Career Launch Program Takes Off

Content

The Career Launch program includes visits to Boston-area sites through academic field trips and the student life program.

In Fall 2025, the Mount Ida Campus is hosting the inaugural cohort of the Career Launch program, a collaboration between the campus, UMass Flex, the Office of Career Development & Professional Connections, the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, the School Public Health & Health Sciences, and the Isenberg School of Management.

Forty-five UMass Amherst first-year students opted into the opportunity to spend their first semester on the Newton campus exploring how to connect their chosen academic discipline with the career opportunities that will be available to them in Greater Boston when they complete their undergraduate studies.

The program offers a curriculum designed by the Career Launch Fellows, UMass Amherst Faculty who collaborated to transform existing courses that meet general education requirements with content relevant to the Greater Boston context and by integrating the National Association of Colleges and Employers core competencies and professional skills standards. All of the students are enrolled in a foundational course, "Learning Through Career Exploration," through which they conduct self-assessments to identify strengths and interests, explore career paths connected to their majors, build career readiness through professional skill development, and work with Greater Boston employers on real-world professional projects.

In Spring 2026, the students will transition to the main campus in Amherst, where they will continue their academic journey with more clarity about their career goals, informing decision making about course selection as well as which internships and extracurriculars to pursue.

Following a successful Fall 2025 pilot, the university's goal is to expand the program for Fall 2026.