Giving to SBS Departments and Programs
Anthropology
Did you know that the Department of Anthropology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at UMass Amherst is among the largest in New England with 15 distinguished full-time faculty members, about 200 undergraduate majors, and 85 graduate students? Its four overlapping subdivisions—cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology—offer more than 50 courses for undergraduates. You can help students gain depth and breadth by supporting the study of cross-cultural and comparative perspectives. Your dollars will help them go on to leadership roles in government, international development, personnel management, human services, sales and marketing, teaching, cultural resource management, health care, international programs, and more. And your dollars will help ensure that the Anthropology Department continues as a leader in the field.
Communication
The Department of Communication in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences prides itself on transforming students into educated citizens. By nurturing students’ analytical abilities, it provides strong and flexible foundations for careers in which requirements and trajectories regularly change. Communication students do an amazing number of diverse internships—at any given moment half the students with internships at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are from the department. That’s how they make connections for jobs that require advanced critical thinking skills and understanding of communication principles, processes, and contexts. But all this costs a small fortune. Your much needed support will help the Communication Department meet its goals as students prepare for careers in media industries and business-related occupations, such as advertising, public relations, sales, and administration, and so much more.
*The major in Journalism, a program in the Communication Department, is separate from the major in communication. Go to Journalism for more information.
Economics
The Department of Economics is a leader in the study of economic theory and political economy. Its nationally recognized faculty represents the full spectrum of perspectives within the discipline, including research that focuses on environmental economics, financial markets, “family” economies, international economics, and developmental economics. And if the tremendous success of the department’s alumni is any indication, these students are well prepared. Your dollars will help ensure that students are immersed in a rigorous course of study, while working closely with faculty of all ranks and engaging in internships to ready themselves for careers in business, law, education, public policy and more. Your gift to Economics will help the department stay at the top.
Special Investing Opportunities in Economics
- Economics Department Opportunity Fund
This fund allows the department chair to target the specific needs of the department in areas of student scholarship, undergraduate advising, study abroad, internships, research and graduate support. This fund is central to the department’s success and in its continued ability to meet its mission at the highest level. - Economics Alumni Challenge Grant
A challenge grant established by the department’s alumni board to encourage other alums to invest in the department and to provide for undergraduate scholarship opportunities.
Journalism
With its distinguished, award-winning faculty, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize and the Freedom Forum Journalism Teacher of the Year Award, the Journalism program emphasizes both theory and practice. Ethics and traditions of journalism, as well as the nuts and bolts of reporting and writing, form the core of the major that leads graduates to jobs with top media outlets around the world. However, because the major offers insights and perspectives on so many issues, it is not unusual to find journalism alumni working in the law, government, public relations, education, advertising and a variety of other fields. Your contribution will help ensure that this program continues as a world-class leader in the field.
Labor Studies
Labor Studies, part of the Labor Relations and Research Center (LRRC), is at the intersection of several disciplines. Using rigorous methods from political science, sociology, economics, and history, it analyzes issues surrounding work and explores their ramifications. Your support will help the program continue to equip students with the intellectual framework to understand—and the skills necessary to address—the most important problems facing working people everywhere. Although primarily a graduate program, Labor Studies offers several undergraduate courses that are useful supplements to social sciences and humanities. LRRC also sponsors students in the Bachelor’s Degree in Individual Concentration and the University Without Walls programs.
Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
Founded in 1903, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning is the second oldest program of its kind in the United States and has over time developed a number of distinct instructional, research and outreach programs. Today it offers eight academic programs and houses two research centers. Through cutting edge research and teaching in design and planning, the department explores what it means to develop sustainable communities. It encourages the appropriate use and protection of land and natural resources, anticipate and mitigate the impact of human life on the environment, and resolve conflicts between the physical, economic and social needs of human being and vital natural systems. Your gift will help enhance, strengthen and develop the academic experience that the department offers.
Legal Studies
Increasingly, law and legal consciousness dominates modern society, and legal literacy is important for many careers. One can say that Legal Studies is education about law, whereas law school is education in law. It is based on the assumption that “law is too important to be left to lawyers.” Your support will help students become informed, active, well-rounded, critical thinkers about law and society. Just look at alumni: over 20% have gone on to law schools, including the most prestigious in the country. Others have done graduate work in psychology, history, anthropology, natural sciences, journalism, economics, or sociology. As mental health advocates, legislative aides, teachers, and more, Legal Studies alumni connect to the world in immeasurable ways and your dollars will help tomorrow’s graduates do the same.
