Amherst is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massachusetts municipalities that have city forms of government but retain "The Town of" in their official names. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County. The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, three of the Five Colleges.
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British forces of North America during the French and Indian War. Originally established as a men's college, Amherst became coeducational in 1975.
Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of historically female colleges in the Northeastern United States. The college was founded in 1837 as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary by Mary Lyon, a pioneer in education for women. Mount Holyoke is part of the Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts.
The University of Massachusetts Boston is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. UMass Boston is the third most diverse university in the United States.
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Together they are known as the Five College Consortium. The campus also houses the National Yiddish Book Center and Eric Carle Museum, and hosts the annual Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is the oldest, largest, and flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system, and was founded in 1863 as the Massachusetts Agricultural College. It is also a member of the Five College Consortium, along with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley.
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, a satellite campus in Springfield and also 25 campuses throughout California and Washington with the University of Massachusetts Global.
The Seven Sisters are a group of seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that are historically women's colleges. Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and Wellesley College are still women's colleges. Vassar College became coeducational in 1969, and Radcliffe College was absorbed in 1999 by Harvard College and now offers programs in advanced study.
Martin Thomas Meehan is an American academic administrator, politician, and attorney. Since July 2015, Meehan has served as the President of the University of Massachusetts after serving as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell since September 2007.
The W. E. B. Du Bois Library is one of the three libraries of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, the others being the Science and Engineering Library and the Wadsworth Library at the Mount Ida Campus. The W. E. B. Du Bois Library holds resources primarily in humanities and social and behavioral sciences. At 28 stories and 286 feet 4+1⁄8 inches tall, it is the third-tallest library in the world after the National Library of Indonesia in Jakarta at 414 feet and Shanghai Library in China at 348 feet. Measuring taller purely by height, the libraries in Jakarta and Shanghai both only have 24 floors. The W. E. B. Du Bois Library is also considered to be the tallest academic research library and 32nd tallest educational building in the world. The building maintains a security force, which is managed by various supervisors and student employees.
The Five College Radio Astronomical Observatory (FCRAO) was a radio astronomy observatory located on a peninsula in the Quabbin Reservoir. It was sited in the town of New Salem, Massachusetts on land that was originally part of Prescott, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1969 by the Five College Astronomy Department. From its inception, the observatory has emphasized research, the development of technology and the training of students—both graduate and undergraduate.
The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) oversees and coordinates public transportation in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, offering fixed-route bus service, paratransit service, and senior van service. PVTA was created by Chapter 161B of the Massachusetts General Laws in 1974. Based in Springfield, Massachusetts, PVTA serves Hampden and Hampshire counties, and provides connecting service to CTtransit in Hartford County, Connecticut, to FRTA in Franklin County, and to WRTA in Worcester County. It is the largest regional transit authority, and second largest public transit system in Massachusetts after the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, providing service to over 11 million riders annually across 24 municipalities in the region, with about 70% of all riders using the system as their primary mode of transit.
The Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium is a consortium of museums in Western Massachusetts and includes art museums which are part of the Five Colleges as well as Historic Deerfield. The Five College Museums maintains a searchable database of the collections of the museums that is among the larger art galleries on the internet. These museums also participate in Museums10.
Museums10 is a consortium of art, science, and history museums in Western Massachusetts. It includes art museums from the Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield.
The Orchard Hill Observatory is an astronomical observatory located at the highest point on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Constructed in 1965, the observatory is a red brick building with a 16-inch Cassegrain reflector optical telescope. It is used for several community events.
The campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst is located nearly entirely in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, with a portion located in Hadley. Founded on 310 acres in rural Western Massachusetts, the campus has grown to nearly 1,450 acres.
University of Massachusetts Transportation Services, abbreviated to UMass Transit Services or UMass Transit, is a department within the University of Massachusetts Amherst that provides mass transit services to the UMass Amherst campus and other members of the Five Colleges Consortium in eastern Hampshire County, as well as outlying towns. Similar to other large campus transportation systems, such as UGA Campus Transit in Georgia and Unitrans in California, UMass Transit buses are driven by students attending UMass Amherst. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 2,280,500, or about 8,400 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
James Keith Motley is a former academic administrator who served as the eighth chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston.
The Holyoke Street Railway (HSR) was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Holyoke, Massachusetts as well as surrounding communities with connections in Amherst, Belchertown, Chicopee, Easthampton, Granby, Northampton, Pelham, South Hadley, Sunderland, Westfield, and West Springfield. Throughout its history the railway system shaped the cultural institutions of Mount Tom, being operator of the mountain's famous summit houses, one of which hosted President McKinley, the Mount Tom Railroad, and the trolley park at the opposite end of this funicular line, Mountain Park.
