University of Massachusetts Lowell Information

The University of Massachusetts Lowell (also known as UMass Lowell) is a public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts. The university is part of the University of Massachusetts system and has been regionally accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) since 1975. With over 1,150 faculty members and over 18,000 students, it is the largest university in the Merrimack Valley and the second-largest public institution in the state.

The university offers 122 bachelors, 43 masters and 36 doctoral degree programs, including nationally recognized programs in engineering, criminal justice, education, music, science and technology. The university is one of the few public universities in the United States to offer accredited undergraduate degrees in meteorology, sound recording technology, nuclear engineering and plastics engineering. It was the first to offer a degree in music education. Academically, UMass Lowell is organized into six schools and colleges: the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Education; the Kennedy College of Sciences; the Francis College of Engineering; the Manning School of Business; and the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell owes its origins to two institutions founded in the 1890s: Lowell State College on the south side of the Merrimack River and Lowell Technological Institute on the north side. Each would follow its own path of expansion through the 20th century.

Lowell State College got its start as the Lowell Normal School, which was chartered in 1894 as a teacher-training institution for women. The 10th and final normal school to be established in Massachusetts, it opened in 1898 with 108 students and five faculty members. The original classroom building opened the next year at the corner of Broadway and Wilder streets, and quickly became a landmark in the city. Designed by local firm Stickney and Austin, it reflects the fashion of the time: high-style Beaux Arts with classical symmetry, arches, cast-iron lampposts and yellow brick. Its design was influenced in part by Lowell High School, which was also designed by Lowell native Frederick W. Stickney. Frank Coburn, for whom the hall was later named, served as the schools first principal until 1908.

After being threatened with closure during the Great Depression, school administrators rallied local support to help keep it open. A delegation of prominent individuals representing Lowells powerful interest groups traveled to Boston and convinced state officials of the schools importance. The result was that the school not only survived, but continued to grow and expand. In 1950, Dr. Daniel OLeary assumed the presidency and initiated an ambitious building program. The physical plant of the campus expanded during post-war era from a single structure to a multi-building complex, forming an area now known as UMass Lowells South Campus.

As the demand for more qualified teachers grew, the legislature reorganized the Normal School into Lowell State College in 1960 with a curriculum that expanded beyond education to include baccalaureate degrees in other fields including nursing and music. Beginning in 1967, the college was authorized to confer two more degrees: Master of Education and Master of Music Education.

Established in 1895 as the Lowell Textile School, the institution was founded to train technicians and managers for work in Lowell’s booming textile industry. Modeled after the now-defunct Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, Lowell Textile was the combined effort of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and corporations eager to form a school dedicated to textile education. Under the guidance of founder James T. Smith, Lowell Textile opened its doors in February 1897 in the upper floors of a downtown commercial block located on Middle Street. The school offered three-year training programs in cotton and wool manufacturing, design, textile chemistry and dyeing.

In 1903, the school moved from downtown to its permanent location just northwest of the Merrimack River. The yellow brick mill-like Southwick Hall was dedicated to Royal and Dierexa Southwick. Grandparents of the wealthy businessman Frederick Ayer, the Southwicks were Quakers and abolitionists who came to Lowell in the 1820s to help establish the Lowell Carpet Company. Ten years later, the school granted its first bachelors degrees in textile dyeing and textile engineering.

In 1953, President Martin Lydon expanded the curriculum to include programs in plastics, leather, paper and electronics technology, increased the liberal arts offerings and renamed the school the Lowell Technological Institute. He moved the institute decisively toward general engineering, setting up a bachelor’s program in 1956. The textile program was closed in 1971, reflecting the closure of most of the mills in the city.

In 1972, a feasibility study was conducted on merging Lowell State College with Lowell Technological Institute. Lowell State and Lowell Tech merged in 1975 as the University of Lowell. In 1991, the Lowell campus joined the University of Massachusetts system under its current name. Under Chapter 142, the UMass system was restructured to combine the Amherst, Boston, and Worcester campuses with the University of Lowell and Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth).

