University Without Walls

University Without Walls | Courses | Faculty

Venture Way

Degrees: Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Science

Contact: Ingrid Bracey, Interim Director
Office: 100 Venture Way, suite 200 Hadley, MA 01035
Phone: (413) 545-1378, 545-1196
Website: www.umass.edu/uww
Email: uww@uww.umass.edu

Academic Staff: Bracey, Brinkerhoff, Castledine, Fontes, Manchester, Regmi, Stevens, Suopis. Administrative Staff: Caiander, Coolbeth, Schneider, Wood.

Founded in 1971, the University Without Walls (UWW) is the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s adult degree completion program. Serving students in most fields available at the university, UWW offers individualized degrees which may be similar to majors offered by other departments or may be interdisciplinary in nature, as well as several workforce development courses of study. UWW students earn a B.A. or B.S. degree depending on the program they design. They must meet all university requirements for bachelor’s degrees including completion of 120 credits with 45 credits in residency and all General Education requirements. Many of these requirements can be satisfied through transfer credit.

The UWW curriculum puts strong emphasis on the development of communication skills, critical reading, and critical thinking. It also encourages students to explore the relationship between practical experience and academic learning, and to strike a balance between the two. As part of our commitment to the role that work and other experience can play in education, most students develop a credit-bearing portfolio describing and analyzing the learning they have gained through experience.

Most students in UWW are working adults with family and community responsibilities which make obtaining a bachelor’s degree through a conventional route difficult or impossible. For this reason, UWW offers comprehensive and supportive advising from the time students matriculate. Students come from an unusually wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and this diversity is valued in UWW. The program serves students throughout Massachusetts and beyond.

University Without Walls | Courses | Faculty