Think Big. Act Together. Be the Future.

Educating for the Common Good

• In the fall of 2025, the university welcomed 5,300 new first-year students to campus after receiving a record 53,000 applications for admission. This is the third consecutive year that the university received more than 50,000 applications for fall admission.
• The class of 2029 is the most diverse in the university’s history, with 42 percent of students identifying as ALANA (African, Latinx, Asian, and Native American), including 19 percent from underrepresented minority groups. It is also among the most academically accomplished, with the second-highest average high school GPA of 4.06.
• Sixty-six percent of incoming undergraduate students—about 3,500—were from Massachusetts. Another 1,800 came from outside the commonwealth, including 400 international students. Overall, the class represented 43 U.S. states and roughly two dozen countries.
• In fall 2025, UMass Amherst and the Amherst Survival Center opened a permanent, on-campus food pantry to provide a dependable resource for members of our campus community who may be experiencing food insecurity to access food. Nationally, one in three college students face food insecurity, and more than 200 college campuses across the country have food pantries.
• The university also recently launched a new collaboration with the Tech Foundry so that staff and community members of the Springfield workforce development nonprofit can complete their undergraduate degrees through University Without Walls. The goal is to identify students with untapped potential, develop their skills, and produce graduates who are ready to meet the critical workforce needs of employers in the region.
• In a time of fluctuating federal funding, the university created a new Research Continuity Emergency (ResCoE) Matching Fund to provide temporary support to UMass community members whose livelihoods are put at risk by interruptions in federal funding: graduate students, postdocs, research staff, and research faculty whose salaries are directly charged to federal grants and contracts.

Innovating for the Common Good

• The university developed a 10-year strategic plan for the campus around three priorities: strengthening its commitment to recruiting and retaining diverse and exceptional global talent, creating a synergistic and agile organization that supports interdisciplinary and interunit collaboration, and maximizing stewardship of existing resources and developing additional resources. The Office for Institutional Effectiveness collaborates with university stakeholders to execute strategic initiatives and plans so that the university achieves organizational goals and objectives aligned with the 2024–2034 Strategic Plan.

• In FY25, 27 patents were issued to UMass researchers, and 36 patent applications were filed.
• Thanks to a generous gift, UMass will deploy $10 million for the Riccio College of Engineering to explore the intersection of technology and health by partnering with UMass Chan Medical School, develop a design curriculum in conjunction with the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, and create an engineering leadership program in collaboration with the Isenberg School of Management.
• In a time of fluctuating federal funding, the university created a new Research Continuity Emergency (ResCoE) Matching Fund to provide temporary support to UMass community members whose livelihoods are put at risk by interruptions in federal funding: graduate students, postdocs, research staff, and research faculty whose salaries are directly charged to federal grants and contracts.
• In partnership with the Amherst Survival Center, the university opened a permanent, on-campus food pantry that offers a full-choice, self-guided shopping experience for all members of the campus community who need it. Nationally, one in three college students face food insecurity, and more than 200 college campuses around the country have food pantries. As a community, UMass Amherst believes no one, particularly on campus, should go hungry. 

Engaging and Connecting for the Common Good

• Leveraging the full breadth of the university’s expertise, talent, innovation, and partnerships, a newly created UMass Amherst Economic Development Initiative will spur job creation, entrepreneurship, and community revitalization, as well as workforce and small business development locally, regionally, and across the state.
• UMass unveiled the Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield, which continues to expand engagement opportunities aimed at strengthening the greater Springfield region. In the 2024–2025 academic year, the center hosted 205 programs and events, including programs to help equip young entrepreneurs and at-risk youth and young adults with essential business skills, as well as the kick-off for the Springfield Puerto Rican Parade, which was attended by more than 350 community members.
• The university opened UMass Downtown, a dynamic retail and event space in the heart of the Amherst community. This unique location offers a curated selection of official UMass apparel, gifts, and essentials while serving as a welcoming hub for students, alumni, faculty, and visitors. At night, the space transforms into a vibrant venue for lectures, readings, workshops, and community events.
• As part of its commitment to protecting the privacy, well-being, and safety of its community, the university added a new page on its website dedicated to collecting and sharing resources for students and employees in response to changes in the federal landscape. The page provides information pertaining to issues affecting immigration; research funding; LGBTQIA+ students, staff, and faculty; equity, inclusion, and equal opportunity; and international students and scholars. 

• In partnership with the Amherst Survival Center, the university opened a permanent, on-campus food pantry that offers a full-choice, self-guided shopping experience for all members of the campus community who need it. Nationally, one in three college students face food insecurity, and more than 200 college campuses around the country have food pantries. As a community, UMass Amherst believes no one, particularly on campus, should go hungry.

