Summary
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is one of four campuses and operating subdivisions of the University of Massachusetts (UMass).[1] It is located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States, in the center of the South Coast region, between the cities of New Bedford to the east and Fall River to the west. It became a UMass campus in 1991 when Southeastern Massachusetts University was merged into the University of Massachusetts system.[2]
The campus, also known as UMass Dartmouth, "UMassD", or "UMD", has an overall student body of 9,155 students, including undergraduate, graduate students, and (PCE) continuing education students. As of Spring 2008, there are approximately 4,173 students living on campus. Approximately 61 undergraduate programs of study and 32 graduate programs are offered. There are more than 300 full-time faculty.
UMass Dartmouth is best known for its programs in engineering, nursing, marine science, business, visual and performing arts, and also its Portuguese studies programs. UMass Dartmouth is host to one of the nation's most extensive undergraduate and graduate programs in Portuguese language and literary studies, offering both a BA and an MA in Portuguese studies, as well as a Ph.D. program in Luso-Afro-Brazilian studies and theory.[3] The campus also has the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture[4] which sponsors numerous publication series, as well as international conferences in Portuguese and Portuguese-American studies. The university is home to the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, located in a special section of the Claire T. Carney Library, and the UMass-Dartmouth Summer Program in Portuguese.[5]
The school also hosts the University of Massachusetts School of Law, as the trustees of the state's university system voted during 2004 to purchase the nearby Southern New England School of Law, a private institution that is accredited regionally but not by the American Bar Association. This proposal was rejected at the time and lay dormant for several years, but was revived in October 2009 with an offer by SNESL to donate its campus and resources, valued at over $20 million, to the university. The proposal was approved unanimously by the state Board of Higher Education on February 2, 2010. UMass Dartmouth Law School opened its doors in September 2010, accepting all current SNESL students with a C or better average as transfer students, and achieved (provisional) ABA accreditation in June 2012.[6]
History
The Dartmouth campus of the University of Massachusetts traces its roots to 1895, when the Massachusetts legislature chartered the New Bedford Textile School in New Bedford and the Bradford Durfee Textile School in Fall River. The New Bedford Textile School was renamed the New Bedford Institute of Textiles and Technology and the Bradford Durfee Textile School was renamed the Bradford Durfee College of Technology.
In 1962, the two schools were combined to create the Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute, expanding to become Southeastern Massachusetts University by 1969. In 1964, ground was broken on a unified campus not far from the Smith Mills section of Dartmouth, between the two cities. Group I was completed in 1966, with Group II in 1969 and the other original buildings being finished by 1971. The main campus has been expanded several times, including the Cedar Dell residences (begun 1987), the Dion Science & Engineering Building in 1989, the Charlton College of Business in 2004, the new apartment-style residence halls in 2005, and the Research Building in 2007.
SMU was merged into the UMass system and adopted its present name in 1991. In the past two decades, the university has expanded back into its original cities as well, with the Advanced Textiles & Manufacturing Center (2001, at the former Kerr Mill site) and Professional and Continuing Education Center (2002, in the former Cherry & Webb building) in Fall River, and the School for Marine Science and Technology (1996, adjacent to Fort Rodman), the Star Store visual arts building (2001) and a second Center for Professional and Continuing Education (2002, one block north on Purchase Street) in New Bedford.
