The Case for
LIVING & LEARNING Creating the ideal campus environment that inspires lively engagement in academic and campus life
Our Legacy, Our Place. UMass Lowell is a place with a legacy of purpose and resolve. Since the 1890s, this campus has educated the professionals and entrepreneurs who have fueled the regional and national economies. It has also been helping to solve society’s most vexing problems with wide-ranging research and engagement in mutually enriching partnerships with community, business and government.
A stunning—and carefully planned—transformation over recent years has reinvigorated the campus with increased enrollment; greater student success; new academic programs; greatly enhanced student life; global partnerships; new academic, student life and research buildings; and a move to Division I athletics. This transformation has brought about a surge of national and international attention, a rise in national rankings and a spirited new energy to the campus. The university will continue to commit time, hard work and resources to keep UMass Lowell an engine of economic growth and innovation. But we need help. Our first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign—Our Legacy, Our Place—will span the next several years and help support vital campus programs and initiatives.
The campaign seeks support for five strategic priorities: • Student Access & Success • Faculty Leadership & Innovation • Living & Learning • Excellence in Athletics • Sustainability & Engagement In this piece, we focus on Living & Learning, describing the profound effect the campaign will have on the physical environment in which our students live and learn and our faculty members teach and conduct research. Generations of students depend on us to work together to nurture, enrich and pass on the proud legacy of this place.
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CAMPUS LIFE: Fostering Meaningful Interaction Outside the Classroom UMass Lowell went decades without new academic facilities. Thanks to a master plan for strategic growth, that’s changing. But our vision encompasses more than just top-notch classroom and laboratory spaces.
UMass Lowell’s urban campus spreads over 125 acres. We boast first-rate facilities for learning and research, an arena for the performing arts and our Division I athletic teams—and even a downtown hotel and conference center. Over the past six years, we’ve opened 10 buildings—including the $95 million University Crossing, a vibrant hub uniting our three campuses and the downtown business and cultural district. The center brings together under one roof all the services that students need to complement their classroom experience. With its sustainable and contemporary design, four-story glass front and views of the Merrimack River, the complex is as beautiful as it is functional. UMass Lowell’s offices of admissions, residence life, student activities and leadership, the registrar, financial aid and career services—among many others—are located at the student-engagement center and are connected through the one-stop Solution Center. University Crossing also serves as a “club hub” with team-building and work space for more than 200 of the university’s student-run organizations.
The building includes features for the public, such as a flagship bookstore called the River Hawk Shop, the Crossroads Cafe and a large, sunny lobby where free programs like book-signings are held. Facilities like University Crossing are essential given the university’s nearly 50 percent increase in enrollment over the last seven years. In the fall of 2014, for the first time in UMass Lowell’s history, total enrollment topped 17,000. Private support will allow UMass to continue to offer both physical space and the programming that students need to develop and thrive. It will allow us to ensure that every student who wants to live on campus can. It will help us continue to develop highly effective living-learning communities around dozens of majors and interests. In short, it will help us create the ideal campus environment.
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Living on campus improves retention— 82 percent of students in university housing go on to graduate.
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ENHANCED ACADEMICS: Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders New buildings, news labs, new equipment: arming our students and faculty with the very best facilities and tools will help us graduate leaders who are prepared to succeed in a global marketplace.
When it comes to learning and collaboration, place matters. The $40 million Pulichino Tong Business Building will ensure students are in the right place for these times. Scheduled to open in 2017 as the home to the Manning School of Business, the building will feature the newest equipment and most effective layout—and in the process boost research capabilities and opportunities for innovation partnerships.
Scheduled to open in spring 2017, the 54,000-square-foot Pulichino Tong Business Building will include a trading room with access to real-time stock market information.
The centerpiece of the 54,000-square-foot Pulichino Tong Business Building will be a four-story atrium overlooking an outdoor plaza formed by the new and existing buildings, creating more green space on North Campus. Other features will include a finance laboratory designed to simulate on-the-job experiences in the business world, such as a trading room with access to real-time stock market information, and technology-enhanced classrooms
and seminar rooms that can accommodate more than 400 students. The new building, the latest to reflect UMass Lowell’s growth in size and global reputation, will allow the university to train its growing stable of future business leaders and entrepreneurs. The Manning School of Business is seeing enrollment climb at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including a 79 percent increase over two years in the MBA program. State legislators, praising UMass Lowell for its commitment to advancing high-quality education and making it accessible and affordable to students, provided $25 million in bond funding for the Pulichino Tong Business Building. But private funding is essential for the realization of this state-of-the-art facility.
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In just two years, our MBA program has seen a 79 percent increase in enrollment.
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L LI V I VI N I NGG && L LEEAARRNNI N I NGG
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FROM INNOVATION TO IMPACT: A Marriage of Engineering, Science and Business After some major renovating, the North Campus Innovation District will provide top-notch space for students, faculty and industry partners to work together to solve today’s most vexing interdisciplinary challenges.
