University of Massachusetts Lowell

University of Massachusetts Lowell
Established	1894
Type	Public
Chancellor	Marty Meehan
Provost	Ahmed Abdelal
Academic staff	644 Full and Part-Time (Fall 2009)
Admin. staff	741 Full and Part-Time (Fall 2009)
Students	16,330 (2012)
Location	Lowell, Massachusetts, USA 42.642716°N 71.334530°W / 42.642716; -71.334530
Campus	Urban 150 acres
Colors	Persian Red      Pigment Blue     White
Nickname	River Hawks
Mascot	Rowdy the River Hawk
Website	www.uml.edu

The University of Massachusetts Lowell (also known as UMass Lowell or UML) is a public university in Lowell, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the University of Massachusetts system. With more than 1100 faculty members and more than 16,000 students, it is the largest university in the Merrimack Valley, the second-largest state institution behind UMass Amherst.

The university offers more than 120 degree choices, internships, bachelor’s to master’s programs and doctoral studies in the colleges of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Sciences, Engineering and Manning School of Business, the School of Health and Environment and the Graduate School of Education.

UMass Lowell's men's hockey program has produced numerous professional players for the National Hockey League.

Founding

Coburn Hall in 1899

The University of Massachusetts Lowell began as the Lowell Normal School, a teaching college founded in 1894, and the Lowell Textile School, founded in 1895 to train technicians and managers for the textile industry. Over the next 75 years, both institutions extended their offerings to meet the growing needs of the region. Lowell State College and Lowell Technological Institute, as they were then known, merged in 1975 to form the University of Lowell. The campus became part of the University of Massachusetts system in 1991 and was renamed as the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Academics

UMass Lowell is well known for its science and engineering programs, including several "on the rise" technologies (e.g., the field of nanotechnology). It is the first university in the United States to offer a bachelor's degree in plastics engineering, and it is one of a few public universities in the United States to offer degrees in meteorology and sound recording technology. UMass Lowell has a radiation laboratory with a research reactor and Van De Graff accelerator that provides students with real-world experience in particle physics, nuclear engineering and health physics. The university also boasts a baseball research center that is the official baseball bat testing center for Major League Baseball. The UMass Lowell Doctorate of Physical Therapy program is the only DPT program offered by a public institution in Massachusetts.

UMass Lowell's Manning School of Business has a diverse curriculum in the fields of finance, marketing, management information systems, operations and more.

The freshman retention rate is 78.2 percent and four-year graduation rate is 29 percent(US News).

Rankings

UMass Lowell specifically was ranked 170th on the Tier 1 National University Ranking of the Best Colleges of 2013 by the U.S. News & World Report.

In the same report, UMass Lowell ranked 94th in the Top Public National Universities Ranking, and second among public universities in Massachusetts.

UMass Lowell's Graduate School of Education is ranked No. 103 in the country, according to U.S, News & World Report.

UMass Lowell's online program ranked sixth in the U.S. overall among online colleges on Guide to Online Schools’ 2013 Online College Rankings.

Student life

The Big Seven

The Big Seven are the main organizations on campus funded directly from the student activities fee (other student organizations have budgets granted through the Student Government Association). They are:

• Student Government Association (SGA)
• The UMass Lowell Connector(student newspaper)
• WUML (student-run radio station)
• Campus Activities Programming Association (CAPA)
• Off-Broadway Players (student theater group)
• University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawk Marching Band
• Greek Council (student-run Governing Body of Greek Life Organizations)

Greek life

Fraternities Delta Kappa Phi (local fraternity) Omicron Pi (local fraternity) Phi Kappa Sigma Sigma Tau Gamma Sigma Phi Omicron (local fraternity) Sigma Beta Rho Sororities Alpha Sigma Tau Alpha Omega (local sorority) Kappa Delta Phi NAS

Athletics

Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell

LeLacheur Park, with the Merrimack River in the background, taken from the top of Fox Hall

UMass Lowell athletic teams compete in a variety of sports. Men and women compete in Division II, with the exception of men's hockey, which competes in Division I. As of July 1, 2013, 14 of UMass Lowell's Division II teams will move up to Division I, joining the America East Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, ice hockey, track and field, and soccer. Women's sports are basketball, cross country, track and field, field hockey, soccer, rowing, softball, and volleyball. The university's men's hockey team plays in the Hockey East Conference and plays its home games at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. Past champions include the 1988 men's basketball team, the 1991 men's cross country team, the ice hockey team (three times), and the field hockey team twice (2005, 2010). The 2010 field hockey team finished its season with a perfect 24-0 record.

The nickname "River Hawks" came about during the school's transition from the University of Lowell to UMass Lowell and was inspired by the campus's location by the Merrimack River. The University of Lowell's nickname was the Chiefs, which was abandoned in favor of the current name. A campus-wide poll was conducted for student input and final candidates included the Ospreys and the Raging Rapids, according to the Connector student newspaper.

In February 2013, the university announced that the remainder of its athletics program will be elevated to Division I (joining the ice hockey team) as of July 1, 2013. The River Hawks will join the America East Conference, replacing Boston University.

University demographics

Total enrollment for 2012 is 16,330. In-state enrollment totals 92 percent of undergraduates and 71 percent of graduate students. International students are 1 percent of the undergraduate population and 14 percent of the graduate population. Students of color are 21 percent of the total undergraduate population and 18 percent of the graduate population. The male-female ratio is 60/40 for undergraduates and 52/48 for the graduate population. The total enrollment is up by 40 percent from 2007 and UMass Lowell is now the second-largest campus in the University of Massachusetts system.

