and we're on the road in Hampshire County today taping at the Yiddish book
center in Hampshire coward
any Amherst math talking about the impact
at the five colleges had any Hampshire County area
and joining me in Neil a neighbor who is the executive director
up five colleges ever faster up as a mail thank you so much for joining me
today
so talk about what five colleges it thank you Liz
five colleges is an association
Amherst Hampshire Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges
and the University of Massachusetts Amherst it is formed
and has approach now its fiftieth anniversary
since its founding form to help the five campuses work together
to achieve their separate goals which really educational missions
but in the process we help them be more efficient in their administrative
projects offer more opportunities
for students and faculty members and better serve the communities in which
they were
now we're talking a little bit of camera this has been going on for a while
even know him for college was the most recent college to joining
and you turn from for colleges that defied but it's been going back
your collaboration among the colleges and universities
the Connecticut River Valley western Massachusetts
began in 1914 with leave
Association love Amherst College Mount Holyoke College
miss college Massachusetts Agricultural College
the early name of what has become U-mass Amherst
and the YMCA International College
the early name of what became Springfield College they find an
association to promote educational opportunities
for residents in the communities Inc which those
five institutions existed and that meant
services for training for mill workers and
also services for the employees in the military bases
now it kinda been involved water also that lasted for about sixty years and
then fifty years ago
with a slight overlap for college is incorporated was formed to help
these for neighboring institutions near Amherst
work together and it's incredible how they don't forget
odds with each other they're both they're all working together and that's
where five colleges is able to come to get them all-or-nothing level and
kinda present that united front and attract
students to death area so
the opportunities for students are much larger
and currently above the thirty thousand undergraduates who are enrolled in our
five campuses
there are nearly 6,000 enrollments
away from home as we say students who will take a course
at another one with the campuses fining a way to replace the cap course that is
for at the home campus
find a course it's not offered at the home campus finding a different style of
presentation
and there's also a there's that offensive
even the faculty members are almost it's a joint faculty members
cracked well there are several thousand faculty members in total
but there are forty of them who are hired to teach
every year at several campuses and there another forty or fifty
who are borrowed on a temporary basis to teacher second campus
because they have a specialty that is needed so there's a lot of faculty
interchange
the benefit students even if the students stay put
and it's not just benefiting the students but it's also benefiting
the local economy as well talk about the importance of having
five different college institutions in this area so
there's a wide range a benefit from the earliest days of allowing students to
travel among the campuses there was a shuttle bus service to get the students
because students have
were far less likely to have cars and now they've moved
to no canceling our own
bus service and subsidizing the Regional Transit
so the buses run more often as long as the buses run between the campuses
we have joint activities to provide community service
and when we decided to build our own fiber-optic network to bring high-speed
internet to the campuses
we left some fibers reaches the town's so they have access
to the high speed internet as well in each other towns so covering
South Hadley and Hadley and Granby
and Chicopee no along the routes Northampton Amherst and so forth
all those towns have public homes
service access to the internet because we brought it
to the area but a benefit what are some ways that the five colleges
getting cool to put the community so a recent way which is really quite
exciting
and then go back to another the recent way was that
many the local newspapers are hard to keep and hard to find
in the library's across the state
so we helped fifteen libraries
buy a subscription to the electronic back files all the local newspapers
and make them available to every library in western Massachusetts whether it's a
school library or public library
or college university library where the hub
we get we helped recruit the 15 payers
and everybody benefits can't think right you know very different way
there are 10,000 employees and so a payroll have some
700 million dollars the is
invested in people who live and work in the areas where buses we have it.
we have just payroll we have local
purchases in the local farms that buy food for that
the dining halls so it is a major engagement with the community
and then there's lots of community service for
the service organizations for after-school tutoring in school tutoring
and for special needs populations any plans for a sec
college to add to the mix relative college was a brainstorm
representatives up the other four who were commissioned to respond to
educational
reform initiatives back in the nineteen fifties and they came up with a vision
for a new college
nobody had the money for its and nothing happened until the
the funders came along is that what about that idea for new college
there hasn't been talk another college but there has been a lot of talk
I've collaborating with the eight colleges in the Greater Springfield area
and with Greenfield Community College to creating a network
14 campuses here in
character River Valley saying never now are you never know
well thank you so much family room from the by colleges conversion thing