Diversity News on Campus

  • A woman smiles for a picture while holding an old black and white photograph

    Bucky Lew Finally Getting His Due

    Lowell native Bucky Lew, who became the first Black professional basketball player in 1902 and later coached the Lowell Textile School team, will be recognized during a UML men’s basketball game on Feb. 22. He is also the subject of a recent book by English alum Chris Boucher ’93.
    Featured Story
  • Two young women blow bubbles through a colorful hoop that another woman is holding

    Meet the Librarian Who is Focused on First-Year Students

    Yolanda Hood, the UMass Lowell Library’s new first-year experience and instruction coordinator, ensures that students know about the resources and services that are available to them to help them succeed.
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  • A young man in a baseball hat holds a piece of paper with drawings on it

    Business Alum Swings Big with Benji Ball

    Business alum Benjamin McEvoy ’21 has turned his DifferenceMaker project Benji Ball into a game that’s now being played in nearly 200 school districts in 41 states across the country.
    Featured Story
  • UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen speaks at a White House listening tour event on campus.

    Federal Leaders Visit UMass Lowell To Advance Goals for Asian American Students

    White House and other federal officials advancing efforts to provide educational equity and opportunities for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, visited UMass Lowell last week to learn from students, faculty and staff about their experiences as part of a tour of universities and colleges committed to these goals.
    Press Release
  • A woman seated in a crowd raises her arms in celebration while people clap around her

    Zipper Buddy Sews Up DifferenceMaker Win

    Zipper Buddy, a clothing attachment that helps people with limited mobility to zipper their jacket, took the top prize at the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute’s Francis College of Engineering Prototyping competition at University Crossing.
    Featured Story
  • Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences Assoc. Prof. Mahdi Garelnabi in the CPH lab

    Biomedical Sciences Professor Tapped to Direct ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity

    A health sciences professor is the new director of the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity. A researcher specializing in cardiovascular disease, Assoc. Prof. Mahdi Garelnabi brings extensive experience working on diversity within the American Heart Association and other groups.
    Featured Story
  • Two women and a man pose for a photo while cutting a ceremonial ribbon in an office

    New Faculty Success Center a Nexus of Ideas, Support

    The new Faculty Success Center brings together the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Academic and Instructional Technology and the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity at University Crossing.
    Featured Story
  • 2023 MLK Distinguished Service Award recipients

    UMass Lowell Honors Advocates of Social Change

    UMass Lowell students whose work exemplifies the ideals advanced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were recognized by the university at a ceremony Wednesday, Jan. 25.
    Press Release
  • A student walks past an educational sign about Indigenous peoples

    New Campus Signs Tell History of Lowell’s Indigenous Peoples

    A group of UMass Lowell students and faculty created educational signs across campus to spread community awareness and knowledge of Indigenous peoples who were originally settled on the local land.
    Featured Story
  • A young man in glasses smiles while listening to someone talk in a conference room

    New Program Helps First-Gen Students Find Career Paths

    The River Hawk Scholars Academy’s new Pathways to Career program helps first-generation college students in their junior year take advantage of resources available to them in the Career and Co-op Center.
    Featured Story
  • Twin sisters with glasses and dark hair smile while posing for a photo

    Twin Sisters Update Diversity Education Training for Peers

    Identical twin business majors, Angelina and Alexandra Kam, were given the responsibility of updating the university’s diversity peer education curriculum for students as part of their summer co-op jobs with the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
    Department News
  • A professor in a polka dot top sits at a table and speaks with two female students

    Professor Adds Element of Diversity to Chemistry Lessons

    To help students in her Chemistry I and II courses understand the diversity of those working in STEM fields, Asst. Teaching Prof. Suzanne Young has created brief lessons on Black, brown and indigenous scientists not mentioned in their textbook.  
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  • Psychology Assoc. Prof. Rocio Rosales is leading a $914,000 grant for master's students in applied behavior analysis and autism studies.

    New Grant to Fund Autism Studies and Special Education Master’s Students

    Psychology Assoc. Prof. Rocio Rosales is leading a $914,000 grant that will train UML master’s students in applied behavior analysis and autism studies to collaborate with special education teams – and master’s students in special education at Lasell University to understand applied behavior analysis.
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  • UML History Prof. Chad Montrie speaking at a conference

    History Professor Studies Racism in the North

    In his newest book, “Whiteness in Plain View,” History Prof. Chad Montrie examines a 200-year history of racism in Minnesota.
    Featured Story
  • The original Making WAVES leadership team will continue to guide the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity at UML

    New ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity Aims to Improve Campus Culture

    The new ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity aims to change the culture across campus for faculty from underrepresented and marginalized groups. It builds on the programs and research of the five-year, National Science Foundation-funded Making WAVES program.
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  • A man in a face covering hands a small blue sticker to a student, who is holding open a small booklet

    Students Explore the Gray Areas at ‘Ethics Fest’

    More than 250 students were challenged to think about ethics and social responsibility in new ways at UMass Lowell’s first annual Ethics Fest, hosted by the Donahue Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.
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  • At the fall 2021 Panasuk Symposium at UMass Lowell, a panel of educators and advocates discussed critical race theory

    Educators, Advocates Tackle Critical Race Theory at Symposium

    Educators and student advocates discussed critical race theory at the fall symposium, and how the political controversies surrounding it are affecting students and teachers. The first education symposium to be held since November 2019 also included a workshop on teaching LGBTQ history.
    Featured Story
  • UML Public Health major Jordan Lippincott and Assoc. Dean Nicole Champagne at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic run by Lowell General Hospital

