University of Massachusetts
The term University of Massachusetts refers to the state university system of the US state of Massachusetts . It consists of the largely independently operating locations of Amherst , Boston , Dartmouth and Lowell as well as the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester .
The abbreviation UMass is used differently depending on the context. On the one hand, it is the official abbreviation of the name "University of Massachusetts" and can thus designate the entire system of universities. Also in connection with the place names of the individual locations, “University of Massachusetts” is often abbreviated to UMass (e.g. UMass Amherst, UMass Boston). If the name UMass is used without a location, it can refer to a specific location or the entire system, depending on the context.
In everyday parlance, UMass is usually used to describe the university in Amherst. This linguistic usage is even maintained at other UMass locations such as Boston. In fact, the university name is abbreviated as both "UMass [location]" (e.g. UMass Dartmouth) and "UM [first letter of location]" (e.g. UMD) in all locations except Amherst. At the Medical School in Worcester, the terms "UMass Medical School" or "UMMS" are used accordingly. For example, students in Boston often speak of their own university as “UMB” in contrast to “UMass” (= UMass Amherst). Only in Amherst is the university referred to as "UMass" or "UMass Amherst", but not as UMA.
