UMass Lowell’s Model U.N. team won the award for best delegation at a Model U.N. conference in Scotland over spring break. The team also went to the national competition for Model Arab League a week later and brought home several delegate awards.

The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran is much more than a struggle over whether women must wear the hijab, said exiled feminist activist, poet and scholar Fatemeh Shams, the 2024 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies.

The River Hawk Scholars Academy is expanding its programs for first-generation college students, including adding a study abroad course and a conference organized by students, thanks to federal aid and grants from nonprofits.

Psychology major Chioma Opara was among 10 students worldwide who were accepted to the Future Nobel Laureate Scholarship Program last year. Her journey culminated with a week in Sweden in December, learning and hearing from Nobel Laureates.

Starting this fall, UML will offer a new B.S. in Quantitative Economics. The degree is highly sought after by employers. It also better prepares students for graduate school, Economics Chair Monica Galizzi says.

Art Assoc. Prof. Ingrid Hess is traveling to some of the world’s most beautiful places to make artwork that educates children about the natural world and environmental sustainability. She’s won grants, fellowships and artist residencies to visit national parks in Costa Rica, Australia, the U.S. and more.

Students gain professional experience and expert education through UMass Lowell’s close partnership with The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars.

The Office of National Scholarships, run by Associate Director of Honors Scholarship and Curriculum Rae Mansfield, encourages students to apply for external scholarships for research, academic and international experiences. 

Visiting Prof. Pedro Letria, a Portuguese photographer and writer, is teaching photography and documenting the Portuguese American community in Lowell for the university’s Portuguese American Digital Archive. His wife, journalist Cláudia Lobo, is also gathering oral histories for the archive.

With caution, masking and lots of outdoor activities, the Honors College’s study abroad program in San Sebastian, Spain, returned this summer. Three groups of honors students are celebrating the chance to travel and learn abroad, some for the first time.

As international travel restrictions lift and study abroad programs slowly resume, six UMass Lowell students — including four in one semester — have received prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State.

It wasn't what they wanted, and it certainly wasn't what they planned. But the teammates who battles it out in Model U.N. competitions made it virtual debate work to their advantage.

A new honors seminar that helps students think critically about different sources of energy is inspiring research involving renewables, including projects at UMass Lowell’s Haiti Development Studies Center.

The university’s in-person study abroad programs are on hold, but International Experiences & Study Abroad is offering virtual global internships and online courses with an international focus. An Honors College professor even moved his summer study abroad program in San Sebastian, Spain, to Zoom, bringing experts on Basque history and culture into students’ homes.

International students, students with disabilities or mental health concerns and some LGBTQ+ students are facing unique challenges during the campus shutdown. The university offices that serve them are supporting them with services ranging from teletherapy to online get-togethers.

Visiting international scholar Anna Rosinska is researching an understudied group of nannies, elder care providers and housekeepers: American-born, non-Hispanic whites. She hopes her research will lead to improved policies for all domestic careworkers.

Starting college or graduate school in a new country is challenging. The Office of Multicultural Affairs is helping international students to acclimate with new orientation programs and English conversation workshops.

Fourteen business students from M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai, India, visited campus for a three-week program that combined coursework led by Manning School of Business faculty and visits to companies like Microsoft and Salesforce.

More than three dozen students traveled to campus from Japan to receive their MBA degrees, which they earned online through the university’s partnership with Tokyo-based Abitus.

On an intensive, two-week study abroad trip to India, 13 undergraduate and graduate students learned about global entrepreneurship and innovation with the Manning School of Business’ Global Entrepreneurship Exchange program.

The Manning School of Business hosted its first Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Tu Tran, associate professor of finance and head of the Department of Finance and Banking at Vietnam National University.