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

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.. lllll Photo by Judith Fiola Associate Vice-Chancellor for l Academic Affairs Dr. Fern Johnson i, . i The University is now in a period of Qi academic maturation , according-to tl Associate Vice-Chancellor tO 1iACa?1,g cdemic Affairs Dr. Fern Johnson.fDr. From Maturation To Academic Success ' two gareas are top rated among univer- sitiecsfacrossjthe United States. The University also has a strong Honors Program and as strong .Bachelors De- School of Management, and the Hu- manities and Fine Arts. It is the goal of the University to have all academic buildings and dorms set up into a com- iiJohnson explained that duringsthefpastl, jfgree with individualCon.cenetrati0n-proQ sly yy puter network system. iifew years not much activity-has.takenfgram,Thce,fCCllNlS departmentshasbeen. Finallygyarr change that will happen rplace in academics primarily by desgign.-fl ASteadiiypaldvancingffinfdeveloping: new over. thenext irioc S everal years is the stu- ln the early 1970's through 1f980..r'1typeS OilDr0gr8n'iSlforiitslstuidents. ylsr oisill T ci rdeI'itybQdy4g oirr Ihenumber of eighteen- jboth faculty and studentibodiesgrew iosri 'ThefprofessiqnailSchoolSf have --also year-olds iff csyir thei-United States is de- esubstantially. .Membershipiinfsthe gras! steadily1fimproved.y clsy The Exercisey1ySdci4 creasinggThlisrlcswill mean less students klduate programs had also ,itnccreasedg spencer Sport .Mahagelment.. :ands HRTA1jiywili rris bedappiyilngifrom high school and VDu,e. to this increase, , manycgfj iiil new iprogramszyiljhavefmorejythanf1aQfsuffiy+ffrfiloregtromfftheh.middlefage class. Also lcourses and degree pirogramislswereiiary .cient inurnlberscrofc Students enrolled, rcr s morefrtransfer.fstudents will be attend- gded each year. T ssso A rrri A or - r fy i Q. ggiactpthe csls University-tof sscs Massachusetts ,ing llir the1u1n1iv.ersiiy..because of the qual- Beginning in 1980gthe Universityfbee lrci ghasimore iccr T'SfLld9Clti enrolied-:ini ilyc t hese yrrts lsi ityyoikits ili programsfand its low cost. gan to make the qualityofcrlits lprogramsg. p programs than mostjuniversities.e rpal isiri S i,Aftef-1 scll i ts,jgpergio.d ,of maturation, the better than the quantity 0fy.then1j dpeff v lisr 1' ii g gg gr ig T ylii 1 Q giis iirr Q ogsr 1 riiigg Ucnriversitysofeisijlillrassachusetts at Am- Qpartments offered more specialized During ryllsisi i this iperiodgfof. riii 1 maiuraison,l y herstjwilligbeccomethe ylfr top-university in :courses for majors ahdnon maj.orsqAt there rhasj also been Qgeneral isll f,ietIe.lj isiliyll the..yNgo.rtheast,f lcsycgls 1 griigs ro o 1 rsci I asl S .the Undergraduate levelig the entoniiiok i Changes.. iiis T he biggestChange7iS-.thesfree1 W lsrissss lyllsyp Q srclc s sii Q lirisi ' iils csyy 'ciisiiccccli i yffgcywayne Q03 ogy department developedfafdSpecialeggivisrigoinigofithe generalreducationdrequire4ff srrris in lllr c rsccc r ized degree program known, as 'intefe,rn.ents.fNewstudentsswiilehavepafdifferg olsly fgrated pest management. ZAt'thef.Gra- ycentgset1ofreClUil'eme'1iS ltisf fOm2th0.S6SieU+.1l iiiliii it F F gduate level, degree prograrris.are,oeing ycll denitscigtwhojrare oisl a dlreadyf .enrolled at the it j 1 ggdeveloped for Phd'S ,ingvnecuroscience l llriiversityjfheserequirementsinvolve , pf if and music. , ily i ioli 4 liir ggri ,staking cdlcocursesi lien-iiistorical Studiesqi A 52, f ' tlii T ssso itlr iiclis i fAnayiiticalQ Reasoning, andflSocial!Cutff, This period of maturation. alllOWS7th6 tural'Diversity.eltfalso requiresrstudents, . f if University time to buildfits reputation clgs ,tocgsltrakel one science igcl with japylab. Dr. academically. This is the number yllli one Qpriority ofthe administration , said'Dr, Qohnson. She stated lt is a realistic yc goalfor the University to becomethe best public institution in the North- Qastf' Some of the academic pro- grams are already the best in the , Northeast. i One example is the Polymer Science land Engineering departments. These i ' A i 1 i Jrfrbnsconllbeiievescthat .this-new educa-A T tion requirement isa ffgood foundation fOi'3ilStUdEr1fS'. i ' T A .ril it it 'Another general change iiiri is thesfuse of icomputers at the University. Comput-fi ers are being used all over the campus They are found in dorms and in some classrooms. Many disciplines have in- tegrated computers into their pro- grams Iike: Landscape Architecture, Administration!19

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Our Hopes for the Future At this time, l join your family and An important point to add, however, friends in offering my congratulations is that excellent tools alone do not and my best wishes for your future. make academic excellence. People do Your degree from this University will that. And, in this respect, we are very mean many things during the coming fortunate. Our faculty and librarians, years, but only you willaccurately ap- our teaching assistants and profession- preciate all the achievements it sym- al staff have already established this bolizes. g . University as a good place to learn. Our This year the Index editors have challenge to become the best public asked me to write about plans for the university in the region will depend future of the University, our hopes for largely upon their will and determina- making it the best public university in tion. They are the people who will re- the Northeast. Those plans are easier cruit new students and newffaculty. Fu- , to describe thangto achieve. And we ture excellence will depend, in large cannot achieve our goal without a measure, upon their success at-theses broad base of support from students tasks. and faculty, professional staff and ad- Finally, lwould add that whatever ex- ministrators, legislators and alumni. cellence we achieve shall not be pur- Achieving pre-eminence in the chased at the expense of equal oppor- Northeast will require many things we tunity. As a public institution dedicated have yet toacquire -- more library to cultural diversity and equal opportu- books, new lab equipment, computers, nity, our academic excellence shall not and other tools for research and learn- be purchased at the expense of pro- ing. With some help and some pa- grams which promote these principles' tience, lam convinced that we will see Excellence, as we shall define it, will be these improvements in the coming built upon them. T P Photo Couffesy 0'Cha Ce 0'DU eYS YGBFS. T g . g Chancellor Joseph Duffey Striving for Excellence in the Northeast President David C. Knapp 18!Adminlstration Chancellor Duffey, Provost O'Brien and l have emphasized in recent months the University's preeminence in public higher education in New Eng- land and our intention to strive for ex- cellence in the Northeast. One of the difficulties with such goalsis the prob- lem of precise definition. lt is custom- ary to. fall back on criteria such as the level of research activity, numbers of faculty awards, capital projects, library holdings, reputational studies, -etc. All of these have some merit in helping an institution determine how successful: it is in meeting its objectives and how it stands relative to its peers. By many-of these standards, the University is now ranked, among the foremost institu- tions in the nation. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst is also fortunate in possessing a vital and dedicated faculty whose achievements have brought the institu- tion increasing recognition as a center of learning and scholarship. P ln addition, their efforts are aug- mented by technical and professional staffs who have contributed materially to a campus environment conducive to . -.si personal growthiand perhaps the ultimatefgtest off.tl1g,egi.in,ii, versity's success can only 5-be Qmeagg .sured by the abil-itiesand Etalentsc - graduates. The igreatestf pang, tention and resources-arei,iandQyiri,ll'1cori+? tinue to be, directedjtowards,-ouirJuris dergraduate programs. ftime elfortscidevotediito the r6St.ructu,ri'ngEgi5?l?g General Education is iindicative-'iiifiithef University's- concern, ffori andgcoin1,mitQ7 ment to the undergraduate can-iculqms Uitirnately, our efforts.,i,imustf,,gl5eQ judged by the impact of the institution on our graduates. These are .oi,itdbmes that cannot simply be pmeasured against, annual income, must take into account the total individuial..sYour experience here 'will have ,conse- quences that may only be evident Yin yearsto come. We trust that in what- ever endeavors you pursue, the efforts of the University will serve you well. We take great pride in our graduates because you embody all our efforts and carry forward our aspirationsy' Congratulations to the members of the Class of 86. And yet, when ali is said' and

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A Period of Change A period of change ..... in the diversity of student programs. A period of change can best describe the curriculum at the University of Massachusetts. When William Field be- came Dean of Students, the University had a common core curriculum. To- day, the University has one of the most diverse curriculums in the Northeast. When Dean Field came to the Univer- sity, all students took a specified core group of courses regardless of major. For example, Dean Field explained, all students took Botany l because it was a required course. The College of Arts and Sciences required its students to take a science. A typical freshman course load consisted of Zoology, Bot- any, Chemistry, and English. This left a very limited selection of electives for students to choose. This allowed stu- dents to choose their major later on in their career. The School of Engineering also set up their own standards, in addition to the University requirements. As a re- sult, what courses a student took as a freshman or sophomore depended on where the student was registered or what major the student had. 20!Administrators lu jg, 'W'- '? 'll -gm. ,I -xxx Photo by Judith Fiola Dean of Students William F. Field Once schools and colleges started setting up their own standards, differ- eniation took place. Courses were di- vided for majors and non-majors. The University had courses such as Chem- istry for Majors and Chemistry for Non- Majors. Today, the University offers one of the most diversified curriculums in the Northeast. Students can choose from over 4000 courses and choose from over 80 different majors. When asked what changes Dean Field forsees, he responded, to have more courses specific to majors. Dean .Field also sees a new core requirement on social, racial, and ethnic cultures for the Uni- versity. Whatever the outcome, the Universi- ty of Massachusetts will one day be- come the finest academic institution in the Northeast. llfilikikikili A period of change can also describe student clubs and organizations. When Dr. Dennis Madson became Vice Chan- cellor for Student Affairs, the club sys- Photo f Dr. Madson's office. Vice Chancellor Student Affairs Dr. Dennis L. Madson tem was already Eight years ago, there weifgapproxiif mately 300 clubs and organizationsg Today, that figure has jersts grown 'tqgoveri 4oo. U jjts , V over the past few years.'The jbusine esses are training their management better and are more organized than in the past. Also in 01980, most busin- esses, such as the Hatch, were brought into the University Accounting System, allowing for betterorganization and al-Q lowing the University to conduct audit- ing. Residential life has become more specialized. Colloquia were added. The social life of residents became more diverse and new discipline policies made for better operation of the resi- dential halls. The University, through its many residential changes, made they residential areas one integrated func- tional operation. ., The diversltyf of student affairs at the 'University will help to strengthen it as, UMass strives for excellence. W I Student run businesses alsochangedf