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[newposter]

Any information on this university (particularly its academic atmosphere, infrastructure, location, composition of the student body) will be helpful. I found a 2007 thread on this university on the forum, but that did not have much information.

[tt33_hist]

I interviewed there and my impression was that the students are diverse and motivated. The faculty/admin were pleasant. My overall take though was that there is a lot of pressure to publish as you would expect at an R1 but the load was 3-3 with as many as 50 students in a class and no TAs. It seemed like you'd be getting the UMass name without much time or support for research.

[systeme_d_]

I can tell you about the student body and the general area.

They're mostly public school students from MA.  This is a good thing, since the public schools in MA are generally quite solid.

It's a (arguably, THE) tech school in the UMass system.  Students will be career-driven, and most major in the various types of engineering (civil, materials, chem, elec, etc.).  This is not a school in which the humanities flourish -- they are incidental to the enterprise.

Lowell was historically a working-class city, and remains so in some respects, but property values have skyrocketed since more and more people commute from Lowell and environs to Boston.  

[newposter]

Thanks for your answers. Is the 3-3 load common to all departments, or are there departments with 2-2 loads, etc.? I ask because I know that at some universities loads are different from department to department (for example, less in the business school, so on).

[prokraz]

The teaching load is pretty consistent in the humanities and social sciences, though junior folks in the sciences seem rarely to teach 3:3. There are opportunities for course releases, but, more importantly 3:3 only rarely means more than two preps per semester. In some cases, you may only have three preps per year (i.e., 4 sections of the same course across two semesters). And, yes, you are expected to do research. If you're in a field where books are the norm, you need at least one book plus peer-reviewed articles before tenure. If you're in a field where journal articles are the norm, you would need one to two peer-reviewed articles per year (depending on the specific field). As in most places, the biz program is a whole different beast, because they have to compete with industry.

[dellaroux]

Lawrence and Lowell were both mill towns and have some rehabbed condos that were originally old mill buildings, and other areas that are being updated (gentrified, you could say).

At one point the two were twinned, with the mill owners, I believe, living in Lowell and the workers in Lawrence, which remains slightly more blue-collar although both have areas that have taken on the 495-outerbelt aura of bedroom-communities-to-Boston look.

Town websites are at:

Lawrence:
   http://www.ci.lawrence.ma.us/Pages/index
Lowell:
   http://www.lowellma.gov/

I believe the names came from Amos Lawrence Lowell, the mill-owner at the time.

It is close to the MA/NH border; many people that close to the border go over to enjoy the taxless state of NH's offerings, some live there and commute into MA for the same reason.

Sports include water sports along the Merrimack River (read Thoreau's canoe trip journal for a historical sense of the place), hiking and skiing in the NH mountains, etc.

The Methuen Organ is a world-renowned attraction in its own right, also nearby, and the town of Methuen has areas that might be good for living in as well.

You do need a car; there is a bit of public transport but not much.

The areas around Lowell vary somewhat between upscale and depressed at times; there are some strong pockets of French Canadian descendants (Jack Kerouac was from this area) and the Quilt Museum and related folk/craft activities bring many summer visitors to the (small-ish, everyone goes to the malls) downtown shopping areas.

[prokraz]

...Except the process of gentrification is much further along than in Lawrence. Downtown Lowell is lovely, and has been featured in a few recent movies. UML recently acquired the former Doubletree Hotel, now the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, and the University should have an increasing presence downtown. There are several upscale/upscale-wannabe restaurants that have recently opened downtown. There are also a couple of cafes and a great new wine and cheese shop, Tutto Bene. This aside, downtown retail has a long way to go, but the Canal/River Walk plan should make a big difference. Regarding an earlier comment about "skyrocketing property values," you can still get a lovely old single-family Colonial or Victorian for less than folks are paying for the average small two-bedroom condo in Boston/Cambridge.

[history_grrrl]

Not that anyone cares (well, maybe if you're an historian), but Lowell was the site of some of the most fascinating history imaginable -- early textile mills, young women who came from the countryside to be the nation's first industrial workers, etc. So I guess I could tell you what it was like to live in Lowell about 175 years ago. :)

[dellaroux]

In fact, the musical "Carousel" replicates some of that flavor, although I think it was set in Maine.

Yes, the mills were a mixed blessing. One of the earlier kinds of sweatshop labor (serious problems if a bobbin split off or the threads snapped in your face, I think) but also one of the early ways in which women could find jobs outside of the domestic sphere.

The use of patented inventions and the development about ideas for timing and production also came together, although, again, not all of them were as good for the workers' as for their bosses' pockets.

The old brick buildings, though--those things are resilient, and some are rhythmically beautiful.

(yeah, historian, here....guilty as charged...)