University of Massachusetts

''This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst''

The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The system includes UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School. The UMass system was ranked 56th in the world in 2010 by the Times World University Rankings.

UMass Amherst
UMass Amherst is the flagship and the largest of the UMass campuses, as well as the first established. Like many colleges and universities, Massachusetts Agricultural College (as it was originally called) the Amherst campus 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.

UMass Amherst offers a variety of academic and co-curricular options. Ninety-three percent of the 1,174 full-time faculty members hold the highest degree in their fields. The average SAT score (reading and math only) for the 2011 entering class is 1220, and the average GPA is 3.6 on a 4.0 scale. The campus has 21,373 undergraduates and offers 86 bachelor’s degree programs. There is a student-to-faculty ratio of 17:1. The UMass Amherst honors college is called Commonwealth College where admission is more competitive with an average SAT score of 1390.

Students participate in 240 campus organizations, 21 NCAA Division I athletic teams, living-learning residence halls, community service, internships, and faculty research. UMass Amherst 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 System. Students can take classes on any of these campuses and participate in all co-curricular and cultural activities. Robert C. Holub, Ph.D., serves as UMass Amherst's chancellor.

UMass Boston
UMass Boston is a research university 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’s is known for its growing and diverse student body of more than 11,000 undergraduates and nearly 4,000 graduate students, making it the second largest campus in the system. 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.

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. Chancellor J Keith Motley, Ph.D., is the chancellor of the UMass Boston campus.

UMass Dartmouth
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.

Established in 1895, UMass Dartmouth is a public regional research university recognized for personalized and innovative teaching. In addition to the 710 acre UMass Dartmouth main campus is, satellite campuses are located throughout the SouthCoast.

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.

More than 100 student organizations and 25 NCAA Division III athletic teams provide a strong community beyond the classroom. UMass Dartmouth is among the fastest growing campuses in New England. The campus is home to the only complete building system designed by renowned brutalist architect Paul Rudolph. Jean F. MacCormack, Ed.D. is the Chancellor of the UMass Dartmouth campus.

UMass Lowell
Located in the Merrimack Valley Region, UMass Lowell started in 1894 as the Lowell Normal School (South Campus) and in 1895 as the Lowell Textile School (North 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.

UMass Lowell has a total of 14,727 students. 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 14:1 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.

About 3,000 students live in 10 University residence halls. There are more than 120 active student organizations on campus, a campus recreation center, 16 NCAA Division II sports teams, and the Division I River Hawks ice hockey team that competes in the Hockey East Conference. Martin T. Meehan, J.D., is the chancellor of the UMass Lowell campus.

UMass Worcester
The University of Massachusetts Worcester, also known as 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.

Located in the heart of Central Massachusetts on a 63 acre campus it shares with clinical partner UMass Memorial Health Care, the region’s premier health care delivery system and largest employer, UMass Medical consistently ranks near the top in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of best medical schools.

The work of UMass Medical researcher and 2006 Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello, Ph.D., 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 future home of the Albert Sherman Center, an interdisciplinary, research and education facility that will foster collaboration among scientists and innovation across disciplines. Michael F. Collins, MD, FACP is the chancellor of the UMass Medical School campus.

University President
Robert L. Caret was elected President of the five-campus, 68,000-student University of Massachusetts system on January 13, 2011. Ranked as the 19th best university in the world in the Times of London's 2011 World Reputation Rankings, UMass was established in 1863 and consists of the flagship campus in Amherst, along with campuses in Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell and Worcester. President Caret, a native New Englander, assumes the presidency of the University of Massachusetts after completing highly successful presidencies at San Jose State University and Towson University. President Caret presided over periods of significant growth at both universities and gained nationally acclaim for eliminating race-based graduation disparities at Towson. To read UMass President Robert L. Caret’s official biography, please visit the University of Massachusetts web site.

Board of trustees
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.

