Mount Holyoke College is a private women's liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1837, it is the oldest institution within the Seven Sisters schools, an alliance of East Coast liberal arts colleges that was originally created to provide women with education equivalent to that provided in the then men-only Ivy League. Mount Holyoke is part of the region's Five College Consortium, along with Amherst College, Smith College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 39,880. As of 2018, the estimated population was 40,358. Sitting 8 miles (13 km) north of Springfield, Holyoke is part of the Springfield Metropolitan Area, one of the two distinct metropolitan areas in Massachusetts.
Westfield is a city in Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 41,094 at the 2010 census.
The Pioneer Valley is the colloquial and promotional name for the portion of the Connecticut River Valley that is in Massachusetts in the United States. It is generally taken to comprise the three counties of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. The lower Pioneer Valley corresponds to the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan area, the region's urban center, and the seat of Hampden County. The upper Pioneer Valley region includes the smaller cities of Northampton and Greenfield, the county seats of Hampshire and Franklin counties.
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The University system includes five campuses, and a satellite campus, with system administration in Boston and Shrewsbury. The system is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and across its campuses enrolls 73,000 students.
Holyoke Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It offers associate degrees and certificate programs, as well as a transfer program for students to earn credits for transfer to other colleges. It was the first community college established in Massachusetts, as it was founded by the city's school board in 1946, while others were subsequently chartered under state jurisdiction after 1960. HCC currently offers more than 100 associate degree and certificate options, as well as adult basic education/GED programs, education and training for business and industry, and noncredit community education classes. In a 2016 report on community colleges in the United States, the Aspen Institute and Columbia University's Community College Research Center cited HCC as among 2-year community colleges with best practices for student transfers to 4 year institutions such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Additionally among the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts, HCC has the highest percentage of student graduates completing associate degrees and certificate programs.
The Colleges of the Fenway is a collegiate consortium located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The association promotes collaboration among five (5) local colleges to enhance the variety of educational programs; to gain economics benefits through shared research, medical, and dining facilities; and to provide students, faculty, and staff with the opportunity to study, live, teach, and work in a small college environment while enjoying the resources of a major academic environment comparable to that of a large-scale university setting.
Cathedral High School was a Catholic co-educational college-preparatory high school in Springfield, Massachusetts. Opened in 1883 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph at the diocese's Saint Michael's Cathedral, its current facility has been at 321 Main Street in Wilbraham, Massachusetts due to the June 1, 2011, tornado.
The MacDuffie School is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational college preparatory school for day and boarding students in grades 6-12. The school is located on 50 acres in Granby, Massachusetts, United States, within close distance to the University of Massachusetts, and Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke colleges.
Western New England University is a private, non-profit university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy.
Westfield State University is a public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1838 by Horace Mann as the first public co-educational college in America without barrier to race, gender, or economic class.
Western New England University School of Law is a private, ABA-accredited law school in Western Massachusetts. Established in 1919, the law school has approximately 8,000 alumni who live and work across the United States and internationally. Western New England Law offers both full-time and part-time programs. It is a college within Western New England University.
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is a private university focused on medical programs and located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of study focused on professional education in pharmacy and the health sciences. Since 2000, MCPHS University has expanded to include two additional campuses, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire.
The greater Hartford–Springfield area is an urban region and surrounding suburban areas that encompasses both north-central Connecticut and the southern Connecticut River Valley in western Massachusetts; its major city centers are Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut.
The Springfield metropolitan area, also known as Greater Springfield, is a region that is socio-economically and culturally tied to the City of Springfield, Massachusetts. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the Springfield, MA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as consisting of three counties in Western Massachusetts. As of July 1, 2009, the metropolitan area's population was estimated at 631,982. Following the 2010 Census, there have been discussions about combining the metropolitan areas of Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut, into a greater Hartford–Springfield area, due to the region's economic interdependence and close geographic proximity. Historically the Census has also identified the region as "Springfield–Chicopee–Holyoke, Mass.–Conn." as those cities were the area's historic population centers as recently as 1980; since that time the population has become further distributed, including new growth in Amherst, Westfield, and West Springfield, as well as Northern Connecticut. Greater Springfield is one of two combined statistical areas in Massachusetts, the other being Greater Boston.
Holyoke High School is a public high school in western Massachusetts, that serves the City of Holyoke. Since 2015, the school, along with the district, has been in state receivership and through a series of changes in practices, such as innovative restorative justice disciplinary programs, has seen marked improvement in student retention and graduation rates. In the 2017-2018 school year Holyoke High received higher combined SAT scores than the average for schools in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield.
