A History of AIB since 1969 from a personal point of view by Angelo Fertitta

Forty-Four Years at The Art Institute of Boston

A Personal History

By Professor Angelo Fertitta

In September 1969, shortly after completing my MFA and moving to Boston from Boulder, Colorado with my first wife and son, I opened the yellow pages looking for art schools in the hoping to get a part time teaching position. The first art school listed was The Art Institute of Boston. Paul Celli, the chairman of the Foundation Program offered me my initial teaching position and that began my forty-four tenure at AIB.

AIB was a three-year diploma school with art history being the primary academic course. All other courses were studio oriented. This was true of most of the art schools in the region. Degree granting at art colleges generally occurred somewhat later prompted by competition from university and liberal arts college art programs offering both art studies and a bachelors degree.  Many art schools like AIB focused on preparing students for the professional art trades, e.g., illustration, fashion, and graphic and advertising design, fields in which a degree wasn’t necessary. I didn’t realize that the fine arts and photography programs at AIB and that our status as a non-profit entity were relatively new.

Based on slides of my work, Mr. Celli gave me a class called Non-Representational Drawing.  Although I had no specific educational experience for this course, other faculty also teaching this course generously mentored me. With their support, I had made sufficient progress in my teaching to be hired fulltime for the following year. At this time this meant five days a week and five hours each day. We were paid at a daily rate of $31.50 per day.

When I returned to AIB the following September I learned that Mr. Celli, who left for a position at Massachusetts College of Art, was being replaced by an artist/illustrator named J. T. Coolidge. Coolidge was a relative of Cassius Coolidge, the famous illustrator, and a successful New England artist in his own right. As interim chair, Mr. Coolidge, who I respected very much, was open to experimentation in teaching and exploring art and allowed us to take many risks. There was frequently team teaching, which brought several similar classes together for extensive projects and allowed course content to be quite flexible.

Early in the fall semester, with staff, faculty, and students all participating, AIB moved from 718 Beacon Street (now part of the BU Science Center) to 700 Beacon. In this new space, many of the studio classrooms were simply divided by lockers. Hearing on-going discussions and lectures in the adjacent spaces encouraged frequent interaction and collaboration with other faculty and students. Duff Schweninger, an installation artist who taught the same course as I did, combined classes with me on a regular basis.

In September of 1971, Nathan Goldstein, a painter and MFA graduate from the Art Institute of Chicago, was hired as the new chair of the Foundation Program. After his initial year, Nate began instituting changes that reflected both his personal philosophy, and a more traditional approach to the first year of art school. Courses where renamed to more familiar titles such as Basic Drawing, Figure Drawing, and 2-D Design. Nate refined the program over the next couple of years and the Foundation year continued essentially unchanged for the next thirty years. Minor changes did occur, however, the premise of observational drawing as the fundamental building block in studio art education remained constant. Nate stepped down from the Foundation chairmanship in 2000 after authoring a number of books on drawing and composition reflecting the viewpoint of studio art education he had established at AIB.

In the mid-seventies, Robert Simon was hired to teach English Composition and begin the process of developing a Liberal Arts Department. During this time we received accreditation from the National Association of Trade Schools, NATS. It is worth noting that the strength of AIB’s educational program continued the focus on the commercial art areas, illustration, graphic and advertising design, and commercial/documentary photography. Also within this time frame, many of our students were on the G.I. Bill, having returned from active duty in Viet Nam. Their presence added a seriousness that can only come from more mature students, especially those who have had such an intense experience.

AIB was a thriving, happening place during the seventies. Enrollments were healthy; and the Fine Arts Department was developing into a successful program under the leadership of faculty/chairs like Geoff Keotsch and Domenic Cretara. Photography, though relatively new, had asserted itself as a serious program under the leadership first of Bob Baker and then Rick Sullo. There was vitality throughout the school that energized students and faculty. Until 1977, William (Bill) Willis, Sr. was the president whose tenure began in 1962. He had a somewhat laissez-faire demeanor and seemed to let AIB run itself. He made very few appearances at community meetings (I actually don’t remember any) and he was present mainly to greet us in the morning and to officiate at graduation each May. In 1977 his son, William Willis, Jr. (Tuck), who was trained as an architect, took over the reins after previously having served as Director of Admissions.

This change in leadership marked a significant alteration in the administration of the school. Tuck, during these early years, was much more hands-on then his father. He began to professionalize the administration with directors for each area such as publicity, development, financial aid, registrar, etc. He also initiated the process of acquiring accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Tuck assigned this task to Robert Simon who led the process--including the authoring of our self-study through to our being accredited in 1982 by NASAD.

