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With over 4,500 undergraduates and 600 graduate students across more than a dozen academic areas, the UMass Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) continues to make great strides to fulfill its mission: to provide solutions to global challenges and prepare students to make those solutions a reality. Any contribution you make today will help power our success.
Key priorities where your gift will have an impact:
1) Learning by Doing
Experiential programs - internships, study abroad, research with faculty - can be life-changing opportunities for students and enhance their post-graduation success. But an unpaid/low paying internship is just not possible for students who need to earn money to stay in school, and travel costs can make study abroad out of reach. That's why SBS offers financial support for internships and study abroad, and offers programs such as SBS in Boston and SBS in DC, where housing costs are covered and funds are available for travel and other expenses. Your gift will help ensure that all SBS students have meaningful real-world experiences that will help their post-graduation future.
2) Success for All Students
The SBS RISE (Remedying Inequity through Student Engagement) program serves SBS undergraduate students who identify as first-generation, Black, Indigenous, or other Persons of Color (BIPOC), and/or come from low income backgrounds. SBS RISE is designed to create community, and provide specialized academic programs and opportunities for underrepresented students within SBS. Over 2,000 SBS students are SBS RISE-eligible - an expression of our commitment to diversity and to providing a supportive community for all students. Your gift to SBS RISE will help ensure access to SBS Rise programming and support.
3) Faculty Excellence & Knowledge Creation
SBS features award-winning faculty and innovative curricula that draw undergraduate and graduate students seeking a lively and rigorous intellectual home. Within over a dozen research groups and centers, SBS faculty conduct world class social science research with real-world, wide-ranging impact. We compete with the top universities in the world for the best faculty; our Faculty Excellence Fund gives us a competitive edge by providing support for special faculty programs, graduate student research, and other faculty resources. Your gift to our Faculty Excellence Fund will help us continue to recruit and retain the very best talent.
4) Senior Completion
Each year, the vast majority of our 1,300 graduates have jobs, military appointments, or begin graduate education within six months of graduation. But for many students, their futures are on hold because they face financial challenges to the timely completion of their degree. And the pandemic has significantly increased the number of seniors who may not be able to pay for the "golden credit hour" - the last one that lets them graduate. Your gift to the Senior Completion Fund will help seniors, who have exhausted all other financial resources, receive the financial support they need to complete their degree.