In 2018 the union of adjunct faculty members launched a campaign titled "Justice for Lowell", demanding health insurance. According to their information UMass Lowell is the only university in the UMass system, that doesnt offer health insurance and retirement benefits for all adjunct professors. Further cited reasons for protests are unequal pay and contract issues.

UMass Lowell is the second-largest campus in the University of Massachusetts system and it has three campus clusters: North, South and East. The universities main facilities are located in Lowell, Massachusetts, 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Boston on both sides of the Merrimack River. The university has increased student housing by more than 2,500 beds in the last five years, including opening three new residence halls in 2013, 2015, and 2017.

UMass Lowell and the city reached an agreement in 2009 for the school to acquire the Tsongas Arena and the 3 acres (12,000 m2) of land adjacent to it. The transfer was finalized in February 2010 and the venue was renamed the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.

The university bought the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Lowell in 2009. Now called the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center, the building includes student housing, year-round lodging for the public and is home to events for the university and community, a restaurant called 50 Warren that is open to the public year-round, business and cultural programs, conferences and more.

The university broke ground in June 2010 on the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center, the first new academic building built from the ground up on campus in 30 years. The building—originally called just the "Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center" or "ETIC," is located on the former site of Smith Hall (demolished in July 2010) -- cost $80 million to construct with funding from a variety of sources including the state, federal government, alumni and other private donors. On March 30, 2011, the university held a topping-off ceremony marking the completion of the ETICs steel frame. The ceremony also included the opening of a time capsule that was placed in the cornerstone of Smith Hall during its 1947 construction, as well as the compilation of a new time capsule to be included in the Saab Center. The buildings grand opening was on Oct. 11, 2012. The center was renamed as the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center in December 2012 in honor of the Lowell couples generous support for the building and the university overall.

In January 2011, the university announced that it had acquired the former St. Josephs Hospital in Lowell for $6.3 million. The complex, renamed University Crossing, consisted of approximately 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of developable space. In the summer of 2014, the university completed the construction of a new student center at the site that includes a cafe and bookstore open to the public and a single location for all student services and activities. The University Police and most administrative functions are located in an existing, renovated building at University Crossing. The complex is located near the universitys North, South and East campuses and serves as a central point uniting all three.

The university broke ground in April 2011 on the new Health and Social Sciences Building on South Campus. Construction of the building was completed in spring 2013 and it officially opened with a ceremony on April 18, 2013. The 69,000-square-foot (6,400 m2) building, construction of which was funded by the states Higher Education Bond Bill of 2008, is home to the School of Criminology and Justice Studies, School of Nursing and Department of Psychology, which include some of the universitys most popular majors.

In November 2011, the university broke ground on a $16 million parking garage on North Campus. The garage is a six-story, 650-space parking facility that opened in fall 2012. A second new garage was built on South Campus and opened for the fall 2013 semester.

In January 2012, construction of a new residence hall on East Campus, later named University Suites, began with the demolition of the former Institute for Plastics Innovation Building. The suite-style residence hall opened in August 2013 and houses 472 students. As of the fall semester, it is occupied entirely by students in UMass Lowells Honors College. The building features the Hawks Nest, a cafe that is open to the public; a multipurpose room; learning commons and other amenities. An apartment-style residence hall, Riverview Suites, also opened for the fall 2013 semester and was constructed by a developer on private property adjacent to the universitys South Campus. The second phase of Riverview Suites, which features traditional suite-style housing, opened for the fall 2015 semester and includes a wing with academic and research space for students in health-related majors.

In May 2012, it was announced that a new building to house the Manning School of Business would be erected in the name of alumnus John Pulichino 67 and his wife, Joy Tong, who donated $4 million for student scholarships. A ceremony to break ground on the building was held in May 2014. The building, the Pulichino Tong Business Center, was completed in 2017.