In the seventies the AIB gallery was administered by anyone who had the desire and energy to put together an exhibition. Tuck Willis often would oversee both the McIvor Reddie Gallery and the student gallery. In 1979, I assisted in the installation of several shows and proposed to President Willis that I become the permanent director of the gallery, which he gladly accepted. I served as a full time faculty member and the first official Exhibitions Director from 1979 through 1984. As part of this latter assignment, I coordinated several outside exhibitions, which included two large shows of faculty, student, and alumni work at the Boston City Hall, and a more juried exhibition at the Boston Symphony Hall.

Although the Institute was getting more exposure and had become accredited by NASAD our enrollment went into a steady decline. While a number of other art colleges were beginning to offer the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) we hadn’t yet made that change. Additionally, at the height of our enrollment in 1979, we leased space next door to 700 Beacon at 708 Beacon (an old and unused coat factory known as the Great Dane Building and owned by Boston University). This added space allowed for the Illustration and Design Departments to acquire facilities that served their particular needs. 700 then served as the primary space for administration, fine arts, photography, and foundation.  However, in 1983, BU informed AIB that they were terminating our lease so they could begin renovations on the entire block of buildings that later became the BU Science Center.

AIB was forced to scramble to secure a replacement space and have it renovated for use by the fall of 1984. We ultimately leased space in a building about a block away at 21-27 Burlington Avenue on the 5^th floor. A rocky renovation riddled with mishaps depleted our reserves and the space ended up with significant problems, especially with light and ventilation. Both the faculty and students were dissatisfied with the facility contributing to attrition and adding to the decline in our enrollment.

At the same time, however, a concerted effort was initiated to gain degree-granting authority, once again led by the new Dean of Academic Affairs, Robert Simon. The process was long and drawn out and involved nearly everyone on staff and faculty. The effort culminated in1988 when the State of Massachusetts granted AIB the authority to offer the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Although the BFA was generally a very positive outcome, it cost us several capable fine art faculty members who didn’t have terminal degrees. However, by this time our enrollment was nearly half of our peak enrollment, slipping under 300 FTE by 1990 and it was clear that it would take several years before our degree-granting authority become widely known. Concurrently, President Willis, Jr. came under increasing criticism from faculty, staff, and some students.

Planning began for a major renovation of 700 Beacon Street in 1985. I stepped down from the Exhibitions Directorship to assist the President in planning this process and became Facilities Manager while continuing as a full time faculty member. I oversaw the regular maintenance of our buildings and sat in on much of the planning for the renovation that began in June of 1986 with a proposed completion date of January 1987. The construction company chosen to oversee this process was one with ties to a member of our Board of Trustees.

The renovation was disastrous and had a severe effect the enrollment in several academic departments especially the Photography Department. The work was chaotic, with a fire resulting in loss of records, costs overruns that nearly doubled the final expenditure, poor craftsmanship throughout, and the completion date pushed back to the fall of 1987. In addition to the increased cost that nearly destroyed our financial stability, we also were informed that the lease for 21-27 Burlington would increase by three times when we it was to be renewed in 1989. Given our financial crisis, this increase was impossible to absorb, so we moved out of that space and shoehorned everything into 700 Beacon.

In the summer of 1987, with declining enrollments weighing heavily on the college, I was asked by President Willis to replace the recently resigned Dean of Admissions. I hesitated to accept this role, knowing it would be a very difficult one for whoever assumed the position. My reticence also reflected my uncertainty as to whether I had the right personal skills to make a difference. I did, however, become Dean of Admissions and remained in that role for three years. This was one of the most difficult times I spent at AIB as the odds were stacked against us. The facilities issues, including the lack of a computer lab for students (that the chair of design, Sue Morrison, Bob Simon, and I lobbied heavily for and eventually succeeded in getting in 1989), the late acquisition of degree-granting authority, the lack of finances to support the enrollment effort, and the eventual loss of 21-27 Burlington proved overwhelming. We struggled to maintain our enrollment levels with little success.

Also in 1987 we had our first accreditation revisit by NASAD that again required a self-study and an accrediting team visit. Fortunately, we had mostly completed the renovation of 700 Beacon. We received the team’s approval and a continuation of our accreditation with them.

In the spring semester of 1990, several momentous events transpired. As the situation became desperate with the fate of AIB hanging in the balance, the faculty, students, and some administrative staff took the unprecedented step of asking our Board of Trustees to seek President Willis’s resignation. Before mid-summer, Tuck had stepped down and several upper-administrators resigned as well. The success of this effort was tempered by our financial crisis, but we were determined to move forward and keep AIB opened. Robert Simon, who was Dean of Academic Affairs, was selected by the Board to act as the Interim Administrator with the caveat that he not apply for the presidency. I became the Dean of Students and Diana Arcadipone replaced me as Dean of Admissions.

