university of massachusetts

The University of Massachusetts (commonly referred to as UMass) is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The five campuses are UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School. It also has an online school called UMassOnline. UMass Amherst is the flagship campus of the system and is part of the Five Colleges consortium in the Pioneer Valley area of Western Massachusetts. Famous alumni include Julius Erving (basketball), Jack Smith (former CEO of General Motors), Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric), Richard Gere (actor), Bill Cosby (comedian and actor), and Russell Alan Hulse (Physics Nobelist). From 1996 to 2003, the President of the University was William Bulger, president of the Massachusetts State Senate for seventeen years, and prominent and influential Democratic politician with roots in South Boston. Bulger became involved in court testimony about his notorious brother, Whitey Bulger, testimony was forced to resign after a sustained campaign for his ouster by Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. The President of the University from the Fall of 2004 has been Jack Wilson, former CEO of UMassOnline and interim President of the University after the departure of William Bulger (1,2). For his work at UMassOnline, Mr. Wilson was inducted into the United States Distance Learning Association Hall of Fame in October 2004 (3).

Notable Alumni

"UMass" is also the name of a song by the Pixies off their album Trompe le Monde. It was named after the university.

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