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University of Massachusetts Boston history
University of Massachusetts Boston company history timeline
The campus officially opened on September 9, 1965 and was located downtown for the next ten years.
UMass President John W. Lederle began recruiting freshmen students, faculty, and administrative staff for the fall semester of 1965 (with goals of 1,000 students and 80 faculty members), and appointed his assistant at the Amherst campus, John W. Ryan, as UMass Boston's first chancellor.
In February 1966, the 164th Massachusetts General Court appropriated funds for the university to purchase the building at 100 Arlington Street.
The student newspaper, The Mass Media, published its inaugural issue on November 16, 1966, and the Founding Day Convocation for the university was held December 10, 1966, at the Prudential Center in Boston.
Also in 1966, during the university's first Spring Weekend, the American folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel was the headline act.
In 1967, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) published a study, titled An Urban Campus by the Sea, which proposed building the campus on the Columbia Point peninsula.
In November 1968, Chancellor Broderick proposed a "scattered site" campus of office buildings situated along the MBTA's Green Line in the South End that would be jointly owned by the university and businesses while retaining the original Arlington Street building.
In the end, after reviewing the task force's white paper at a meeting in December 1968, the UMass Board of Trustees voted 12 to 4 to accept the Columbia Point proposal.
In 1968, it was announced that a new location was being sought to build a campus that would suit the needs of a growing university, and its faculty, administration, and students.
In 1968, a group of students started the folk music radio station WUMB-FM.
University of Massachusetts Boston Pre-registration Schedule of Courses, Spring Semester 1973-74
On January 28, 1974, the university opened its new campus on the Columbia Point peninsula surrounded by Dorchester Bay.
On October 21, 1974, with the Boston busing desegregation underway, musician Stevie Wonder spoke and led students in song at a lounge in the university the day after he performed at the Boston Garden.
1974 UMass Boston moves to Boston Harbor
University of Massachusetts Boston Advance Registration Schedule of Courses, Spring Semester 1975
Also in 1975, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Corporation announced its decision to locate the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on a 10-acre site offered by the university adjacent to its campus.
University of Massachusetts Boston Advance Registration Schedule of Courses, Spring Semester 1976
University of Massachusetts Boston Advance Registration Schedule of Courses, Spring Semester 1977
"Aerial view of UMass Boston's Columbia Point campus, circa 1979." UAPHO-0001 UMass Boston historic photographs.
University of Massachusetts Boston Schedule of Courses, Advance Registration, Spring 1979
The building was designed by the Boston-based architectural firm Kallmann McKinnell & Wood and built by the Suffolk Construction Company at a cost of $80 million. It became the new entrance for the campus and was the first building constructed since the Clark Athletic Center was completed in 1979.
University of Massachusetts Boston College of Public and Community Service Registration Information, Spring 1980
In 1981, Boston State College enrolled roughly 6,000 students, and despite the Boston State College students having a similar demographic profile to UMass Boston students, many students expressed opposition to and disapproval of the merger.
Two years later, the state government announced that it would construct a new building for the Massachusetts State Archives and Commonwealth Museum next to the campus and the JFK Library, and on December 2, 1982, the MBTA renamed Columbia station as JFK/UMass station.
In 1990, the university launched PhD programs in clinical psychology, gerontology, and environmental biology.
1991 The University of Lowell and Southeastern Massachusetts University in Dartmouth join the UMass system as UMass Lowell and UMass Dartmouth
In 1997, Professor Tucker would also found the Arts on the Point sculpture park on the Harbor Campus, and the founder of the university radio station WUMB-FM also started the Boston Folk Festival.
By 1998, the university had four main research areas that accounted for three-quarters of the university's research funding: Environmental Studies, Psycho-Social Functioning of At-Risk Populations, Education, and Health and Social Welfare.
University of Massachusetts Boston Schedule of Courses for Fall 2000, First edition, April 2000
University of Massachusetts Boston Schedule of Courses for Fall 2001, First edition, April 2001
Construction for the facility began on July 20, 2001, and was completed during the tenure of Chancellor Jo Ann M. Gora.
