Photographer
Alexis Ali
Around the Pond
Please, have a seat
By Alexis Ali
There’s a new landmark on the UMass Amherst campus. On an early morning in April, a giant maroon and white Adirondack chair was delivered by truck. Weighing in at 840 pounds, it had to be unloaded with an industrial crane. The chair was installed on the lawn outside the Student Union’s west entrance just before Founders Day celebrations began. Standing at 7 feet, 7 inches tall, with a width of over 10 feet, 8 inches, it’s definitely wide enough to share with friends for a coffee, a quick study session, or, of course, a photo op.
Photographer
Thom Kendall '93
Big moves
UMass Athletics moving to MAC
The landscape of college athletics is shifting fast—with still more changes to come.
UMass Athletics announced a move from the Atlantic 10 to the Mid-American Conference (MAC), beginning on July 1, 2025. The shift impacts 17 teams, including football and men’s and women’s basketball, and takes effect in the 2025–26 season. Hockey will remain with Hockey East, men’s lacrosse will remain in the Atlantic 10, and at press time, future conference membership plans are still being sorted out for the men’s soccer and men’s swimming and diving teams.
UMass Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford says the conference move is part of considering “our future in a very challenging and choppy college athletics landscape.” The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that the MAC’s football media rights deal with ESPN will pay the school about $1.5–2.5 million per year, “several times what UMass would expect to earn from Atlantic 10 revenues, which come primarily from men’s basketball.”
Men’s basketball coach Frank Martin says, “I’ve seen what investing in football does for the whole athletic department ... there’s one sport that elevates all of us to a different place, and that’s football.” In June, Martin signed a contract extension through the 2028–29 season.
Soon, the athletics picture will shift yet again—depending on the final settlement of antitrust litigation against the NCAA, UMass may pay an annual share for the next 10 years. A revenue-sharing structure for athletes is also in the works.
Photographer
John Chen ’25
‘With them and not for them’
Engineering students are making a difference before they even graduate as part of a thriving chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). With over 100 active members, the UMass chapter works on socially and environmentally conscious projects in Ghana and Kenya—as well as right here in the Valley.
Courtesy of Pedro Rubio
Ají dulce
A sweet, mildly hot pepper popular in Puerto Rico and throughout the Caribbean, ají dulce is one of the culturally significant crops many farmers at Nuestras Raíces want to grow. Due to a longer growing season and a need for warm soil, the peppers will benefit from one of the greenhouses in the EWB plan. “Having EWB try to meet some of the specific needs of this group of farmers was part of the goal of the partnership from the beginning,” says Ascencio. “They’re really keeping true to that cultural connection and what the farmers ultimately will need.”
Several of those projects are happening at Nuestras Raíces, a grassroots urban agriculture organization based in Holyoke, Massachusetts. UMass EWB members have worked on fixing a bridge needing repair and building a new biodigester for composting organic matter and generating biogas for heat. Currently, their main project is updating a greenhouse, which local farmers will use to start seeds.
Civil engineering major John Chen ’25 has always been active in community service, but EWB offered him the opportunity to connect service with engineering and find his career path. As a structural project manager for the Nuestras Raíces initiative, Chen says, “It’s always great to be able to go to the farm, talk to the people, and connect with them. One of the main things we always emphasize is that we’re working with them and not for them.”
“EWB is making decisions about the site and the space with all of the farmers in mind,” notes Nuestras Raíces Farm Program Coordinator Ana Ascencio. “They’ve been professional and capable, and just really cool. They brought in a lot of questions and eagerness to work with us.”
Dialogue and discord
Spring 2024 was marked by protests at UMass and many other college campuses. Demonstrators called for divestment from defense-related firms and expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. A series of protests and arrests have triggered no-confidence votes, the withdrawal of a commencement speaker, and the creation of a Campus Demonstration Policy Task Force.
Diverse experiences and perspectives are “an essential strength of this learning community,” as the university’s mission statement reminds us. In fall 2023, the university formed the Community, Democracy, and Dialogue working group, which supports campus-wide efforts to promote open dialogue on critical global and domestic social issues.
We’re on the lookout
Share your most intriguing nooks, niches, coordinates, or curiosities on campus or anywhere in the region. Email magazine@umass.edu and we’ll investigate!