Our problems, however, were not over. 1990-91 saw a major banking crisis in which a number of banks were closed. Unfortunately for AIB, the bank that held all of our ready cash and loans was one of them. This really felt like the death knell for our college. Robert and several members of the Board of Trustees succeeded in convincing the FDIC to forgive our loans and return $100,000 from our account.  Meanwhile, a search had begun for a new president. The search committee was very representative of the AIB community and included students, staff, faculty, board members and alumni. A headhunting firm was hired and eventually identified three candidates to be interviewed by the committee.

Stan Trecker was chosen to be president and began his tenure in the summer of 1991. With an almost completely new administration we undertook the arduous process of rebuilding our college. Christopher James was hired the previous January to head our photography program, initiating a clear revival of that department, which has since become our showcase academic department. Stan took the necessary steps to begin a three-year planning process and in the summer of 1992, a retreat was held that marked its beginning. One of the first steps taken was to acquire some additional space. The Workspace in Kenmore Square was leased and adapted to fit our needs. This 10,000 sq. ft. was critical to our growth plans.  Although there was a gym on the floor above us, this space was nevertheless a very active and welcome addition.

Diana quickly pulled together a crack recruiting team whose efforts shortly bore results. Due to the changes made during those early years of the ‘90’s, and the Admissions departments efforts, our FTE enrollment reach over 500 by 1997. Among the changes that impacted the college were the addition of Geoffrey Fried as chair of Design and David Schuster as chair of Illustration later to be succeeded by Robert Kaufman. Robert Simon was promoted to VP of Academic Affairs and Diane Wald was hired as Dean of Faculty.

One of the first tasks I undertook was to change the nature of the Dean of Students office from a primarily registrar’s operation to one of student services. This included giving much more attention to housing assistance, mental and physical health concerns, financial aid, academic counseling, etc. During the same period, we computerized the college’s administrative processes, making admissions, finances, and matriculation more efficient and therefore more effective. I hired Naomi Kadinoff to be our first Director of Student Services shortly after assuming the dean’s role. Naomi, Mary Kaye and myself initiated the Bridge Program to assist academically underprepared students achieve success in our college.  I worked to develop a team mentality in the office so that the registrar, financial aid director, the director of student services, and our administrative assistant collaborated extensively. Naomi also initiated the development of an extensive orientation program and a peer advisory program.

During the period of the early nineties our continuing Ed program was somewhat leaderless and the work of holding it together fell on an ad hoc committee. This committee included Daniel Lusk, who served primarily as the public relations officer for the college, Naomi Kadinoff, Diana Arcadipone, and me. Although our efforts were scattered we managed to maintain the program until a new director could be funded and hired. One of the chance outcomes was my meeting with Bill Jarcho, who was a principle at Olive Jar Animation Studio in Boston. We put together a continuing education course in animation that was quite successful. This effort lead to additional courses in the evening as well as the subsequent hiring of John Casey to head up a day program in animation under the auspices of the Illustration Department, ultimately culminating in NASAD approval of an Animation major.

A committee, composed of faculty and administrators, was formed shortly after the 1992 retreat to consider the possibility of a Master of Fine Arts degree. This committee began work on the idea of a low residency MFA akin to that offered by Vermont College. The effort did not gain momentum until we completed the merger with Lesley University. The culmination was the successfully acquisition of an MFA and accreditation by NASAD and approval by the State of Massachusetts. Members of the forming committee included Stan Trecker, Christopher James, Tony Apesos, Michael Conway, who brought his own experience from his time in the program at Vermont College, Marion Nesbit, representing the University, and me. Tony Apesos had been one of the initial motivators for this program early on brought his experience at Bard College to the table. Marion Nesbit had significant experience with their low-residency programs. This team outlined what is essentially the current MFA in Visual Arts at AIB, a fruitful addition to our college. Tony Apesos was the first director of the program and established much of the detailed processes of the program. Judith Barry, who has overseen the significant growth and national stature of the program, followed him in this role.

I spent considerable time working together with individual academic department chairs to address the necessary changes to their programs in order to better reflect what was happening in the art world and art education. Thus in 1997, when Robert Simon resigned, I added the responsibilities of Dean of Academic Affairs to my role as Dean of Students. Around 1994, the college undertook the effort to become regionally accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Again, Robert Simon took the lead role in coordinating this effort. The application for accreditation involved an extensive self-study written by a number of the faculty and administration. In 1996 we submitted our application/self-study to NEASC and a team was sent for a three-day visit to AIB. We were given Conditional Status, with several areas to be addressed in order for AIB to be fully accredited. These included finances, library resources, and facilities.

