UMass Lowell Opens Doors in Haverhill

05/01/2013

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

LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell is opening a Haverhill satellite campus at Northern Essex Community College.

The new location brings the university’s strengths in educating working professionals, adult learners and traditional students to Haverhill. Already, more than 2,000 residents of the city and nearby communities attend UMass Lowell. Starting this month, university personnel will be on site to advise and register students for the Fall 2013 semester and classes will start in September.

UMass Lowell’s satellite campus, the first for the university, will be overseen by its award-winning Division of Online and Continuing Education, which is a leader in developing new models of education, from traditional classroom learning and specialized professional training to online and “blended” programs. Through the Haverhill campus, students will have access this fall to courses in fields such as business administration, criminal justice and liberal arts.

“We are pleased that we can begin making a high-quality UMass Lowell education available in Haverhill as soon as September,” said UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan. “We have worked successfully with Northern Essex for years to help their graduates make a smooth transition to continue their education on our campus and now we can say that will be even easier.”

UMass Lowell works closely with the state’s community colleges, including Northern Essex, to help graduates with associate’s degrees move on to the university, where they can then complete a bachelor’s degree in two years. More than 360 students transferred from Northern Essex to UMass Lowell last year.

UMass Lowell announced in December 2012 that it will open a satellite campus in Haverhill with the goal of offering classes beginning with the Fall 2013 semester. While initial plans called for a site in the city’s downtown, a request for proposals process earlier this year did not yield a location that would meet the university’s requirements in time to allow classes to begin in September. By locating at Northern Essex Community College, the university can begin advising and registering students for Fall 2013 classes while continuing to seek a downtown location for the longer term. 

“I am very happy to see UMass Lowell and Northern Essex Community College coming together to enable the university to launch its Haverhill operation while plans continue for a permanent home in our downtown area,” said Massachusetts House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey of Haverhill, a UMass Lowell alumnus. “This is a big step in establishing the Haverhill satellite campus and I am pleased with the progress.”

UMass Lowell’s offices will be located in an existing building at Northern Essex and the university will maximize resources by sharing classrooms with the college, offering evening classes Monday through Thursday in rooms that would normally be unoccupied at that time. UMass Lowell plans to operate at Northern Essex through the 2013-2014 academic year.

“This is great news for our students, the great majority of whom transfer to UMass Lowell, and for the city of Haverhill,” said Northern Essex Community College President Lane Glenn. “We currently have 26 transfer agreements in place with UMass Lowell in areas such as business, criminal justice, engineering, liberal arts and education. Being co-located will allow us to build on what is already a strong partnership and provide additional higher education options for local residents.”

UMass Lowell is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The publication’s Best Colleges 2013 puts UMass Lowell at No. 170 on its Best National Universities list, the top tier in the country, an increase of seven places over last year. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has upgraded UMass Lowell’s classification to Doctoral Research/High in recognition of the quality of the university’s research and graduate programs. The foundation, along with the 2012 President’s Higher Education Honor Roll, also recognized UMass Lowell for its commitment to community outreach and service. 

UMass Lowell annually delivers a positive economic impact on the region of $490 million, according to the UMass Donahue Institute. Of UMass Lowell’s 78,380 alumni, 48,400 are Massachusetts residents, and 85 percent of graduates stay in Massachusetts for five years after graduation with 65 percent staying longer. UMass Lowell graduates earn some of the highest mid-career and starting salaries among their counterparts from all public institutions in New England, according to PayScale.com, and the Chronicle of Higher Education has singled out UMass Lowell as having the fastest-growing graduation rate of all New England public institutions. 

UMass Lowell – which has graduated record numbers of students at each of the last five Commencement ceremonies and this year will have its first graduating class of more than 3,000 – has seen enrollment grow by 40 percent in the last five years. This year, the student body numbers more than 16,000 for the first time in the university’s history and represents more than 53 countries. Average SAT scores for first-year students have climbed 56 points over six years and 82 percent of UMass Lowell freshmen continue on to their sophomore year. 

UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 16,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health and environment, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu