University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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J t)t) t)0— a year of building, a year of change at the University of Massachusetts. We have progressed since 1863 when the Commonwealth, accepting the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act, founded the Agricultural College at Amherst. Five years later when the College was first opened to students, there was a teaching staff of four persons on a campus consisting only of four wooden buildings. A notable stride was made when, by legislative enactment in 1931, the name of the institution was changed to Massachusetts State College. And then, in May, 1947 the College became the University of Massachusetts. Dreams were dreamed; plans were made.

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We the students, faculty and administrators of the University of Massachusetts in 1955-1956 have been honored in seeing the first fulfillments of years of dreaming and planning. We have been new dormitories built to house the rapidly increasing student population; we have witnessed the beginnings of a new classroom building and Student Union which will more adequately satisfy the academic and social needs of the campus and, what is most important of all, we have sensed changes in University policy, a dynamic and accommodating force to meet the needs of our dy- namic culture. As we view our campus and see the barren girders of its future classrooms reach- ing upward to the heavens, eager to be clothed, we realize that we too are structures, strong but unfinished.