Academics in

Explore media and tools that give life to visual stories, characters, and environments. Develop your own distinctive style and voice. And, gain the professional know-how for careers in film, TV, game design, and beyond.

Create films that challenge conventional thinking, inspire action, or elicit emotion. With a strong foundation in technical skills—cinematography, sound design, lighting, and editing—turn your vision into a powerful story that you will produce and bring to the big screen.

Explore across media as you investigate the full scope of the visual arts. Divide your time between classrooms and studios where you’ll not only draw, paint, sculpt, and explore printmaking, but also read, write, and conduct research.

Turn your creativity, talent for technology, and love of video games into an exciting career in game design.

Get hands-on experience in print, motion, experiential, and interactive design. Gain the ability to think visually and present strategic design solutions to real-world challenges.

From visual narratives to character design, concept and editorial art, product and surface design, a bachelor’s degree in illustration offers you the possibility to create work that engages and excites.

Address the needs, emotions, and behaviors of users while solving complex design challenges that affect real people. Gain the skills and understanding needed to create information design, product interfaces, mobile apps, and more.

Explore traditional and new media in commercial studio, documentary, photojournalism, and fine art photography. Forge your own voice in the creative process as you learn to craft a photo from initial concept to final image.

Learn to tell stories and solve problems with visual and practical effects. Create believable visual narratives alongside industry trailblazers in the classroom and beyond. Also, build a well-rounded portfolio to enter careers in film, gaming, advertising, healthcare, or more.

To succeed in our contemporary visual landscape, art makers need to be able to express themselves in multiple ways. As a visual narrative major, you’ll develop a distinct visual language that draws inspiration from culture, politics, history, and more.

Study theory and history of the visual arts while creating your own from many different forms of media. Ideal for students who also want to take on a second major as there are fewer credits and studio requirements.

Guide children’s playfulness and creativity as you discover cutting-edge approaches to teaching children in pre-kindergarten through second grade. Encourage their earliest stages of learning and development and help set a solid foundation for success in school.

Cultivate the creativity, knowledge, and real-world experience needed to lead Grade 1–6 classrooms. Discover cutting-edge teaching approaches that make learning engaging for every student.

Gain an understanding of how mind, body, and spirit are related. Use this knowledge to help people find relief, balance, and calm. Study alternative healing practices from around the world.

Create a personalized plan of study based on your specific interests and chosen professional path. You can choose from areas of focus that prepare you for the job you want, including developmental psychology, human services, business management, and more. Through your chosen coursework, you’ll learn skills that make sense for where you want your career to take you.

Earn your Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) in liberal studies with a completely customizable area of study. This is a perfect opportunity to design a program of coursework that is specific to your background or individual goals.

Capture the imagination and attention of students in grades 5-8. Become an expert on the adolescent mind. And gain the skills and experience to engage this challenging age group with confidence and creativity.

Investigate how the brain works and learn about mental processes. Study the biological factors that cause people to act in certain ways. And gain an understanding of human growth and development.

You’ll gain a thorough understanding of psychological theories and approaches in Lesley University’s online BA in Psychology.

Take courses on the Bunker Hill Community College campus, at the Demello International Center in New Bedford, and online to earn your bachelor’s degree in psychology through Lesley University.

Inspire high school and middle school students to discover their strengths and passions. Guide them in building a foundation for successful learning and future careers. And gain confidence in your knowledge and skills as a teacher.

Grow as an artist and help others use their own creativity as a path to wellness. Our art therapy bachelor's degree program gives you the tools to improve people's abilities to cope, heal, understand, and relate to others.

Develop the listening and people skills to counsel others. Build your understanding of human development, psychology, and relationships. Gain the confidence to work with children and adults in schools, communities, and social service agencies.

The online Bachelor of Science in Design for User Experience program teaches you to create intuitive design experiences across products, services, and systems. Our hands-on curriculum is grounded in graphic design principles and puts people at the center of the design process. Through interdisciplinary, collaborative coursework, you can learn design skills to build out websites, mobile applications, product interfaces, and more. You’ll graduate with a portfolio that highlights what you’ve learned and shows employers what you can do.

Prepare for a career working with young children or enhance your current teaching with our bachelor’s degree completion program. Specialize in infants and toddlers, children with special needs, preschool, or integrated teaching through the arts.

Take courses at the Bunker Hill Community College campus or the Urban College of Boston campus and complete your bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Studies through Lesley University. To be eligible, you must have completed an associate degree.

Discover how to engage people in creative processes that can free them from mental and emotional problems. Gain an understanding of the professional skills needed to guide others toward health and healing.

There are countless ways to use a social work degree to help put individuals, families, and entire communities on the path to living happy, productive, and meaningful lives. Let Lesley help find the one meant for you.

Gain a solid foundation in the conceptual and technical aspects of animation and motion media art. Learn from a variety of processes, including stop-motion, 3D animation, and traditional figure drawing.

Deepen your knowledge in the fine arts by studying artistic works and theory from a range of cultures, locations, and historical periods.

Learn design, illustration, and photography methods as you develop ideas into complex book projects. Explore various kinds of storytelling and technical skills.

Expand your creative talents by studying technical design tools, methods, and theory. You’ll learn about studio habits, image making, visual research, typography, and the history of modern design.

Take courses and complete projects in video, motion, new media, and film. This minor is great way for you to add a cross-disciplinary approach to your art practice.

Enhance your artistic skills in a specific area or gain experience in several different art forms. You’ll be able to practice drawing, painting, sculpture, and more during hands-on studio sessions.

Learn the foundations of the technical and conceptual aspects of illustration. You’ll develop different techniques in focused areas, such as figure drawing, mixed media, and digital formats.

Take courses and create projects on new media, video, game production, drawing, visual books, and more. Ideal for adding a cross-disciplinary approach to your art practice.

Explore traditional and digital photography techniques as you work with different media, like collage and sculpture. You can also choose to focus on specific genres, including photo noir, landscape and architecture, and portraiture.

Bring your artistic skills to the classroom. Teach PreK-8 or 5-12 students how to think and learn through the creative process. Continue to develop your own work while discovering the latest in classroom practices, research, and art education.

Prepare to nurture the social, emotional, and intellectual development of PreK-2 children. Explore teaching methods that will help you inspire in your students a lifelong love of learning. Gain rich experience and prepare for a rewarding career.

This one-year residency in a Somerville school prepares you to teach in early childhood classrooms with diverse language learners. Courses are offered at the school site and on Lesley's Cambridge campus.

Play a vital role in helping grade 1–6 students become critical thinkers who will thrive in an era of change. Explore ways to support children with varied abilities, and emerge from your studies with the skills you need to succeed as a teacher.

Help students in grades 1–6 become critical thinkers who will thrive in an era of change. Learn how to teach children who do not speak English as a first language. Emerge from your studies with the skills you need to succeed as a teacher.

Expand your content knowledge while gaining strategies for engaging students and preparing them for college and careers. Choose from English, history, math, biology, chemistry, earth and space science, physics, or social sciences, and become a highly effective licensed educator.

Be a teacher who can effectively teach students with moderate learning disabilities in both special education and inclusive classrooms. Study instruction, current issues and laws, and how to provide all students with full access to learning.

Become a teacher who can educate students with moderate learning disabilities. Prepare to teach in special education and inclusive classrooms. Study instruction, current issues and laws, and how to provide all students with full access to learning.

Fulfill your goal of being a dedicated special education teacher. This dual-license master’s program prepares you to work with PreK–8 students with a range of moderate and severe disabilities in school, clinical, and other settings.

This dual-license master’s program prepares you to work with students with both moderate and severe disabilities in school, clinical, and other settings. Fulfill your goal of being a dedicated special education teacher.

Fulfill your goal of being an effective special education teacher. This dual-license master’s program prepares you to work with PreK through high school students in school, clinical, and other settings.

Prepare to educate and encourage students with severe disabilities. Make a meaningful difference for those with complex learning needs by providing access to curriculum, behavior support, skills development, and quality of life options.