    UML Receives $3 Million for New Public Health Informatics Degrees

    UMass Lowell received more than $3 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop new undergraduate and graduate programs in public health informatics and technology. UML will work with community colleges and health care partners to educate diverse students who can fill vital jobs.
    Featured Story
  • An aerial view of the Merrimack River running through the UML campus

    With NSF Award, New Grad Program Focuses on Protecting Water Resources

    An interdisciplinary team of UML faculty, led by Assoc. Profs. Meg Sobkowicz-Kline and Chris Hansen, have received a nearly $3 million National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award for a new graduate student program focused on developing sustainable materials and chemicals that won’t harm water resources.
    Featured Story
  • UML Asst. Prof. of Nutrition Sabrina Noel

    Nutrition Professor Finds Major Gaps in Bone Health Research

    Osteoporosis has been traditionally viewed as a disease of non-Hispanic white women, says Asst. Prof. Sabrina Noel. But the reality is more complicated, she says in a new paper that looks at inequities and gaps in the research.
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  • New UMass Lowell students celebrate the end of a summer program for first-generation college students

    Publications Praise UMass Lowell Efforts on Diversity

    Three magazines have named UMass Lowell to their lists of "Top Colleges and Universities" for 2021 for the university's efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.
    Featured Story
  • Presley Bennett and Maddie Emond are both first-generation college students at UMass Lowell

    First-generation Students Get Head Start on College Life

    This summer, a UML support program for first-generation college students is piloting a “First to Launch” program on campus for incoming first-year students. With support from two recent grants, the River Hawk Scholars Academy is also expanding its services to sophomores, juniors and seniors. 
    Featured Story
  • A shape sails past wind turbines in the ocean

    UMass Lowell Wins Grant to Diversify Offshore Wind Workforce

    UMass Lowell, in partnership with the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, has received a $241,300 grant from the Commonwealth to develop academic pathways that increase the participation of underrepresented populations in the offshore wind industry.
    Featured Story
  • The UMass Lowell and American flags fly in the wind in front of the Tsongas Center

    River Hawk Athletes Champion Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

    UMass Lowell is one of just 14 NCAA Division I athletic programs in the country to receive a perfect score of 100 in the Athletic Equality Index, developed by the nonprofit Athlete Ally to measure LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices. The score is part of a larger, overall commitment by the Athletic Department to improve diversity, equity and inclusion at UML.
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  • Fiona Bruce-Baiden won the 29 Who Shine award for UMass Lowell in 2021

    Political Science Major Recognized as One of ‘29 Who Shine’

    Her leadership on campus and advocacy for Black students won Fiona Bruce-Baiden recognition as one of “29 Who Shine,” an award given by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education to one student from each of the state’s public colleges and universities.
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  • the sun rises behind Fox Hall and East Campus

    UMass Lowell Honors New State Holiday of Juneteenth

    For the first time, Massachusetts will recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday to mark the end of slavery in the United States after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was finally enforced in Texas on June 19, 1865.
    Department News
  • Martha Mayo

    Library Research Guide Explores Lowell’s Anti-Slavery, Abolitionist History

    “Untold Lowell Stories: Black History,” an online research guide published recently by the UMass Lowell Library’s Center for Lowell History, sheds light on the city’s anti-slavery and abolitionist movements. Last year, the center was named an Underground Railroad Research Facility.
    Featured Story
  • This year's Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies, Fania Davis shared her perspective on racism in America, the inequities of the justice system and paths toward healing in the university’s annual “Day Without Violence” address, delivered via Zoom from Oakland, California.

    Greeley Scholar Fania Davis: From Dynamite Hill to Restorative Justice

    As UMass Lowell’s 2021 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies, Fania Davis, spoke via Zoom of American history through the lenses of race, justice inequities and how we begin healing. Davis is the one of the foremost voices on restorative justice.
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  • Elysé Masandi speaks during the Zoom panel discussion

    Business Students Speak Up on Social, Racial Inequality

    Student leaders from the Manning School of Business hosted “Lifting Our Voices,” a virtual panel discussion on issues impacting social justice and racial equality. The discussion is part of a broader university-wide effort to combat racial injustice.
    Department News
  • Chancellor Jacquie Moloney speaks into microphone

    Campus Statement on Social Justice

    Chancellor Jacquie Moloney's campus statement on social justice to condemn the killings of George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
    Department News
  • A student takes a selfie with Rowdy

    For International Students, First Hockey Game a Nice Icebreaker

    Cheering on the men’s hockey team at the Tsongas Center is one of the things that brings the UMass Lowell community together. For many international students, attending their first-ever hockey game is like a rite of passage as River Hawks.
    Featured Story
  • Twins Kayla and Jae'la Rowles and friend Tyson Minor are part of the new DC-CAP Scholars program at UMass Lowell

    New Program Provides Merit Scholarships for 20 Students from Washington, D.C.

    Under a new partnership, 20 high school graduates from Washington, D.C., are studying at UMass Lowell this fall with merit scholarships. It’s part of the university’s mission to support students from all backgrounds in getting a great college education.
    Featured Story
  • Pierce Freelon addresses students at Convocation

    New River Hawks Welcomed to Campus, Challenged to Soar

    The university welcomed its largest incoming class ever – nearly 3,400 first-year and new transfer students – at a Convocation ceremony that also kicked off UML’s yearlong 125th anniversary celebration. 
    Featured Story
  • Middlesex Community College President James Mabry, left, and UMass Lowell Honors College Dean Jim Canning

    UML and Middlesex Work Together for Transfer Success

    UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College share a common mission: making a world-class education available to all students so that they can achieve their potential. New initiatives are bringing the two schools closer than ever – and creating a model to help all transfer students succeed.