University of Massachusetts - Boston

Today, more than 15,000 students and 900 faculty members compose the core of UMass Boston, while over 150 academic programs for undergraduate, graduate, and non-degree-seeking students offer limitless opportunities. The university’s urban location allows UMass Boston’s students, faculty, and staff to actively engage with and serve the community through academic programs like nursing and education, research into complex urban issues, and the creativity and innovation that come with a diverse student body and devoted faculty.

UMass Boston has a rich history that is intertwined with the city it calls home, beginning in 1852 with the establishment of Girls’ High School, which trained Boston’s young women to become teachers. Around the same time, in 1863, the University of Massachusetts was founded in Amherst as Massachusetts Agricultural College. Over the next century, Mass Aggie, as it was known in the early years, grew into the existing UMass system, while Girls’ High School changed names and locations several times, eventually becoming Boston State College in 1968. In 1982, UMass Boston and Boston State College merged to form what has become one of the state’s major academic enterprises and Boston’s only public university.

A research university with a teaching soul, UMass Boston is nationally recognized as a model of excellence for urban universities. For more about the university’s goals and vision, read the UMass Boston mission.

UMass Boston shares the Columbia Point peninsula with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Massachusetts Archives. The perimeter of the peninsula is part of the Boston Harborwalk, a multi-mile trail stretching from the border of Quincy along Boston Harbor to Charlestown. Columbia Point offers exquisite views of Boston Harbor, the skyline of the city of Boston, and the Boston Harbor Islands National Park.