Since its founding as the Normal School in North Adams in 1894, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) has provided educational access to generations of students. In 1932, it became the State Teachers College of North Adams. In 1960, it became North Adams State College, adding professional degrees in business administration and computer science. In 1997, the College became Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the Commonwealth's public liberal arts college.

Applied learning has always been part of an MCLA education. Teacher practicums send education students into real classrooms. Arts management students intern with local cultural organizations. Others take on undergraduate research with faculty, travel courses and study abroad, community service, and leadership roles in clubs, organizations, and athletics.

MCLA continues to add programs to meet changing needs, including additions in art, arts management, chemistry, nursing, and political science and public policy. The Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation supports research in the sciences and connects the College to life sciences work happening across the county and the state. The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts, a gift from artist and author Carolyn Mary Kleefeld, will bring the same kind of cross-disciplinary space to the arts.

MCLA alumni are distinguished teachers, civic, community and business leaders, journalists, scientists, activists and entrepreneurs. They are proud of the education they received, loyal to their alma mater, and dedicated to its continued success.

Though times change, the essential nature of MCLA remains constant: a place that delivers a high-quality, affordable public liberal arts education in an environment that supports the development of intellectual and practical skills, promotes scholarship and inquiry, and challenges students to model personal, social and civic responsibility.