Famed Beat writer Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell a century ago this March. The university, the city and Kerouac’s literary estate will be celebrating with an exhibit at Lowell National Historical Park, a festival and more.

A recently discovered novella by Jack Kerouac is being adapted for the stage by the artistic director of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre. “The Haunted Life” will also be a teaching tool in UML’s Theatre Arts and English programs all year, thanks in large part to English professor Todd Tietchen.

The first students in UMass Lowell’s new Master of Public Administration program are getting a crash course in how to manage public and private agencies in the arts and humanities, criminal justice and human services.

Steve Almond, the 2016 Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence, asks students to write truthfully about people, places and ideas about which they feel deeply.

Author Steve Almond, whose insightful, often irreverent take on contemporary American life has earned him both literary praise and prizes, will teach English at UMass Lowell this semester as the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence for 2016.