Design an advanced degree based on your professional and personal goals. Pursue a specialization or choose a variety of courses from across the university, and take a combination of face-to-face and online courses.

Deepen your understanding of literacy, and learn innovative ways to incorporate reading and writing to help all students communicate effectively. Coursework includes topics like content literacy, literature, assessment, struggling learners, and more.

Learn the vital skills needed to teach middle school students English, general science, history, humanities, math/science, math, or social sciences.

Make a real difference in students’ lives by turning your passion for literacy into career as a school or district reading specialist. In this highly-regarded program, you’ll gain expertise you can apply to a variety of settings and roles.

Design a master’s program in special education tailored to your unique professional goals. Centered on a chosen concentration area, this non-licensure program is for those who already have or do not need a special education license.

Develop the understanding, social justice perspective, and clinical expertise needed to become a creative and effective mental health counselor. Gain eligibility for your counseling license by completing 700-1,300 hours of field experience.

Promote healing through drawing, painting, sculpting, and other media. Learn theoretical and practical approaches to help people gain self-awareness and understanding. Become engaged with individuals, families, and communities to foster well-being.

Learn to use dance and movement to enhance communication and relationships and foster mental and physical wellness in clients. As a dance/movement therapist and mental health counselor, explore how dance can yield fresh insights and facilitate the healing process.

Facilitate change through improvisation and performance. As a licensed mental health counselor, use experiential techniques to help others become spontaneous and flexible in their relationships. Practice in schools, clinics, and community centers.

Learn from pioneers in the field as you train to become a licensed mental health counselor, whose practice integrates multiple areas of expression, including art, dance/movement, drama, and music. Choose from our on-campus or low-residency options.

Starting from the basis of the whole person—mind, body, and spirit—learn a multidimensional approach to counseling that addresses people’s mental, physical, and emotional needs. Complete 1,300 field-training hours, qualifying you for licensure.

Engage others in music making as a means to wellness. Use musical performance to instill confidence and collaboration. Prepare for careers in diverse settings, including at-risk youth, underserved communities, and clinical and educational centers.

Train to excel as a counselor in diverse primary and secondary school environments. Learn to work with children and collaborate with a wide range of individuals, including parents, teachers, administrators, and community members.

Guide those in pain toward health and healing. With 1,300 hours of specialized field training, you’ll develop the mental health counseling expertise needed to address traumatic experiences, especially in the case of young and vulnerable populations.

Work in school settings with children and adolescents, as well as their families, to help them reach academic and personal goals. In this 48-credit program, become eligible for licensure as a Massachusetts school counselor for grades PreK-8 or 5–12.

Our MFA in Creative Writing nurtures and challenges your creative potential in one of six genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Graphic Novels and Comics, Writing for Stage and Screen, or Writing for Young People.

Pursue an MFA that’s rigorous yet individually tailored for the 21st century artist. The interdisciplinary focus of the program allows you to craft a course of study that integrates creative work into your daily life.

Lesley’s Master of Social Work (MSW) is a distinctive program with a mission of emphasizing social justice, promoting client well-being, and serving and supporting a diverse range of vulnerable individuals, families, and communities.

If you have an advanced art degree and need only a Massachusetts teaching license, this program will enable you to help PreK-8 or 5-12 students think and learn through the creative process. Develop your own work while discovering the latest in classroom practices, educational equity, assessment, and art education.

Play a key role in helping students become critical 21st century thinkers. Designed for career changers and others who do not need a master’s degree, this license-only program is a perfect way to prepare for teaching without taking a full program.

Gain valuable skills and credentials for teaching English language learners (ELLs). This license-only program gives you new career opportunities and the ability to help students make significant strides.

Gain valuable skills and credentials for teaching English language learners (ELLs). This license-only program gives you new career opportunities and the ability to help students make significant strides.

A program for career changers and others who would like a high school teaching license but do not require a Master's degree. Teach English, history, math, biology, chemistry, earth and space science, physics, or social sciences. Expand your content knowledge while gaining strategies for engaging students and preparing them for college and careers.