2001 UMassOnline is established
On April 2, 2004, a new Campus Center next to Wheatley Hall was opened.
During Motley's interim tenure, the university established a partnership with the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in 2005.
In 2005, Chancellor Gora was permanently succeeded by Michael F. Collins, the president and CEO of Caritas Christi Health Care.
On June 2, 2006, United States Senator Barack Obama from Illinois addressed his commencement speech at UMass Boston to the graduating students.
On October 2, 2006, the university began the process of creating a master plan to renew the campus.
In 2006, a report commissioned by the university on its areas of research strength and areas with opportunities for research, titled "Research Re-envisioned for the 21st Century: A Strategic Opportunity Assessment", was released.
In early 2007, Chancellor Collins resigned to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and he was succeeded on July 1, 2007 by former interim chancellor J. Keith Motley, who became the university's first African American chancellor.
By December 14, 2007, Chancellor Motley presented a 25-year master plan to the UMass System Board of Trustees, who accepted the plan in full.
In 2010, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching upgraded UMass Boston's designation a second time, now to a Doctoral/Research University with High Activity.
1) underway on February 27, 2013, and a utility corridor and roadway network project begun in the spring of 2013, the university's campus became "a multi-site construction zone."
By the fall semester of 2014, total student enrollment had grown to 16,756 with 4,056 graduate students.
On January 26, 2015, the university opened its first new academic building since the Columbia Point campus was built, a research facility named the Integrated Sciences Complex.
By 2015, UMass Boston students came from 140 different nations and spoke 90 different languages.
On January 25, 2016, the university began a phased opening of its second new academic facility, University Hall.
Research guide created by Corinne Zaczek Bermon, Archives Assistant, September 2016.
In September 2016, United States News & World Report ranked UMass Boston within the first tier of national universities on its Best Colleges Ranking for the first time in the university's history, tied at number 220.
On March 3, 2017, former Bowdoin College president Barry Mills was appointed the university's deputy chancellor and chief operating officer.
On April 5, 2017, university officials announced that Chancellor J. Keith Motley would resign at the end of the academic calendar year on June 30, take a one-year sabbatical, and return as a tenured faculty member.
In April 2018, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Mount Ida College administrators announced that the former school would acquire the latter's campus in Newton after the latter college's closure.
In September 2019, the UMass Boston Faculty Staff Union President addressed the UMass System Board of Trustees to protest the potential offering of equivalent programs at the Mount Ida campus that are already offered at the Boston campus.
Also in 2019, the $164 million project to develop a new utility corridor and roadway network led by BVH Integrated Services, Inc. and built by Bond Brothers was completed.
In March 2021, the administrations of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced a $1 million infrastructure study to improve the Morrissey Boulevard corridor.
In July 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a report estimating that Boston would experience 11 to 18 days of high tide coastal flooding in the following year.
Morrissey Boulevard was flooded during the January 2022 North American blizzard.
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston College | 1863 | $835.6M | 3,500 | 57 |
| Bridgewater State University | 1840 | $132.0M | 2,103 | 76 |
| Salem State University | 1854 | $5.0M | 1,943 | - |
| Bentley University | 1917 | $288.1M | 2,310 | 78 |
| Colorado Mesa University | 1925 | $118.5M | 1,431 | 6 |
| Middlebury College | 1800 | $12.0M | 1,873 | 81 |
| Mercy College | 1950 | $146.7M | 2,004 | 11 |
| State University of New York College at Plattsburgh | 1889 | $1.6M | 1,213 | 15 |
| Missouri Baptist University | 1964 | $50.0M | 611 | 33 |
| Rhode Island College | 1854 | $79.5M | 1,475 | 50 |
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University of Massachusetts Boston may also be known as or be related to Mass Chapter APA, Umass Boston, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Massachusetts, Boston and University of Massachusetts-Boston.