April 17, 2025
April 17, 2025
MCLA Announces $30M Comprehensive Campaign: Pathways, The Campaign for MCLA
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — On Friday, April 4, 2025, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) hosted alumni, friends, and community partners for an Immersive Campus Experience announcing Pathways, The Campaign for MCLA. Attendees took on the role of a student and completed a day-in-the-life tour of campus to learn more about the College’s most ambitious fundraising campaign to date.
For more than 130 years, MCLA has been providing an education that lifts up our community, equips students with the skills to lead a meaningful life, and supports the economic vitality of the region. Today, as we all confront dramatic changes to our familiar way of life, the $30,000,000 Pathways campaign will help MCLA build upon its reputation as a national leader in social mobility, demonstrate responsible citizenship with significant impact in the regional workforce pipeline, respond to the emerging needs of students, and transform the campus with an innovative modernization project that expands programs and services through a smaller footprint and greater access to greenspace.
Pathways will direct support to five key areas of need: 21st Century Workforce, Enhanced Athletics, Increased Student Success, Innovative Initiatives, and The Fund for MCLA. As the region’s only four-year public college, with one of the most diverse populations in Berkshire County, every aspect of this campaign will help dismantle barriers to education for any who seek it, produce equitable outcomes for all students regardless of socioeconomic status, and ensure an educational experience where every student can thrive.
As of March 31, 2025, Pathways has raised $21M in commitments toward its goals and helped the MCLA Foundation’s endowment grow significantly, surpassing the $20 million mark for the first time in history.
The campaign has already financially supported current College needs, including increasing the amount of faculty research awards, student scholarships, and travel course funding, and supporting the MCLA Athletics program.
“As one of the highest-ranked public liberal arts institutions in the nation, MCLA will continue to blaze new pathways that enhance the success of our students and respond to the needs of our communities,” said MCLA President James F. Birge, Ph.D. “Because of our supportive community, we can provide more robust and innovative academic experiences for our students. And because so many students who study at MCLA remain in the Berkshires and the Commonwealth after graduation, MCLA is contributing to the brain gain of our region.”
The theme of student support was embedded into Friday's campaign launch, where participants were able to hear firsthand — from faculty, students, and staff — how funding from each pathway helps students thrive. During the closing remarks, MCLA senior and first-generation student Sajaira Hudson shared how donor support enabled her to travel to both Cape Town, South Africa, and the American South on a Civil Rights bus tour as part of her studies. She said MCLA’s “small class sizes and accessible faculty have given [me] countless opportunities to advocate for change, develop ideas, and grow as a leader.”
For more information, or if you are interested in supporting Pathways, The Campaign for MCLA, please visit the campaign’s website: https://lnk.mcla.edu/pathways.
About MCLA
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught
by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive
on every level of their lives. In every way possible, the experience at MCLA is designed
to elevate our students as individuals, leaders, and communicators, fully empowered
to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 130-year commitment to
public education, we have fortified our dedication to equitable academic excellence.
MCLA has appeared on U.S. News & World Report’s list of Top Ten Public Colleges for
10 consecutive years, earning the No. 6 spot on the list of Top Public Liberal Arts
Schools in the nation for 2025, after earning the No. 7 spot the prior three years.
The College’s focus on affordable education and economic prosperity is reflected in
additional 2025 U.S. News rankings: No. 5 for Top Performer on Social Mobility for
liberal arts colleges in the state and No. 2 for Top Performer on Social Mobility
for public liberal arts colleges in the country. These rankings measure how well schools
graduate students who receive Federal Pell Grants. Learn more at www.mcla.edu.