Stewarding for the Common Good

• After a major renovation spanning two academic years, a newly revamped Goodell Hall reopened to provide centralized spaces for student support and activities. The building is now home to academic programs, the Graduate School, student support programs, cultural centers, and a career center.
• The Computer Sciences Laboratories building, four stories tall and approximately 94,300 gross square feet, is substantially complete, with faculty and staff moving into the building.  It includes an auditorium, a colloquium, conference rooms, offices, and a café. The new building connects with the existing Computer Science building, physically linking each existing floor to an open, light-filled commons for both graduate and undergraduate students. The commons will showcase visually interesting research in makerspaces and special-purpose labs, such as robotics. This building leverages a $75 million state investment in a state-of-the-art facility for our highly ranked Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences.
• The Sustainable Engineering Laboratories (SEL) building advances in construction and will be completed in summer 2026. The 78,000-gross-square-foot building will provide immersive labs and learning spaces that prepare the next generation of engineers, and it will serve as a test bed for technologies that address real-world sustainability challenges. The SEL design won the grand prize in the New Construction category of the Embodied Carbon Reduction Challenge.
• The Gloucester Marine Station, where UMass Extension faculty study the impact of coastal change along the Massachusetts North Shore, is undergoing construction for resilient infrastructure upgrades and strategic initiatives. The project includes new outdoor research and education space; installation of a living seawall, dock, and crane; and concrete repairs.
• Following a $12 million renovation of the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts's academic spaces in 2020, plans have been approved for a $19 million renovation to the Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall that will improve acoustics, lighting, and electrical systems as well as expand the loading dock and stage access to support a broader array of show types and sizes. Together, these improvements will strengthen UMass Amherst’s competitiveness in attracting high-quality national and international touring productions and expand its impact as a regional arts destination.

Celebrating Academic Excellence

• UMass Amherst ranks 29th among the nation’s best public universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Colleges guide. This is the 11th consecutive year that UMass Amherst has been ranked as a top public university, and it is the only public university in New England to place in the top 30.
• UMass Amherst is ranked number 64 among all 434 national universities—both public and private—placing the university in the top 15 percent nationally. UMass Amherst is the only public university in New England to place in the top 65.
• The campus was named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for the fourth time. The distinction marks it as a university with the highest number of faculty and administrators selected for the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Programs for the 2024–25 academic year. Six UMass Amherst faculty members representing the Riccio College of Engineering, the School of Public Health & Health Sciences, the College of Natural Sciences, and the College of Humanities & Fine Arts were selected to receive 2025–26 Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards.
• UMass ranks in the top 10 (No. 9) in the nation’s most environmentally responsible higher education institutions, according to The Princeton Review’s 2026 Guide to Green Colleges. UMass is the only public university in New England to place in the top 10.
• UMass dining earned the “best campus food” ranking for the ninth consecutive year on The Princeton Review’s list of Best Campus Food. The achievement underscores UMass Dining’s commitment to culinary excellence, sustainability, and experiential dining that features globally inspired, culturally driven menus.
• Numerous present and retired UMass faculty received prestigious awards and recognitions, including the 2024 ACM A.M. Turing Award, J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, Chevreul Medal for Lipid Chemistry Research, CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation, and the National Geographic Society's 2025 Wayfinder Award. Others were granted membership in prestigious academies, such as the Academia dei Lincei in Rome (the largest scientific academy in the world) and the American Physical Society, or were named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list.
• More than 50 UMass Amherst faculty members were awarded tenure by the UMass Board of Trustees in the 2024–2025 academic year. 

Investing in the Future

• Daniel J. Riccio Jr. ’86, ’24MS—a former key leader and innovator at Apple for 26 years—has committed $50 million to establish the Daniel J. Riccio Jr. College of Engineering. This is the largest gift in campus history and will fuel innovative research, strengthen academic excellence, and expand access and opportunity for generations of UMass Amherst engineering students.
• Longtime supporters John and Elizabeth Armstrong made gifts and commitments totaling $4 million to advance a broad range of disciplines in the university’s research enterprise in light of funding pressures related to changes in federal research funding.
• UMass Amherst has secured $30 million in the state economic development bill to develop a regional resilient and sustainable food innovation hub.
• UMass Amherst has secured a direct appropriation of $10 million to support a Nursing Simulation Laboratory.
• The university created a new Research Continuity Emergency (ResCoE) Matching Fund to provide temporary support to UMass community members whose livelihoods are put at risk by interruptions in federal funding: graduate students, postdocs, research staff, and research faculty whose salaries are directly charged to federal grants and contracts.