The University of Massachusetts system is governed by a president[8] and a 22-member Board of Trustees,[9] which functions as a legislative body.[9] The system administration is in Boston and Shrewsbury,[10] is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and across its campuses enrolls 73,979 students.[4]
UMass Amherst looking southeast from the air (2006)
Amherst is the flagship and the largest of the UMass campuses, as well as the first established. Like many colleges and universities, the Massachusetts Agricultural College (as it was originally called) in Amherst was founded as a land-grant college in 1863, receiving initial start-up funding as part of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. It became "Massachusetts State College" in 1931, and "University of Massachusetts" in 1947. The library system is the largest state-supported library system in New England with over 6.1 million items. The campus has many architecturally distinctive buildings commissioned by the Commonwealth and designed by world-renowned architects.
Massachusetts offers a variety of academic and co-curricular options. Ninety-two percent of the more than 1,300 full-time faculty members hold the highest degree in their fields. The average SAT score for the 2018 entering class is 1296, and the average GPA is 3.90 on a 4.0 scale. The campus has 21,969 undergraduates and offers 109 bachelor's degree programs. There is a student-to-faculty ratio of 18:1 and 81% of classes have fewer than 40 students.[11] Massachusetts hosts Commonwealth Honors College (CHC) where admission is more competitive with an average SAT score of 1411. CHC offers personalized advising, smaller class sizes taught by professors, and a six building Honors Residential Community, which opened in fall 2013.[12]
Students participate in 240 campus organizations, 21 NCAA Division I athletic teams, living-learning residence halls, community service, internships, and faculty research. Massachusetts is also part of the Five Colleges consortium, with Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Amherst colleges, all within a free bus ride of each other using the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. Students can take classes on any of these campuses and participate in all co-curricular and cultural activities.[12]Javier Reyes serves as Massachusetts's 12th chancellor.[13]
UMass Boston is a research university[14] located in the City of Boston. Located on the Columbia Point peninsula, the university is surrounded by the Boston Harbor, the John F. Kennedy Library and the Massachusetts State Archives. The Boston Globe is also headquartered adjacent to campus, as well as Boston College High School. Subsequently, the university holds many partnerships with its neighboring organizations, providing research and employment opportunities.
UMass Boston is known for its growing and diverse student body of more than 12,000 undergraduates and nearly 4,000 graduate students, making it the third largest campus in the system.[15] The university has five undergraduate colleges and two graduate colleges, with over 100 undergraduate programs and 50 graduate programs. Ninety-three percent of full-time faculty hold the highest degree in their fields.[16]
The campus is home to more than 100 student organizations—including clubs, literary magazines, newspaper, radio station, art gallery, and 16 NCAA Division III sports teams.[16] Marcelo Suárez-Orozco is the chancellor of the UMass Boston campus.[1]
Located in southeastern Massachusetts, UMass Dartmouth started in 1895 as the New Bedford Textile School, the Bradford Durfee Textile School, and later Southeastern Massachusetts University (SMU). UMass Dartmouth offers a wide array of programs in accounting, finance, management information systems, operations management and marketing, all of which are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. UMass Dartmouth has top ranking engineering and nursing programs.[citation needed]
In addition to the 710-acre (2.9 km2) UMass Dartmouth main campus is, satellite campuses are located throughout the SouthCoast.[17]
With 7,982 undergraduate students and 65 degree programs, the campus has a student-to-faculty ratio of 18:1 in its College of Arts & Sciences; Charlton College of Business; College of Engineering; College of Nursing; College of Visual and Performing Arts; School of Education, Public Policy, and Civic Engagement; and the School for Marine Science and Technology. The university hosts internships, undergraduate research opportunities, and service learning experiences, as well as an Honors Program.[17]
More than 100 student organizations and 25 NCAA Division III athletic teams provide a strong community beyond the classroom. The buildings of the campus were designed by internationally renowned Modernist architect Paul Rudolph. Dr. Robert E. Johnson is the chancellor of the UMass Dartmouth campus.[18]
UMass Lowell is the product of a 1971 merger between Lowell State College (founded in 1894 as Lowell Normal School) and Lowell Technological Institute (founded in 1895 as the Lowell Textile School). The merged institution became the University of Lowell, with the former Lowell Tech serving as the North Campus and the former Lowell State serving as the South Campus.
UMass Lowell is a comprehensive University with a national reputation in science, engineering, Management and technology, and committed to educating students for lifelong success in a diverse world and conducting research and outreach activities that sustain the economic, environmental and social health of the region.
UMass Lowell is located in the Merrimack Valley, close to Boston, ocean beaches, and the mountains of New Hampshire. With a national reputation for education and research in science, engineering, and technology, the campus offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs.
Academic programs include internships, co-ops, service learning, and international education.[19]
UMass Lowell has a total of 18,316[20] students as of fall 2017 and is the fastest growing of the five UMass campuses.[21] The campus offers over 120 fully accredited programs taught by 737 faculty members in five colleges. Most of the 75 bachelor's degree programs offer five-year Bachelor's to Master's programs.
The student-to-faculty ratio is 15:1 and half of the undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students. Ninety-three percent of the full-time faculty members hold the highest degree in their fields.[19]
There are 12 University residence halls located on the campus. There are more than 120 active student organizations on campus, a campus recreation center, 16 NCAA Division I sports teams that compete in the America East Conference, and the ice hockey team that competes in the Hockey East Conference.