Political Science
The Department of Political Science has a long history dedicated to the study of politics across a spectrum of areas. Whether it’s American politics, law, international relations, comparative politics or theory, political science at UMass Amherst uses an acclaimed faculty and cutting-edge research to engage, educate, and inspire students. The result is students succeeding in public service, law, diplomacy, teaching, business, and more. Political science students are among the university’s most active participants in summer internships, study abroad programs, and in assisting professors’ research. One of the fastest growing majors on campus, the political science department is dedicated to meeting students’ academic needs and assisting them towards their career goals. Your gift will help ensure success.
Special Investing Opportunities in Political Science
- Dean Alfange Jr. Lecture in American Constitutionalism
An endowment in honor of Professor Emeritus Dean Alfange. This Series brings prominent jurists, scholars and commentators to UMass Amherst. - The Luther A. Allen Fund
An endowment in memory of the late Professor Luther Allen to support a student with a demonstrated interest in international relations and in particular, the French-speaking countries and provinces that were Professor Allen’s passion. - David Booth Scholarship
A fund established in memory of Political Science Professor David. A. Booth to support an incoming (freshman or transfer) minority student from an urban area. - Daniel and Mary Feder Scholarship
A fund to support political science students interested in studying American political thought or who wish to conduct research with political science faculty in the areas of American politics or American political thought. - Edwin A. Gere Jr. Scholarship
A scholarship established in honor of Political Science Professor Emeritus Ed Gere, an outstanding professor of public administration and state and urban politics and a heroic pilot in WWII and the Berlin Airlift. It recognizes students with academic and professional interests in state and local government and politics. - George Goodwin Jr. Scholarship
A scholarship given annually to an academically strong Political Science major who has expressed and demonstrated an interest in a career in public service. - David C. Knapp Scholarship
A fund established in honor of retired Professor and former University President David Knapp to support a scholarship for undergraduate Political Science students. - Tracey Lee Maker Memorial Scholarship
A scholarship awarded annually to a full-time Political Science major on the basis of, first, demonstrated financial need and, second, outstanding academic achievement. - Jerome M. Mileur Internship Fund
A fund established in honor of Political Science Professor Emeritus Jerry Mileur’s to support undergraduate students majoring in Political Science who pursue internships in Washington, D.C., especially internships with elected officials or political parties. - Sheldon E. and Joan S. Smith Scholarship for Public Service
A scholarship fund established to provide assistance to a junior or senior year political science major who is interested in pursuing a career in public service at the federal, state, or local level. - UMass Poll
The UMass Poll is a political polling institute which combines cutting edge Internet polling technology with leading expertise in political science. The center conducts exit polls of Massachusetts elections, political polling of Massachusetts residents and issues, and national polling via the Cooperative Congressional Election Study.
Public Policy and Administration
By offering a master’s degree to recent college graduates and mid-career professionals with diverse backgrounds, this Public Policy and Administraton program does a first-rate job of preparing its students for careers as public managers, policy analysts, advocates, and public leaders. The program, which also offers an undergraduate certificate, encourages students to specialize in a substantive or methodological field of interest and allows for individual program design. Teaching and research assistantships that carry a stipend and a waiver of tuition and curriculum fees are available to qualified students. But it takes enormous resources to make it all happen on a top-notch tier. Your gift to Public Policy and Administration will not only help keep the program on track but it will also put it on the road to new heights.
Special Investing Opportunities in Public Policy and Administration
- George Sulzner Internship Fund
A fund in honor of Professor George Sulzner to provide financial assistance to Master’s level Public Policy and Administration students pursuing unpaid or low-paying internships.
Sociology
Sociology is less concerned with finding practical solutions to social problems than with achieving a fundamental understanding of the social world. Although sociologists do study commonly regarded social problems—crime, drug addiction, and poverty, for example—they also examine fundamental social processes: change, conflict, and inequality. At UMass Amherst, sociologists have a long history of doing this extraordinarily well. Eight faculty members have been presidents of the American Sociological Association or the Eastern Sociological Society. Undergraduate courses were offered as early as 1916; the first graduate degree was awarded in 1931. Currently, the department boasts 23 tenured or tenure-track faculty members, 60 graduate students, and 750 undergraduate majors. More than 6500 undergraduates enroll in Sociology courses annually. Now that’s momentum. Your dollars will keep the ball rolling and ensure that the department is in the company of giants.
Social Thought and Political Economy (STPEC)
STPEC students confront fundamental questions often ignored or neglected by traditional academic thought. Committed to multiculturalism and racial and ethnic diversity, STPEC’s cross-disciplinary courses deal with issues such as freedom and the state, power relations, structural inequality in the economy, work and work relations, the relationship of Western to non-Western cultures, the intersection of class, race, gender, and sexuality, and theories of social change. STPEC students frequently put their knowledge to work by enrolling in internships and engaging in community affairs—if their resources are adequate. Your dollars can help by offering resources to the program as it prepares students connect to their world on campus and beyond.
