Welcome to the Spring 2020 semester at UMass Amherst

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy welcomes the campus community to the spring 2020 semester at UMass Amherst. The challenges we face as a society, he says, require new levels of creativity and passion to forge unconventional solutions.

UMass Amherst, the flagship campus of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the largest public research university in New England, distinguished by the excellence and breadth of its academic, research and community programs. Founded in 1863 and home to nearly 30,000 total undergraduate and graduate students, UMass ranks no. 27 in a field of more than 700 public, four-year colleges across the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report's latest annual college guide.

UMass Amherst stretches across more than 1,400 acres of land in the historic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, providing a rich cultural environment in a rural setting close to major urban centers - campus sits 90 miles from Boston and 175 miles from New York City. The idyllic college town of Amherst is home to hiking, biking, museums, music, theater, history, food, farms and much more. UMass Amherst also joins a local consortium of five nationally recognized colleges, including Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges.