by combining course work in Israel with intensive summer courses completed at Lesley in Cambridge.
Three programs are now offered in Israel at the Lesley University Extension: a Master of Arts in Expressive Therapies, a Master of Education in Creative Arts in Learning, and a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a specialization in Women's Studies and the Arts. The latter is a new degree and addresses the need for deepening the understanding of the psychology of Israeli women and their role and position in society.
Mary Dewey Creative Arts, 1997 
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In Cambridge, across the country, in Canada and in Israel, Lesley is forging ahead with its unique brands of arts education. With Thoreau's notion of stepping to the music we hear, however different it may be, Lesley's "stepping to a different drummer" has brought about arts education that works in new engaging ways. Because these programs marry the arts with Lesley's mission to nurture human development and understanding, the University has been in the forefront of developing the arts as invaluable relational tools. Educators, social service professionals, counselors, therapists and artists are enabled through their Lesley training to unleash tremendous potential in their students' and clients' abilities to learn, grow and heal. As we approach the new millennium, Lesley is poised to lead the way in the national initiative for an increased emphasis on the arts in education and society.
Martha McKenna is the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences which houses the Expressive Therapies and Creative Arts in Learning programs, the Israeli Extension college programs, and the Independent Study Degree program.
Featured alumni art
Seascape -- Judith Cambell, Women's College 1963
Summertime -- Mary Dewey, Women's College 1997
Portals -- Denise Malis, Expressive Therapies 1992
Apple Green West -- Deborah Brown, Education 1976
Seascape -- Alison Carroll-Mieusset, Counseling Psychology 1989