The University of Massachusetts Worcester, also known as UMass Chan Medical School or UMass Medical School is one of the fastest growing academic health science centers in the country and is home to the School of Medicine (SOM) — the Commonwealth's only public medical school — the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), the Graduate School of Nursing (GSN), and a research enterprise that attracts more than $200 million in external funding annually.[22]
Located in the heart of Central Massachusetts on a 63-acre (250,000 m2) campus it shares with clinical partner UMass Memorial Health Care, the region's premier health care delivery system and largest employer, UMass Chan Medical consistently ranks among the top ten percent in the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of best medical schools.[22]
The work of UMass Chan Medical researcher and 2006 Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello, an investigator of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute, toward the discovery of RNA interference has launched a promising new field of research. The school is also the home of the Albert Sherman Center, an interdisciplinary, research and education facility that fosters collaboration among scientists and innovation across disciplines.[22] Michael F. Collins is the chancellor of the UMass Chan Medical School campus.[23]
UMass Law was established in 1981 as the Southeastern Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Avins Law School with a volunteer faculty and a handful of part-time students. It grew from a store-front operation, offering a weekend program of study in Fall River, Massachusetts to a dual-division law school located in its own state-of-the-art facility in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. [24]
In 1986 the Southeastern Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Avins Law School became the Southern New England School of Law (SNESL). In 1992 the first full-time program at SNESL was established along with SNESL's first day classes. In 1994 SNESL moved to its new current site at 333 Faunce Corner Road in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. In 1995 SNESL was Accredited by New England Association of Schools and Colleges. In 2009 University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approves UMass Dartmouth plan to offer Juris Doctor (JD) degrees at SNESL. [24]
In 2010 the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education authorized UMass Dartmouth to offer JD degrees along with the establishment of the University of Massachusetts School of Law - Dartmouth (UMass Law). UMass Law was made possible by a $23 million donation of assets, a facility, land, library, technology, and cash from the Southern New England School of Law. In 2010 at the time of the donation from SNESL, SNESL had 1,200 alumni, 200 students, 13 full-time faculty members, and 24 adjunct faculty. [24]
Also in 2010 the first UMass Law class matriculates. In 2011 UMass Law confers their first JD degrees. In 2012 UMass Law was granted provisional approval by Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association. In 2013 UMass Law was ranked among the top five law schools in region for black students in the Lawyers of Color Black Student's Guide to Law Schools 2014. In 2014 UMass Law was named to The National Jurist's first honor roll of law schools that deliver practical training along with the Justice Bridge Legal Access Center at UMass Law was commenced. In 2016 UMass Law was granted full approval by Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association. [24]
On August 8, 2013, The University of Massachusetts started requesting proposals for potential classroom and office space to establish a satellite center in Springfield. UMass was looking for 25,000 square feet of space that it would use for classrooms, faculty offices and other uses, with the option of doubling the amount of space at a later date.[26] On November 23, 2013, Gov. Deval Patrick and University of Massachusetts President Robert L. Caret announced the selection of Tower Square in downtown Springfield as the university's new satellite center. The university would lease 27,321 square feet on the second floor of the 30-floor building, which is owned by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and located at 1500 Main St. UMass planned to establish academic programs at the center starting in the fall 2014.[27]
In 2014, the state of Massachusetts gave $5.2 million[28] to the Springfield satellite center to allow the university to complete construction and buy furnishings. .[29][30]
The satellite center, administered by the Amherst campus, opened in March 2014, registering students for September 2014.[31] Programs include nursing, education, business administration, addiction counseling, and GED classes.[32] Enrollment in the more than 20 courses offered at the center has grown from 250 students in the fall of 2014 when it opened to 850 in the spring of 2016, according to Daniel Montagna, director of operations at the center. From courses leading to bachelor and doctoral degrees in nursing to a master's degree in business administration, and from a 180-day teacher certification program to a cybersecurity certificate program fueled by a $5 million investment by MassMutual.[33]
In September 2021, Brandman University reaffiliated with the University of Massachusetts from Chapman University via a change of control agreement and rebranded as UMass Global.[34]
The FY 2014 Operating Budget for the UMass system is $2.94 billion representing a 2.6% increase over the current year expenses.[39] Several University of Massachusetts employees are among the highest paid state employees in Massachusetts.[40][41][42]
University president
The president is the university's chief executive officer and works to advance its mission of education, research and public service.
Marty Meehan became the 27th president of the five-campus, 73,000-student University of Massachusetts system on July 1, 2015.
Before the 1962 establishment of the medical school, the president was the administrator of the system's only campus in Amherst. When UMass Boston was organized in 1964, it was headed by a chancellor who reported to the president. In 1970, as part of a reorganization, day-to-day leadership responsibilities for UMass Amherst were transferred to a chancellor, with both chancellors reporting on an equal basis to the president. Today, the president administers five campuses.
The University of Massachusetts is governed by a lay board of trustees. The board of trustees functions as a legislative body dealing mainly with questions of policy. The board is not an administrative or management board. In certain rare instances when required by the Massachusetts General Laws, it may function as an appeal body. The board establishes the general policies governing the university, but has delegated many powers to the president and, through the president, to campus administrators for day-to-day-operations.
The founding board had fourteen appointed members and four ex-officio members. Formerly, trustees were appointed by the legislature or the board itself; currently, members are appointed by the governor. The size of the board has fluctuated between twelve and twenty-four members. The current board is composed of nineteen voting members and three ex-officio non-voting members. Seventeen board members are appointed by the governor of the Commonwealth; at least five of those appointed must be alumni of the university, and one must be a representative of organized labor. The other two voting members are students. Overall, the board has five student members, elected for one-year terms, from the Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell and Worcester campuses. Voting membership rotates among the campuses: two students are voting members and three others are ex officio non-voting members.
Notable people, alumni and faculty
Honorary alumni
The University of Massachusetts awarded its first-ever system-wide honorary degrees in 2006.[44][45]
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