ALANA, Diversity and Opportunity Program

The ALANA, Diversity and Opportunity Program of the Office of Graduate Student Recruitment and Retention (OGSRR) works to increase and enhance the overall diversity of the graduate student body and provide access for those graduate students who have been disadvantaged for finanical reasons or historically underrepresented in graduate education. The Graduate School, in cooperation with the university’s various colleges and departments, provides administrative and fiscal support aimed at identifying, recruiting, retaining, and graduating a diverse graduate student body.

This is not a special admissions program. The recruitment effort seeks those students who can matriculate at the university on the strength of their academic credentials and who can competently fulfill individual degree program requirements. Qualified students interested in applying to the university should write to: ALANA, Diversity and Opportunity Program, Graduate Student Recruitment and Retention, 524 Goodell Building, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, call (413) 545-5284 or email: ogsrr@grad.umass.edu. Applicants are encouraged to access the Graduate School’s web page: www.umass.edu/gradschool.

Graduate applicants are also strongly advised to apply for national fellowships, e.g., Ford Foundation, Javits Fellows, NSF Fellowships, and those provided by national professional organizations. The university participates in Project 1000 (National Hispanic name exchange), GEM (for those interested in science and engineering), and the National Physical Science Consortium, and strongly encourages McNair Scholars to apply. For further information, contact the OGSRR at the above address.

Puerto Rican applicants need not take the TOEFL. Some special arrangements have been made for people of the Mohawk Nation to be considered in-state students.