Composition of the Board
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 alumni

 * Listed in alphabetical order


 * Joseph Abboud (fashion designer)
 * Norm Abram (carpenter on This Old House)
 * Kenneth S. Apfel (former commissioner, Social Security Administration)
 * Frank Black (frontman of the band Pixies, solo artist)
 * David Branch (commissioner of the Canadian Hockey League)
 * Steve Buckley (Boston Herald sports columnist)
 * Pat Cadigan (science fiction author)
 * Gerry Callahan (sports radio talk show host on WEEI in Boston)
 * Marcus Camby (basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers)
 * Jill Carroll (journalist for Christian Science Monitor)
 * Ken P. Chong (NIST, NSF, The George Washington University)
 * Natalie Cole (singer)
 * Catherine Coleman (astronaut)
 * Bonnie Comley (Tony Award-winning producer)
 * Rob Corddry (comedian)
 * Jeff Corwin (actor, Jeff Corwin Experience)
 * Bill Cosby (comedian and actor)
 * Victor Cruz (professional football player for the New York Giants)
 * Patrick DeCoste (guitarist, composer)
 * Gary DiSarcina (professional baseball player)
 * Jeffrey Donovan (actor)
 * Trung Dung (information technology expert)
 * Julius Erving (professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers, member of Basketball Hall of Fame)
 * Mike Flanagan (professional baseball player)
 * Marc Forgione (iron chef)
 * Richard Gere (actor)
 * Russell Alan Hulse (physics Nobelist)
 * James Ihedigbo (professional football player for the New England Patriots)
 * Eric Javer (stockbroker)
 * Bill Janovitz (musician, Buffalo Tom)
 * Derek Kellogg (Head men's basketball coach for UMass, former assistant coach at University of Memphis under John Calipari)
 * Stephen Kellogg (musician, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers)
 * Fardeen Khan (Bollywood actor)
 * Hina Rabbani Khar (Foreign Minister of Pakistan)
 * Madeleine Kunin (Governor of Vermont)
 * Phil Laak (poker player and Jennifer Tilly's boyfriend)
 * Peter Laird
 * Stephane Lasme (professional basketball player for Miami Heat)
 * Hugh Loebner (demographer, social activist)
 * Brandon London (professional football player for New York Giants)
 * Taj Mahal (musician)
 * William Manchester (historian, biographer)
 * James Marcou (Professional Hockey Player, San Jose Sharks)
 * J. Mascis (musician Dinosaur Jr.)
 * William C. Martel (Associate Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University)
 * Marty Meehan (politician; since July 2007, Chancellor of UMass Lowell)
 * Thomas Menino (mayor of Boston)
 * Sean Nelson (musician)
 * Ann C. Noble Inventor of the Aroma Wheel
 * Kelly Overton (Writer and founder of People Protecting Animals & Their Habitats)
 * Vivek Paul (former Vice President of Wipro Technologies)
 * Jim Perdue (Chairman of Perdue)
 * Rick Pitino (basketball coach)
 * Thomas Pock (Professional Hockey player for New York Rangers)
 * Bill Pullman (actor)
 * Jonathan Quick (National Hockey League player for the Los Angeles Kings) and member of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
 * Jeff Reardon (professional baseball player)
 * Buffy Sainte-Marie (musician, artist, educator, and social activist)
 * Briana Scurry (player on the 1999 world champion United States women's national soccer team)
 * James Sherman (musician, Whittington)
 * Marcel Shipp American football running back for the Arizona Cardinals
 * Nalini Singh (Best known for her spontaneous stand-up comedy)
 * Al Skinner (professional basketball player, former Boston College basketball coach)
 * Jack Smith (former CEO of General Motors)
 * Flo Steinberg (comic books)
 * Sarah Stevenson (Director of Community/Player Relations, Boston Red Sox)
 * Mike Tannenbaum (general manager NFL New York Jets)
 * Jeff Taylor (founder of Monster.com)
 * Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. (physics Nobelist)
 * Paul Theroux author
 * Jimmy Tingle (comedian; former television commentator on 60 Minutes II)
 * John Tobin (Boston City Councilor)
 * Sidney Topol (former CEO of Scientific Atlanta)
 * Ron Villone (professional baseball player for Saint Louis Cardinals)
 * Saba Wahid (Chef, Food Columnist and former presenter of television series Ask One and Studio One
 * Casey Wellman (professional hockey player, Minnesota Wild)
 * Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric)
 * Zhou Qifeng (President of Peking University)

In popular culture
"U-Mass" is the name of a song on the Pixies' album Trompe le Monde., a scathing put down of the university that band member and main songwriter Frank Black and guitarist Joey Santiago had attended (but dropped out).

Mascots
The original UMass Amherst mascot was the Redmen. Because this name had the potential to offend Native American groups, the mascot was changed in the 1970s to the Minutemen. For the same reason the UMass Lowell mascot was changed from the Chiefs to the River Hawks in the mid-1990s.