University Of Massachusetts Dartmouth

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is one of four campuses and operating subdivisions of the University of Massachusetts (UMass). It is located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States, in the center of the South Coast region, between the cities of New Bedford to the east and Fall River to the west. It became a UMass campus in 1991 when Southeastern Massachusetts University was merged into the University of Massachusetts system.

The campus, also known as UMass Dartmouth, "UMassD", or "UMD", has an overall student body of 9,155 students, including undergraduate, graduate students, and (PCE) continuing education students. As of Spring 2008, there are approximately 4,173 students living on campus. Approximately 61 undergraduate programs of study and 32 graduate programs are offered. There are more than 300 full-time faculty.

UMass Dartmouth is best known for its programs in engineering, nursing, marine science, business, visual and performing arts, and also its Portuguese studies programs. UMass Dartmouth is host to one of the nation's most extensive undergraduate and graduate programs in Portuguese language and literary studies, offering both a BA and an MA in Portuguese studies, as well as a Ph.D. program in Luso-Afro-Brazilian studies and theory. The campus also has the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture which sponsors numerous publication series, as well as international conferences in Portuguese and Portuguese-American studies. The university is home to the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, located in a special section of the Claire T. Carney Library, and the UMass-Dartmouth Summer Program in Portuguese.

The school also hosts the University of Massachusetts School of Law, as the trustees of the state's university system voted during 2004 to purchase the nearby Southern New England School of Law, a private institution that is accredited regionally but not by the American Bar Association. This proposal was rejected at the time and lay dormant for several years, but was revived in October 2009 with an offer by SNESL to donate its campus and resources, valued at over $20 million, to the university. The proposal was approved unanimously by the state Board of Higher Education on February 2, 2010. UMass Dartmouth Law School opened its doors in September 2010, accepting all current SNESL students with a C or better average as transfer students, and achieved (provisional) ABA accreditation in June 2012.

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