Located at the corner of University Avenue and Riverside Street, the Pulichino Tong Business Building will sit adjacent to the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center, Alumni Hall and the Lydon Library. That portion of the campus—along with the academic and laboratory complex across University Avenue—will become the North Campus Innovation District, marrying the strengths of the university’s engineering and science programs with its top-notch business school.
The world-class laboratories and equipment in the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center are attracting industry and government partners to the university’s new Innovation District.
Renovations in this area will enable UMass Lowell to continue a legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship in service to the community and to industry. Of top priority is major renewal to the Perry Engineering, Olsen and Olney buildings. Refurbishing and modernizing laboratories, classrooms and department offices will ensure that our facilities match the high quality of our programs. Additional renovations to Lydon Library—which has already seen improvements like the recent additions of the Katen Learning Commons and the new DifferenceMaker Central for UMass Lowell’s unique entrepreneurship program for students—will connect it to the business school building and provide an open area for group projects, meetings and other collaboration.
The UMass Lowell Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship—which offers an array of programs designed to connect students and the community at large with opportunities to effect change in creative and original ways—will serve as the anchor of the North Campus Innovation District. UMass Lowell has already been designated an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. But once its state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology are realized with the help of private support, the Innovation District will present multiple opportunities for research and collaboration with industry and entrepreneurs.
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Close to 470 universities, government agencies and companies utilize the North Campus Innovation District.
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A LIBERAL TRANSFORMATION: Enhancing the Vitality of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences A physical transformation on South Campus will ensure that academic excellence and student success is supported in all fields.
Included in the capital improvements UMass Lowell is making are ones that reflect the university’s strong commitment to the vitality and quality of programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, health and education. Fully implementing the master plan for renovations, maintenance and ideal utilization of related facilities will support academic excellence overall. After maximizing available state and federal support, UMass Lowell plans to continue renovating South Campus with the help of outside financial resources. This will include updates to academic buildings, student gathering spaces and residential halls.
A $34 million renovation of McGauvran Center on South Campus will result in more than 52,000 square feet of new dining space, learning commons and smart classrooms.
Of top priority is a complete renovation of McGauvran Hall, which will become a social and dining hub. Plans for expanded green space adjacent to McGauvran will create a traditional campus quad. A third priority is Coburn Hall, so symbolic of the university’s earliest days, but sorely due for renovation.
Improving the spaces in which students learn and live on South Campus will improve their chances of succeeding. For instance, one of the most innovative ways we house our students is Living-Learning Communities (LLC), where students of the same major or interest live in the same cluster of rooms. One example is a living space on South Campus called the Health and Environment Academics Living and Learning Community (HEALL). Just steps from the classroom, HEALL bridges academic and living spaces with monthly exam reviews, faculty-led sessions in living spaces and unique social activities such as dinner and movie sessions. Given that students in LLCs represent the highest retention at UMass Lowell, at 89 percent, we hope to expand communities like this on South Campus—and with private support we can.
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The need for more university housing is critical: by 2018, our on-campus student population will hit 5,000.
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THE BIG PICTURE: WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. For the good of UMass Lowell students and our surrounding community, we must improve campus life, update academic facilities and invest in living and collaboration spaces. But we can’t do it alone.
Students have always needed help to attain higher education. Family financial support, federal grants and private giving have each played a role in easing the way for those seeking to expand their options and pursue the joy of learning. Students benefit from education. But so does society. Graduates go on to become the engineers, teachers, business leaders, artists, writers, health-care professionals and scientists who help make their communities stronger and healthier. Here is what is new: Need has intensified dramatically. The cost of education has grown. State support has declined. The average federal Pell grant for 2013-14 was $3,651, a fraction of the cost of higher education and awarded only to students whose families can contribute nothing. More students are coming from lower income backgrounds. That’s great news for them and society, but their families are less able to support these worthy and determined students. Bottom line: Students need you. The communities in which you live and work also need a steady flow of diverse, educated and innovative graduates.
We are truly all in this together. In these pages, we have described how the physical transformation of a campus reinvigorates almost every area within it. As new buildings have gone up—filled with top-notch laboratories, equipment and learning spaces—so, too, has our ability to recruit first-rate students and faculty. This, in turn, leads to a more vibrant academic environment and wider research opportunities. Bottom line: an investment in facilities is an investment in the goals and potential of the university as a whole and will benefit all campus members. But we need your help. The pursuit of excellence requires resources. Generation of students have benefited from the legacy of support thriving at this campus from its earliest days over a century ago. Please invigorate that legacy by investing in the students of today and tomorrow.
IT’S YOUR LEGACY. IT’S YOUR PLACE.
OUR PRIORITIES Our Legacy, Our Place has identified five key campaign priorities that will help shape the UMass Lowell of the future. In addition to Living & Learning, they are Faculty Leadership & Innovation; Student Access & Success; Excellence in Athletics; and Sustainability & Engagement.
Office of University Advancement | Charles J. Hoff Alumni Scholarship Center | 1 Perkins Street | Lowell, MA 01854 | 978-934-2223 www.uml.edu/ourlegacy-ourplace