‘The Trust Agenda’ sets the mission. Art schools have the methods.
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Art schools and conservatories have long operated on pedagogical models built around mentorship, critique, creative risk-taking, and community — the very practices that higher education broadly is now being urged to adopt in order to rebuild student engagement and public trust. While research universities debate how to make education more human-centered and relationship-driven, arts institutions have quietly maintained those conditions as a matter of course. The rest of higher education has much to learn from the studio model, where trust between faculty and students is not incidental but structural.
Originally published: August 10, 2026
Author: Cecilia M. McCormick
Position: President
Institution: Maryland Institute College of Art
Published by: University Business