Five College Consortium

For more information, visit The Five College Consortium Website

Overview
Five Colleges, Incorporated is a nonprofit educational consortium established in 1965 to promote the broad educational and cultural objectives of its member institutions, which include four private, liberal arts colleges and the Amherst campus of the state university. The consortium is an outgrowth of a highly successful collaboration in the 1950s among Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which resulted in the founding of a fifth institution, Hampshire College, in 1970.

Five Colleges promotes and administers long-term forms of cooperation that benefit faculty, students, and staff. These include:


 * Shared use of educational and cultural resources and facilities, including a joint automated library system, open cross registration, and open theater auditions;
 * Joint departments and programs;
 * Inter-campus transportation.

Their proximity to one another in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts favors Five College collaboration, as does their commitment to the liberal arts and to undergraduate education. Five Colleges, Incorporated is a longstanding member of the Association for Consortial Leadership (ACL), a national organization of consortia.

Member Institutions
The four private liberal arts colleges and the state university that associate as members of the Five College consortium retain their unique identities and missions, and each has its own admission requirements and procedures. Detailed information about the schools is available at each of their Web sites.

Amherst College
Founded in 1821, Amherst is the oldest of the five campuses and has a student body of 1,600 undergraduate men and women. Amherst is often cited as one of this country's most outstanding liberal arts colleges.

Hampshire College
Founded by the other four schools as an experimental and highly innovative liberal arts institution for men and women, Hampshire opened its doors in 1970. Its emphasis on independent inquiry enables its 1,350 students to design their own programs of study.

Mount Holyoke College
Established in 1837 by the well-known educator Mary Lyon, Mount Holyoke is the oldest college for women in the nation. Today, its 2,000 undergraduates are challenged by the same rigorous standards in pursuing a liberal arts education.

Smith College
Established in 1871, Smith was among the first colleges to offer women serious academic training for the professions of medicine, law, and teaching. With an enrollment of 2,500 women, Smith remains the largest private liberal arts college for women in the country.

University of Massachusetts Amherst
The university is the flagship campus of the state system. Founded in 1863 as a land-grant university, UMass has evolved into a prominent research institution of ten schools and colleges and enrolls approximately 20,000 undergraduates and some 5,800 graduate students.

Governance and Administration
The executive director of the consortium serves on the Board of Directors of Five Colleges, Incorporated with the presidents of the four colleges, the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the president of the University System. The deans of faculty and the principal business officers meet monthly with the executive director and members of her staff to oversee cooperation in academic and administrative areas respectively. The executive director and other Five College staff administer the policies, projects, and joint programs agreed upon by the institutions. At the present time, approximately eighty groups are engaged in cooperative planning with the support of Five College staff.

2007-2008

 * Anthony W. Marx, President, Amherst College
 * Ralph J. Hexter, President, Hampshire College
 * Joanne V.Creighton, President, Mount Holyoke College
 * Carol Tecla Christ, President Smith College and President, Five Colleges,Incorporated
 * T.B.D., Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
 * Jack Wilson, President, University of Massachusetts System
 * Lorna M. Peterson, Executive Director, Five Colleges, Incorporated

Transportation in the Five Colleges
Five College students enjoy free transportation between the schools via the PVTA bus system. The main routes for the Five Colleges transport all passengers for free, but other routes may be accessed free of charge by showing a Five College student ID card to the driver. See the 2008 Five College Bus Schedule.

Amherst
To get to Amherst, take the 38 bus line when the bus reads "UMass/Haigis Mall" and exit at Amherst College. The bus will stop at Amherst without needing to signal the driver. The outgoing bus can only be accessed at the main bus stop.

Mt. Holyoke
Both the 38 and 39 buses go to Mt. Holyoke, and both may be taken from either the main or Dakin bus stops. Mt. Holyoke has five bus stops: one by the education building, one by the Art Museum, one by the student center, one around the corner from the student center, and one behind the library.

Smith
To get to Smith, ride the 39 bus when it reads "Smith via Hampshire College." The outgoing bus can be taken from either the main or Dakin bus stops. The Smith bus stops outside John M. Greene Hall.

UMass
UMass can be reached by route 38. The outgoing bus can only be accessed at the main bus stop. The 38 line only stops at Haigis Mall, outside the Fine Arts Center. However, UMass has its own system of transportation if the destination is far from the Haigis Mall bus stop. Map of UMass.