Opening Event Showcases Home to Hundreds of Students

09/30/2015

Media contacts: Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu

* M E D I A A D V I S O R Y *
Thursday, Oct. 1, 10 a.m.

WHAT: More than 100 people – including UMass Lowell students, faculty and staff along with members of the community – will celebrate the opening of UMass Lowell’s newest residence hall, which allows students to live, study and conduct research under one roof.

The residence hall, Riverview Suites, is also the first of its kind for a public institution in Massachusetts. Constructed by a private developer, Soho Development, on property adjacent to UMass Lowell’s South Campus, Riverview Suites is leased by the university.

Riverview Suites’ first phase was completed in August 2013 and houses 500 UMass Lowell students. With the completion of the second phase last month, the residence hall is now home to 800 students and totals 250,000 square feet.

In another first for UMass Lowell, the newly opened phase of Riverview Suites features 10 classrooms and lab space specifically designed to enable students in health-related majors to receive educational instruction and gain hands-on experience where they live. While UMass Lowell offers living-learning communities in residence halls across campus to enhance the educational experience of students with similar interests, the Health and Environment Academic Living Learning (HEALL) Community at Riverview Suites is the first to have its own academic and research facilities.

Riverview Suites also features amenities for all residents, including a satellite location of the university’s Campus Recreation Center.

Speakers at the opening event are scheduled to include UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney, state and city representatives, and UMass Lowell students.

Riverview Suites is one of 11 new buildings UMass Lowell has opened since 2009. The event is part of Moloney’s First 90 Initiative (#First90), which focuses the first 90 days of the new chancellor’s administration on launching the second phase of the university’s strategic plan, “UMass Lowell 2020,” which has served as a blueprint for UMass Lowell’s remarkable growth in its campus, enrollment, student success and more.

WHERE: Riverview Suites, 1291 Middlesex St., Lowell. Contact UMass Lowell media relations for directions and parking information.