Located in the historic industrial city of Lowell, 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Boston, the campus spans 150 acres (0.61 km²) along the Merrimack River. UMass Lowell has three campus clusters – North, South and East. Of the 16,330 students at UMass Lowell, approximately two-thirds are commuters. The university has increased student housing by more than 800 beds in the last three years and plans to add 1,000 more in Fall 2013 with the opening of two new residence halls.

Recent developments

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 & 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, 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 ETIC's 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 ETIC. The building's grand opening was on October 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 couple's generous support for the building and the university overall.

In January 2011, the university announced that it had acquired the former St. Joseph's Hospital in Lowell for $6.3 million. The complex, renamed University Crossing, consisted of six buildings and approximately 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²) of developable space. The university's plans for the site include the construction of a new student center that will include a food court, bookstore and more. The University Police and some administrative functions will also move to the site as renovations are completed. A task force that includes representatives of the surrounding neighborhood and the city has been formed to discuss the future of the property. The facility is located near the university's North, South and East campuses and will serve 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. The 69,000-square-foot (6,400 m²) building, construction of which is funded by the state's Higher Education Bond Bill of 2008, will be home to three of the university's most popular majors: criminal justice, nursing and psychology. It is scheduled to open on April 18, 2013.

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 is under construction on South Campus.

In January 2012, construction of a new residence hall on East Campus, to be named University Suites, began with the demolition of the Institute of Plastics Innovation Building. The suite-style residence hall is scheduled to open in August 2013 and will house more than 400 students. The building will also have a cafe, a multipurpose room, learning commons and other amenities. A second suite-style residence hall, Riverview Suites, also scheduled to open for the Fall 2013 semester, is being constructed by a developer on private property adjacent to the university's South Campus.

In May 2012, it was announced that a new building to house the Manning School of Business will be erected in the name of alumnus John Pulichino '67 and his wife, Joy Tong, who donated $4 million for student scholarships. The new Pulichino Tong Business Building will offer students a world-class business education with the best facilities, including a trading room.

Notable alumni

• Bonnie Comley, Broadway and film producer
• Jerry Bergonzi, jazz
• Michael Casey, poet
• Craig Charron, former professional ice hockey player
• Christopher J. Coyne, Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis
• Roger W. Cressey Former U.S. National Security Council staff, President of Good Harbor Consulting Group
• Edson deCastro, President and founder, Data General Corporation
• Jeff Daw Former NHL player with the Colorado Avalanche
• Stephen Potter De Mallie Decorated US Navy officer and famous Textile researcher
• Tim DiFrancesco Physical therapist, Strength and Conditioning Coach for the LA Lakers
• Mark Eshbaugh, Artist, Author, Musician and former professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Scott Fankhouser Former NHL player with the Atlanta Thrashers
• Sean Garballey, (B.A.), member of the Mass. House of Representatives (served 2008 - present)
• Ron Hainsey, NHL player with the Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets, Atlanta Thrashers and the Winnipeg Jets
• Harish Hande, Indian social entrepreneur
• Ben Holmstrom NHL hockey player with the Philadelphia Flyers
• Dean Jenkins Former NHL hockey player with the Los Angeles Kings
• Greg Koehler Former NHL hockey player with the Carolina Hurricanes
• Mark Kumpel Member of the 1984 US Olympic Hockey Team and former NHL player with the Quebec Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets
• Mike LaValliere Former Major League Baseball catcher
• Bernie Lynch Lowell City Manager 2006–present
• Craig MacTavish, Former NHL player with Boston, Edmonton, St. Louis, Philadelphia and the NY Rangers and former Coach of Edmonton. Senior VP for the Edmonton Oilers.
• Marty Meehan, Former congressman (served 1993 - 2007) and UMass Lowell chancellor, 2007–present
• Rich Miner, Creator of Wildfire, co-founder of Android Inc., and investment partner on the Google Ventures team
• Jon Morris Former NHL player with the New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins
• John Ogonowski, Pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 on 9/11/2001
• John Pinette, Comedian
• Dwayne Roloson, NHL Ice Hockey Player with Tampa Bay, New York Islanders, Calgary, Buffalo, Minnesota Wild, and Edmonton
• Robert Silvers, Photomosaic artist
• Bob Squires, guitarist
• Thelma Todd, movie actress
• John Traphagan, Former director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and professor of Religious Studies
• Ben Walter NHL Hockey player with the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils
• Scott Waugh Physical therapist with the Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, Director at the Massachusetts General Hospital Sports Physical Therapy Service
• Jack Weinstein, U.S. Air Force Major General
• Shelagh Donohoe, Olympic Silver Medalist in Women's Rowing

Notable faculty

• Eunice Alberts, opera and concert singer
• Arno Rafael Minkkinen, fine art photographer
• Andre Dubus III, bestselling author
• Robert Karasek, sociologist, ergonomist, creator of the job strain, demand / control model of occupational stress
• William Lazonick, economist and business historian who directs the Center for Industrial Competitiveness
• Richard Farrell, author, filmmaker, teacher, and journalist
• Jack M. Wilson, former UMass president
• Terry Michael Chance, former guitarist for Conway Twitty
• George Chigas, Khmer scholar and author of the first English translation of The Story of Tum Teav

See also

• University of Massachusetts Lowell Radiation Laboratory
• Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute

External links

• University of Massachusetts Lowell
• UMass Lowell Athletics