Learn to teach students with moderate learning disabilities in both special education and inclusive classrooms. If you have an appropriate classroom license and don’t need a master’s degree, this license-only program may be right for you.

Prepare to teach and inspire students with moderate learning disabilities in PreK–8 special education and inclusive classrooms. If you have an appropriate classroom license and don’t need a master’s degree, this license-only program is for you.

Make a difference in the lives of students with complex learning needs by providing behavior support, skill development, and access to education. If you have an appropriate initial license and don’t need a master’s degree, this program is for you.

Turn your area of expertise into a rewarding career teaching middle school students English, general science, history, humanities, math/science, math, or social sciences. Learn about adolescent development, designing appropriate curriculum and learning environments, and classroom management strategies.

Positively impact students’ lives as a school or district reading specialist. If you have a master’s degree and an appropriate teaching license, you can get your reading specialist license and move your initial license to the professional level.

Blending online study with weekend on-campus classes, our PhD program for mental health professionals and school counselors prepares you to bring transformative leadership and applied research to mental health programs, schools, and higher education.

Become a leader who can develop forward-thinking approaches for the improvement of K-12 student learning. Designed for working professionals, this PhD program is for both traditional school leaders and other educators who want to facilitate change.

Transform individuals and communities through creativity, scholarship, and collaboration. Enhance your practice and become a leader in expressive therapies through this low residency doctoral program, which interweaves artistic expression and inquiry with a focus on research

Design a doctoral program tailored to your professional goals. You’ll have a great deal of flexibility as you structure interdisciplinary study that fits your career objectives and allows you to contribute significantly to your field of interest.

Gain the knowledge and experience for a career in animation and motion media with our two-year certification program. To be eligible, you must have already completed a bachelor’s degree program.

Learn about common intervention strategies for children and families in transition. You’ll also get first-hand experience with internships in local social service agencies.

Learn the ins and outs of graphic design through hands-on courses and internship experience with our two-year certification program. To be eligible, you must have already completed a bachelor’s degree program.

Develop and expand your Graphic Design skills with this online certificate in as little as 3 semesters. To be eligible, you must have already completed a bachelor’s degree program.

Learn about the integration of mind, body, and spirit through various healing practices. You’ll explore holistic approaches, including mindfulness, yoga, and expressive therapies.

Earn professional certification in illustration after two years of specialized study and hands-on experience. To be eligible, you must have already completed a bachelor’s degree program.

Develop and expand your skills and knowledge in User Experience with this online certificate program in as little as 3 semesters. To be eligible, you must have already completed a bachelor's degree program.

Develop and expand your Web Design skills with this online certificate in as little as 3 semesters. To be eligible, you must have already completed a bachelor’s degree program.

Through our certificate program, discover how to integrate the healing power of creative expression into the care of patients in hospitals, health centers, nursing homes, and other settings. You’ll develop a range of skills that open new possibilities in healthcare, education, human services, social work, counseling, and more.

Develop skills in K-8 reading, writing, word study/phonics, and more. Learn responsive and differentiated teaching approaches to create a supportive learning environment. Take courses that include guided reading, texts, and reading and writing workshops.

Explore the principles and practices of art, dance/movement, drama, music therapy, and more. Discover how these disciplines, known as expressive therapies, can be integrated into clinical work and build on your current professional practice.

This graduate certificate program is designed for literacy coaches, teacher leaders, or administrators who want to gain expertise in literacy coaching, shared leadership, and developing a culture of professional learning within a school or across a district.

Expand your counseling psychology expertise. Start by creating a personalized 12-credit program of study with Lesley’s expert faculty advisors.

Build your expertise in psychosocial trauma work and bring new knowledge to your current practice. This 12-credit graduate certificate program provides an overview of trauma theory and practice in relation to specific client populations and topics.

If you have an advanced degree in expressive arts therapy or a related field, and wish to gain in-depth training in the principles and practices of different modalities (art, dance, music, and psychodrama), this certificate program is for you.

Grow your literacy skills and qualify for a reading specialist license. Designed for PreK–12 educators with a master’s degree and teaching license, this program prepares you for higher-level positions in curriculum, staff training, or supervision.