Campuses
Main Campus
It is located about 60 miles (97 km) south of Downtown Boston[7]
Satellite Campuses and Initiatives
North Dartmouth
New Bedford
Fall River
Academic departments
Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Crime and Justice Studies, Economics, Education, English, Foreign Literature & Languages, History, Humanities & Social Sciences, Mathematics, Medical Laboratory Science, Multidisciplinary Studies, Philosophy, Policy Studies, Political Science, Portuguese, Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology, and Women's Studies
Accounting and Finance, Management and Marketing, Decision and Information Sciences (includes Management Information Systems and Operations Management)
Biomedical Engineering, Civil & Environmental, Computer & Information Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Materials & Textiles
Nursing
Art Education, Art History, Artisanry (Ceramics, Jewelry/Metals, and Textile Design/Fiber Arts), Design (Digital Media, Graphic Design/Letterform, Illustration, and Photography), Fine Arts (Painting/2D and Sculpture/3D), and Music
Masters of Arts in Portuguese Studies, Master of Arts in Professional Writing, Master of Arts in Psychology, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Science in Biology, Master of Science in Marine Biology, Master of Science in Chemistry, Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry, and Doctor of Philosophy in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies and Theory
Master of Business Administration, post-masters certificates
Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering, Master of Science in Biotechnology, Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Master of Science in Computer Science, Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, Master of Science in Computer Engineering, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Science in Physics, Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, Master of Science in Textile Chemistry and Technology, Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Engineering, and Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering and Applied Science
Master of Science in Nursing,Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing
Master of Art Education, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts in Artisanry, and Master of Fine Arts in Visual Design
Master of Science in Marine Science & Technology, and Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Science & Technology
Architecture
The buildings of the campus were designed by internationally renowned Modernist architect Paul Rudolph beginning in the early 1960s, to distinguish the campus from the outside world and provide what might be considered a Social Utopian environment. The building architecture is similar to that of the Boston Government Service Center. Rudolph made both the exterior and interior of each building of rough concrete (béton brut), an essential element of the style known as Brutalism, and he endowed buildings with large windows, with the intended effect of giving those inside the feeling of being connected to the outdoors. The stairs were made relatively short in height, ostensibly in order to slow people down and thus allow them to appreciate the campus more fully.[citation needed] Atriums were also placed in the Group 1 and Group 2 buildings to give people a place to socialize between sections of the halls. (The main academic buildings were known as Groups until 2007 because the first design concept for the campus had them as groups of individual buildings; the name was retained though the design concept was not. What was Group 1 is now the Liberal Arts building, and what was Group 2 is the Science/Engineering building. The older terms are still widely used.) These areas are also filled with hanging and potted indoor plants. The main door of each building faces towards the Robert Karam Campanile, keeping students within the Academic Life area, where buildings for classes are located. Large mounds of earth (berms) also stand between the parking lots, making the lots partially invisible from within the original Academic Life area (though not from within some recent additions to it, such as the Charlton College of Business building). More recent buildings, most notably the Woodland Commons residence halls to the south of the main campus, have been built to complement, but not to attempt to copy, Rudolph's Late Modernist aesthetic.
At the top of the campanile, many different antennas provide different services for the campus. It should be noted that if one looks between the two panels in the campanile, they can see that the campanile can only be climbed when accessed underground. This may seem to lead to an underground tunnel system, but there is an entrance to the campanile a short distance to the south of it.
Outdoors, the university is fortunate to have large areas of undeveloped green space, including extensive wooded areas, grasslands, wetlands and ponds uncommon to many university campuses. Numerous footpaths make exploring these natural areas of the campus an enjoyable activity for students, faculty and visitors alike.
Student life
Student Government Association is a student-run group that handles all student activity fees and disperses them to the various clubs and organizations.
On-campus living provides three different residence options:[8]
The freshman residence halls are located on the eastern part of the campus.
Apartments
Townhouses
There are 16 locations on campus where food may be purchased. Food services are provided by Chartwells.[9]
A student may use his or her "UMass Pass" swipe card to pay at these locations if he/she has a meal plan or money pre-loaded onto the card; otherwise cash, debit and credit is also accepted.[10]
There is also a food truck named "The ScallyWagon" that drives around and parks at different locations and serves food similar to that of the grills around campus.
Athletics
UMass Dartmouth athletic teams, known by their nickname: the Corsairs, compete in a variety of sports. Men and women compete in Division III. The men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field. The women's sports are basketball, cross country, equestrian, field hockey, lacrosse, sailing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Most of the teams compete in the Little East Conference, while the men's football team competes in the New England Football Conference.