How to Use the Searchable News Database
The Office of News and Information database features news releases and news summary items dating back to 1997. This collection, comprising nearly 40,000 entries, provides both a broad-based, day-to-day account of issues that shape UMass Amherst and the opportunity to analyze trends in particular fields.
To access the database and its full capability, click on Advanced Search in the top right corner of our Web site and then Power Search By Multiple Categories.
The data is labeled in 32 categories, allowing for searches in multiple combinations. For example, a user can chronologically review items for the past six months. From there, Government and Community Relations data could be viewed for that period. Searches could be further refined by searching the Government and Community Relations and Faculty categories at the same time, or by using the keyword “Springfield” within Government and Community Relations. Among the categories are the 10 schools and colleges at UMass Amherst, allowing for specific searches of academic programs.
You should find the search tools and categories intuitive and easy to grasp in a short time. If you want to dig deeper into how the data is organized, please refer to the outline below.
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDELINES
The UMass Amherst Searchable News Database, developed and maintained by the Office of News and Information, organizes its content into 32 categories. Use one, none or any combination that comes to mind. Below is a Quick Reference Guide that lists the categories and SOME of the topics found in each.
Administration: Board of Trustees, chancellors, presidents, Board of Higher Education, Board of Education, approval of new academic programs, new administrative appointments.
Admissions and Financial Aid: Student recruitment, transfers, scholarships, loans, tuition and fees.
Alumni: Individuals, Alumni Association activities.
Athletics: Teams, individuals, athletic facilities, club sports, Isenberg School sport management program.
Commonwealth College: College news, including teaching, research and service activities. Community Service Learning.
Deaths: Obituaries, memorial services, fatalities.
Dining and Food: Dining Services, restaurants, agriculture, food science, nutrition.
Diversity: Issues of equal opportunity, discrimination and understanding regarding race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin and sexual orientation.
Economic Development: Strategies to create new jobs and businesses, economic trends, career prospects and advice, research spin-offs.
Education: School news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Engineering: College news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Events: Commencement, Homecoming, Convocation, Founders Day, Parents Weekend, meetings, lectures, artistic performances, workshops, readings, seminars, conferences, protests, open houses, speeches, festivals, hearings, memorial services, dinners, lunches, breakfasts, news conferences, dedications, ground-breakings. NOT athletic events.
Facilities: Campus planning, buildings, grounds, playing fields, construction, renovations, demolitions, energy conservation, fraternity and sorority houses.
Faculty: Individuals (including deans, provosts), departments, Faculty Senate, trends, tenure system, non-tenure system, retired.
Finance: Budgets, earmarks, tuition, fees, loans, grants, bond issues, institutional endowments, salaries, pay raises, pensions, price increases, price cuts, layoffs, early retirements.
Fund Raising: Individual gifts and endowments, corporate and private foundation grants, matching gifts, institutional endowments, trends.
Government and Community Relations: Federal, state and local government officials and actions, including budgets, legislation grants and elections. Town-gown matters, including payment-in-lieu of taxes, student behavior and traffic. Partnerships with communities, such as the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute in Springfield. Research, teaching and service activities that benefit communities, from local (fraternity food drives) to international (Engineers Without Borders).
Humanities and Fine Arts: College news, including teaching, research and service activities. Fine Arts Center.
Information Technology: Internet, UMass Online, computing, software, telephones, wireless, text messaging, downloading of music and movies, cybersecurity.
Management: Isenberg School of Management news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Natural Resources and the Environment: College news. Stockbridge, UMass Extension.
Natural Sciences and Mathematics: College news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Nursing: School news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Outreach: UMass Extension, WFCR, 4-H, Cranberry Station, University Without Walls, Family Business Center, Arts Extension Service, Continuing and Professional Education.
Public Health and Health Sciences: School news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Public Safety, Public Health and Legal Affairs: Emergency preparedness, UMass Police, crime, traffic safety, fires, ambulance, court proceedings, University Health Services, health care, disease, mental health, environmental hazards, storms and natural disasters, power outages.
Rankings and Honors: Honorary degrees, Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Faculty Lectures, 21st Century Leaders, Student Speaker. Scholarship, awards and fellowships (Fulbright, Goldwater, Truman). Media rankings: U.S. News & World Report, Princeton Review.
Research: New discoveries, studies, reports, surveys, conferences, partnerships, Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property, spin-offs, research facilities. Donahue Institute research and news. UMass Press books and news.
Social and Behavioral Sciences: College news, including teaching, research and service activities.
Staff: Individuals, unions, contract talks and settlements.
Student Life: Community service, academic achievements, student research, and campus trends that demonstrate the intellectual independence and energy of UMass Amherst.
Transportation: Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, traffic, transportation infrastructure and safety, faculty research projects.
