Mission, Vision, Values and History

Our Mission

We deliver transformative technical and trade education that leads to economic advancement.

Our Vision

To achieve economic and social impact through dynamic and entrepreneurial curricula that develop diverse tech talent for our region and to help graduates thrive by building generational wealth.

Our Values

1. Supporting our diverse community
2. Fostering a supportive learning environment

Institutional Learning Outcomes

We value the learning outcomes of an educated person who is:

1. Focusing on technical know-how
2. Practicing professionalism
3. Communicating effectively
4. Deploying critical thinking skills
5. Embracing information literacy
6. Understanding sustainable development, and
7. Acting responsibly through civic engagement

Our History

Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology owes its existence to the vision and wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, a world-renowned diplomat, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and statesman.

Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706, and learned the printing trade here. After working briefly with his father, a tallow chandler, he became an apprentice to his brother James, one of the few printers in Boston, where he learned the trade. Eventually a bitter quarrel with James led to a split that resulted in Ben’s move to Philadelphia in his late teens after James warned his competitors not to hire Ben. Unlike so many of the Founding Fathers who came from the colonial gentry, Franklin belonged to the “leather apron” class. Although one of the most significant men of his era, he remained ever proud of his trade and specified that his gravestone be engraved “Benjamin Franklin, Printer.”

Franklin believed that “good apprentices are likely to make good citizens,” and in his will in 1789, he stipulated a gift of £1000 to “the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston.” He noted that the kindness of two friends in helping him set up his business had been the basis of his fortune. “I wish to be useful even after my death…in forming and advancing other young people who may be serviceable to their country.” The interest was to augment the principal continually, and at the end of one 100 years, part of the fund was to be expended for “public works” and the balance was to be compounded for a second hundred years.

In December 1904, the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who heralded Benjamin Franklin as one of his heroes, matched the money in the Franklin Fund to build the college on two conditions: that the school be an industrial school similar to the Cooper Union, and that the City of Boston provide the land. When the first part of the fund matured just before the turn of the century, the Board of Managers of the Franklin Foundation agreed with Carnegie that a school providing training in the sciences would constitute the best and appropriate means of accomplishing Franklin’s beneficent purposes

On September 25, 1908, the Franklin Union was dedicated. Well over 200 years after his death, Franklin’s legacy continues to do great public good. Franklin’s vision has guided the college’s pragmatic approach of developing curricula that meets industry needs, and ensuring student success through comprehensive support.

Fun Historical Facts and Firsts

We are proud to be a college of firsts in a historic city full of them:

• The college originated from Benjamin Franklin‘s estate gift of 1,000 pounds left to the city of Boston specifically to support trade education and help apprentices get their start in entrepreneurship. This optimistic and forward-thinking estate gift in 1790 was the first of its kind—designed to mature in 200 years. The codicil to Franklin’s will gave rise to the college known as Franklin Cummings Tech today.
• Soon after Henry Ford introduced the Model T to the world on October 1, 1908, the game changing affordable car put average Americans on the road. In response, the newly established Franklin Institution created what we believe to be the nation’s first college-based automotive repair program. The initial course offering in Gas and Gasoline Engines became so popular that it had a waiting list, and on the first day of classes, people lined up around the corner of Berkeley Street and onto Tremont Street seeking a chance to enroll. We offer a Certificate and Associate Degree in Automotive Technology even today.
• On May 15, 1916, the first conference call was made at the college, linking San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. More than nine hundred people filled the Franklin Union auditorium to hear guest speakers from around the country via telephone, including Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and his assistant, Thomas A. Watson.
• On November 14, 1927, the very first fax to be demonstrated in the United States was sent from the college. W.E Harkness of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company gave a maiden public demonstration of the newly developed telephoto process, which could transmit a five-by-seven inch photograph anywhere in the country over telephone wires in seven minutes, a boon at the time—especially for the robust newspaper industry.
•  Franklin Cummings Tech has the state’s first and only degree pathway for obtaining an Opticianry license. The Opticianry program provides hands-on training to teach students to design, fit, and dispense eye glasses and contact lenses as well as operate all forms of ophthalmic tools and instruments—a fitting legacy for a college named after the man who invented and regularly manufactured bifocals.
• Franklin’s scientific research into rapid evaporation created the foundation upon which the modern heating and air conditioning industry is built. Today, his namesake college has a fast-growing HVAC&R Technology certificate program that focuses on energy-efficient technology such as heat pumps and also provides a pathway into a career in Building Energy Management.

Franklin’s Continued Relevance

While Benjamin Franklin has long been one of the nation’s most revered founding fathers, recent years have seen a resurgence of public interest in his accomplishments and his legacy—including the direct links to Franklin Cummings Tech.

• Noted filmmaker Ken Burns explored Franklin’s revolutionary life in a four-hour documentary film titled “Benjamin Franklin.” The 2022 film featured the historic Charles Mills murals depicting scenes from Franklin’s life, which currently adorn the walls of Franklin Cummings Tech’s soaring South End lobby.
• Author Michael Meyer took a deep dive into the lasting impact of Franklin’s will—and the college’s role in fulfilling his legacy—in his widely acclaimed 2022 book “Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet: The Favorite Founder’s Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife, and Blueprint for American Prosperity.”
• And in 2024, Apple+ launched “Franklin,” a series starring Michael Douglas as the founding father. The series focuses on the eight years Benjamin Franklin spent in France to convince King Louis XVI to support the burgeoning United States in the American Revolutionary War.