Book studies panelists and audience viewed through archway at Suzy Newhouse Center.

Academic Centers

Our academic centers extend learning beyond the classroom offering opportunities for focused inquiry, experiential learning and student research, and bringing inspiring thought leaders, scholars, and artists across disciplines to campus to engage with students.

get to know Academic Centers

College programs focused on academics and engagement with the campus community.

  • students work at a lab bench

    Science Complex

    The 275,000-square-foot Science Complex is a vibrant hub of collaboration, discovery, and interdisciplinary study for the entire campus community. It includes state-of-the-art STEM classrooms, research facilities and gathering spaces to support world-class teaching and learning.

  • Looking down into an exhibition space with museum visitors and a tall, colorful, robot statue made of mahjong tiles.

    Davis Museum

    The Davis is one of the most acclaimed academic fine arts museums in the country. Housed in an award-winning building, the Davis features outstanding collections and programs that span global history, from ancient times to today.

  • Professor Tavi Gonzalez reads from his book for an audience in the Newhouse Center.

    Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities

    Supporting the work of our humanities community through fellowships, symposia, special classes, events, and public projects, the Suzy Newhouse creates opportunities for intellectual risk-taking and the exchange of ideas among faculty and students.

  • A crowd listens to a lecturer in Tishman Commons. Knapp Social Science Center banners flank the stage.

    Knapp Social Science Center

    Promoting interdisciplinary student and faculty research in areas across the social sciences, such as health, poverty, and social justice, Knapp hosts events and supports innovative approaches to teaching, including community engagement and experiential learning initiatives.

  • A class sits outside under the trees while listening to the professor.

    Camilla Chandler Frost ’47 Center for the Environment

    A dynamic interdisciplinary hub, the Frost Center for the Environment designs programming and initiatives aimed at preparing students to be the teachers, researchers, activists, and storytellers who will shape a more just environmental future.

  • Three children play with toys at a sand table.

    Child Study Center

    A laboratory preschool under the direction of the Department of Psychology at Wellesley, the center strives to improve the lives of all children and expand knowledge about childhood education. Faculty and students teach children ages 2 to 5 and conduct approved research.

Academic projects

A sampling of initiatives focused on creating opportunities for community engagement through learning, research, and experiences.

  • A portrait of the five faculty members who received Mellon grant funding

    Transforming Stories, Spaces, Lives (TSSL)

    A three-year project funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times program, TSSL brings Wellesley faculty together to develop transformative humanities projects through student research, new courses, and public humanities.

  • Students pull invasive plants out of the ground and put them in piles for later use.

    Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative

    Through the Paulson Initiative, students learn to value nature and become change agents who cultivate sustainable landscapes and communities around the globe.