I became full time Dean of Academic Affairs in 1998 while student services came under the supervision of the Director of Student Services. With the NEASC report in mind, and further growth dependent on the expansion of our facilities, we acquired additional space by leasing 601 Newbury. David Schuster had become the VP of Administration by this time and he and I collaborated with the President and department chairs in developing this new space. Knowing we couldn’t undertake this project alone, we worked with the Boston Architectural Center (now College) who shared one floor of this new space for the first three years of our lease. At the same time as we leased and developed this new space we initiated an effort to partner with another institution. It became clear that attaining our goals would be extremely difficult and those outlined by NEASC while maintaining our status an independent college.

By mid 1998, our search for a partner concluded and we set in motion the merging of AIB with Lesley College, now Lesley University. The process, involving numerous legal hurdles, was completed in December of 1998, at which time we became The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley College. This was a momentous event for our college, and inspiring great optimism. We now had access to the resources of Lesley including library, NEASC accreditation, and a fuller range of liberal arts courses. Stan Trecker became the Dean/Director of our college at this time.

A transition team spent nearly a year working out all the details involved in completing the merger process. This team had representatives from all the major administrative offices at Lesley, as well as Stan and myself. Much of the work was completed by fall 1999, and AIB was fully integrated into the Lesley systems including the libraries, facilities, faculty, technology, and administrative structure. Another year passed before the work was completed and most of the glitches solved. The most difficult aspect of the merger was melding two very different cultures while retaining the qualities that defined AIB. Assimilation evolved slowly over the next few years as the AIB community and the Lesley community discovered their similarities, and gained respect and understanding of their differences. Participation in events and a variety of committees solidified the mutual recognition and acceptance of our cultural characteristics.

Yet another committee was established in early 2000 charged with beginning the research into a new facility in Cambridge for AIB. This committee consisted of related administrators and Stan and me. Over the next two years we developed the fundamental strategy necessary for the housing of our college, working with a consultant firm headed by George Mathey to record our current space usage while considering what our needs would be in the near future. Several planning meetings with the chairs of the academic departments resulted in a plan for the square footage that we perceived as the necessary minimum necessary requirement with future considerations in mind. Over time and through the work of additional members of the community, especially Geoff Fried and Michael David, this plan was altered to reflect a more feasible size. This group effort has led eventually to the current architectural design that we hope to occupy in January of 2015.

Dean/Director Trecker accepted the presidency of Montserrat College of Art in Beverly MA and left AIB in June 2002. A period of instability in leadership ensued that remained until Stan resumed the position of Dean of AIB in the summer of 2007. Prior to his return, I served as the interim dean for AIB for one year. During this year there were several changes that affected the University, and our college in particular. Most significant was the 2003 resignation of the University Provost. Elsa Nunez had been provost since late 1999 and had spearheaded several major projects.

Among Elsa’s projects was the establishment of an Academic Planning Program (APP) in which faculty and administrators from across Lesley participated in a number of forums, meetings, and retreats focused on program quality, program initiatives, and faculty collaboration. Associated with the APP, the provost initiated a study of the general education program as it related to the undergraduate programs at Lesley. This culminated several years later in a significant change in both the structure and the expectations relating to general education.

The search for a permanent dean for AIB resulted in the hiring of Gary Sangster in the summer of 2003. He had been the director of a small museum in Baltimore, MD, and through this association had substantial connections to the contemporary art world. Although Gary was hired specifically to oversee the public relations/fund-raising effort for AIB’s new facilities that would be located in Cambridge, his lack of experience in academia proved fatal to his tenure at AIB. He resigned in November of 2004. At that time, Terry Keeney, Dean of Lesley College, stepped into the void. Dean Keeney’s efforts to stabilize AIB were proving effective until the spring of 2007 when President Margaret McKenna made the sudden and unexpected decision to remove Terry and replace him with Stan Trecker. This left the AIB community stunned and angry since equilibrium was finally being restored.

At the same time, I was replaced as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, a title change I received at the end of the spring semester in 2005. Geoffrey Fried was chosen to be the new Senior Associate Dean of AIB. His tenure in this position was very fruitful with he and Stan working well as a team. Geoffrey had the respect of the department chairs, and his style was to be as transparent in his actions as possible. After three arduous years Geoffrey stepped down from the position to return to the faculty. He was replaced by the current Senior Associate Dean, Matthew Cherry I returned full time to a faculty position in 2007after having taught minimally in the foundation program while serving in administrative positions. This was a very desirable change for me.

Very sadly, Robert Kaufman, chair of the Illustration Department, died at the end of 2009 and Nate Goldstein retired that same semester after teaching at AIB for 38 years. Nate was awarded emeritus status in May 2011. He died in 2013.