Our Mission
The University of Massachusetts Boston is an academic community dedicated to pursuing locally rooted and globally engaged research, teaching, and learning at the highest level of scholarly excellence. Firmly rooted in the city of Boston, we are committed to truth-seeking and service in the quest for social justice.
Our expansive scholarly and creative contributions are directed at advancing knowledge in partnership with the communities we serve, especially the historically marginalized. We honor and uplift the cultural wealth and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff to sustain a vibrant and just campus community.
Learn more about For the Times: A New Strategic Plan for UMass Boston.
Our Vision
We are a public research university with a teaching soul. UMass Boston brings diverse people and ideas together to seek knowledge and improve lives, here in Boston, across the nation, and around the world. We are dedicated to promoting the practice of democratic citizenship; preparing a diverse, talented workforce; informing equitable public policy; and strengthening the social and economic resilience of our city.
Our rigorous academic environment supports the intellectual growth and success of students from diverse socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Our student body, drawn from and embodying the world's immense cultural wealth, will be the primary source of Boston's future talent. Our students’ future is Boston’s future. Equity and an ethic of care are core values that drive institutional policies, practices, and culture. And we thrive as a community of people who learn from each other and from life experiences different from our own.
UMass Boston’s community-engaged scholarship, service, and strategic collaborations promote the interests of our partner communities. Our academic programs reflect alignment between racial and environmental justice and the principles of sustainable humanity that guide university planning and operations.
Our Commitments
Teaching, Research & Service Mission
UMass Boston’s mission calls on all members of our campus community to pursue positive engagement and social progress. By harnessing our teaching, research, and service expertise, UMass Boston will reach the next level of excellence as a higher education leader in producing relevant, interdisciplinary, and transformative research addressing the vexing problems facing our society. We are convinced that the power of knowledge flows from helping us develop informed convictions that drive principled actions to benefit the world. We here and now redouble our endeavors to showcase our distinction: our pledge to be an antiracist, health-promoting public research university; our dedication to seek truth and advance knowledge in the service of Boston, the commonwealth, and the greater good; and our devotion to innovative, student-centered learning and success. Above all, we pledge to our students our devotion to work with and for them so they may flourish as citizens, professionals, and advocates for social justice in the service of creating a more humane, sustainable, and resilient planet.
Antiracist & Health-Promoting Culture
Since our founding, UMass Boston has been a leader in promoting diversity and ensuring educational access and opportunity to diverse students. Disrupting systemic racism is a pillar of UMass Boston’s approach to educating. As a federally designated Minority Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution, UMass Boston has, for decades, insisted on equality of access and opportunity in higher education. We are intentional in cultivating antiracist values—in our curriculum, across our research enterprise, in the transdisciplinary scholarship we produce, and in the communityuniversity partnerships we build. We are equally intentional in modeling a positive culture of health and wellness that dislodges and transcends longstanding inequities in the delivery of healthcare. UMass Boston’s strengths in multidisciplinary biomedical/public health research and practice, and our deep partnerships with public/private healthcare networks in Boston and the commonwealth position us to bolster health equity—for our campus community, in the region, and beyond.
Community Collaboration
At UMass Boston, we believe in the importance of community-university engagement with like-minded partners in Boston and beyond. The path in higher education moving forward will be increasingly collaborative, linking institutions across sectors and creating more equitable and effective models for educational delivery. Reciprocal partnerships between universities, civil society organizations, industry and businesses, and government democratize education by generating more opportunities through expanded networks, unexpected connections, and continuing education. This enables the rising number of students from all parts of the income distribution to receive an education that meets the needs of the 21st century workplace. UMass Boston’s longstanding community engagement continues to enrich teaching, research, and scholarship, and prepare educated, engaged citizens for lives of consequence and civic responsibility.
Operational Excellence
With a view to institutional improvement and financial strength, UMass Boston demands operational excellence in its planning, programmatic delivery, and systems for resource generation, utilization, and allocation. Operational excellence builds community. Being part of teams that create goals, execute on plans, and improve processes challenges students, faculty, and staff to think imaginatively. It can revitalize campus community life. And it can create alignment that infuses university operations with the same creative, innovative, and agile mindset that drives academics at UMass Boston. To do this, we will refine our financial architecture to manage resources more effectively and develop new revenue streams in support of our mission. Recognizing that investment comes in many forms, we will reallocate existing dollars, reimagine the ways we work, prioritize renewable resources, improve multi-year planning, and strengthen campus service delivery.