Fast Facts

Background: The University of Massachusetts Boston was established in 1964 to provide the opportunity for superior education at moderate cost to the people of greater Boston. UMass Boston is nationally recognized as a model of excellence for urban universities and is the most diverse university in New England.

Location: Only three miles from downtown Boston, and is easy to reach by public or private transportation.

Students: 9,650 undergraduates; 2,744 graduate students. 5% are from out of state; 5% are international students. In the past three years: four Honors students have won Fulbright Fellowships; one became a Marshall Scholar and two were Marshall finalists; two were Rhodes semi-finalists,

Faculty: 433 full-time; 398 part-time; 94% of our full-time faculty have the highest degree in their field. UMass Boston possesses the highest percentage of faculty with Harvard Ph.D.'s of any university in the United States. Several Fellowships have been awarded to faculty in the past five years: nine Fulbrights, one Atlantic Fellowship, one Guggenheim, and three American Academy for the Advancement of Science Fellowships. Other distinctions include fellowships from the American Psychology Association and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the Los Angeles Times "Best Books" award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Student to faculty ratio: 15:1

Campus: UMass Boston is located on a 175-acre campus on Columbia Point peninsula surrounded by Boston Harbor, and shares the land with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and the Massachusetts State Archives.

Its buildings includes a 600,000+ volume library, a science center with state of the art computer and laboratory equipment, three greenhouses which host collections of plant species native to tropical, desert, and temperate climates, an observatory, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities including an ice rink, a fitness center, a theatre, and Arts on the Point the region's first collection of large-scale outdoor sculpture by some of the world's leading artists.

The university also owns the Fox Point Basin docking facility as well as several research and recreational vessels. In March 2004, we opened our new 331,000 square-foot, Campus Center which consolidates student services and activities, as well as provides new dining facilities and a conference center space.

Off-site facilities: UMass Boston has access to a 107 acre field site on the Island of Nantucket, with laboratory facilities and residence space as a learning center for environmental education and research.

The Division of Corporate, Continuing and Distance Education also provides classes at ten other off-site locations from Andover to Cape Cod to Worcester, and provides degree and certificate programs online.

Academic Programs and Research: Six colleges and one graduate school offers over 100 undergraduate majors, minors and programs of study, and 61 graduate offerings, including 14 programs at the doctoral level. Our 26 institutes and centers are involved in research and public service in the areas of public policy; gerontology; media; labor; women in politics; African-American, Latino, and Asian issues; and environmental concerns. More than 290 research, training, and public service grants attracted $30 million in external funds in 2003.

Alumni: UMass Boston has produced 69,000+ alumni including the mayor of Boston, a congressman, state senate president, the chief of police in Los Angeles, the curator of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, president of the MA College of Liberal Arts, the corporate controller of Ben & Jerry's, and founders/CEO's of international companies and organizations including: First Call Trucking, the Newbury Street League, Total Energy Solutions, Associated Grantmakers, , Hudson Federal Credit Union and Wingtop Restaurants. Of the university's alumni, 90% live in Massachusetts; 74% live in Greater Boston.

Community Service: The university regularly offers professional consulting services to many businesses and organizations in the greater Boston community. UMass Boston was proud to co-host, with the John F. Kennedy Library, the first presidential debate of 2000.

UMass Boston also hosted the 2002 Gubernatorial Candidates Forum on Issues of Concern to Women. UMass Boston's award winning public radio station, WUMB-FM, airs a cultural blend of folk music, news and public affairs programming, and also sponsors the internationally-acclaimed annual Boston Folk Festival. Each year, UMass Boston welcomes over 130,000 people from the community to use campus athletic facilities.