Five College News

August 28, 2023: Each of the regular Five College/PVTA bus runs will be operating during the fall 2023 semester. Students and employees of the Five College campuses–Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, and UMass Amherst–may ride these buses fare-free when classes are in session. Members of the public may ride any PVTA bus, with the exception of the 39E between Mount Holyoke and Smith, which is privately contracted. Most PVTA buses will charge a fare to anyone who does not have an ID from a Five College campus. 

The following are the Five College/PVTA buses, with the route they cover and the dates they operate. For route schedules, visit pvta.com/schedules. Keep in mind that PVTA posts schedules on the day that they go into effect. Additional details and updates regarding Five College/PVTA buses can be found at fivecolleges.edu/bus.

The B43: Smith - Hampshire Mall - UMass - Amherst
The B43 runs between Smith, UMass, and Amherst, with stops at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley. It runs all year, and is free to those with an ID from a Five College campus during the academic year beginning September 3, 2023. Outside the academic year and during winter break, it costs $1.50. 

The 38: UMass - Amherst - Hampshire - Mount Holyoke
The 38 runs between UMass, Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke. It is free to all when it runs, and it only runs during the academic year, beginning September 5, 2023.

The 39: Smith - Hampshire - Hampshire Mall
The 39 runs between Hampshire and Smith Colleges on weekdays, and between Hampshire College, Smith College, the Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Mall on weekend evenings. Service begins September 6, 2023.

The 39E: Mount Holyoke - Smith Express
The 39E is an express run between Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, running during the day during the week when classes are in session. It is free and only available to riders with an ID from a Five College campus. Service begins September 6, 2023.

The R29: UMass - Amherst - Hampshire - Mount Holyoke - Holyoke Mall - Springfield
The R29 runs between UMass and the City of Holyoke Transit Station, with stops at Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges. It also has stops at the Holyoke Mall, and at Union Station in downtown Springfield. It is free during the academic year to those with an ID from a Five College campus. Outside the academic year and during winter break, it costs $1.50. Fare-free service begins September 5, 2023.

Buses leading to and from UMass
UMass Transit operates a number of PVTA buses that travel within its campus and between its campus and such surrounding communities as North Amherst, Sunderland, and Belchertown. These buses are free to all riders and operate only when classes are in session. See all UMass Transit Bus Routes.

June 14, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m., the Red Barn at Hampshire College, Rt. 116, Amherst

The Five College campuses of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and UMass Amherst are collaborating to offer job seekers one-stop shopping for hundreds of jobs at a June event in south Amherst. 

The second annual Five College Job Fair, taking place from 1 to 4 pm on June 14 at the Red Barn at Hampshire College, will feature high-priority openings in a wide variety of departments. Attendees will be able to talk with campus representatives and explore job opportunities. Refreshments will be available and gift bags of campus souvenirs will be raffled off to attendees. 

“The response to the first Five College job fair was outstanding, and so it was an easy decision for all of us to organize another one this year,” said Jake Toomey, senior director of human resources at

Hampshire College. “Five College campuses are excellent employers, offering good-paying jobs with great benefits in a wide range of fields. We see this as a perfect opportunity to match our campuses with area job seekers.”

The campus departments with openings include:

• Administration
• Campus Safety
• Dining Services
• Early Learning Center
• Elementary School
• Facilities and Grounds
• Information Technology
• Library Services
• Alumni Relations
• Student Affairs

For more information about this event, visit fivecolleges.edu/jobfair.

May 11, 2023: Following a national search, Five Colleges, Incorporated has named Tom Brennan its Director of Information Technology, effective May 8. Brennan, who has been serving as the interim director since January, boasts an extensive IT career in a wide variety of organizations, including his own consulting business, New York University, and serving as the national IT director for the Warren for President campaign. 

“In a search that included an excellent pool of candidates, Tom stood out as an ideal fit for this consortial role,” said Five College Executive Director Sarah Pfatteicher. “Tom demonstrated that he has extensive understanding of technical issues, combined with broad experience applying that understanding to organizations, and a collaborative spirit that blends well with the Five College culture.” 

Brennan’s responsibilities will include providing leadership and management of the IT infrastructure used by Five College staff and oversight of Five College Net, LLC, as well as facilitating collaborative IT efforts among campus chief information officers and other multi-campus initiatives with significant IT components, such as cross-registration. 

Brennan’s office is at the Five College Center on 97 Spring Street in Amherst, his office phone number is 413-542-4014, and his email is  fci-itdirector@fivecolleges.edu.

May 15, 3 p.m. at Hampshire College 's Franklin Patterson Hall

“We have to create interventions that shift the whole culture of art history and museums,” says Kelli Morgan, the director of curatorial studies at Tufts University, who will speak at Hampshire College’s Franklin Patterson Hall on May 15 at 3 p.m.

The address is sponsored by Museums10, a Five College Consortium program made up of seven campus museums and three independent affiliated institutions. Dr. Morgan’s address, which is free and open to the public, is part of an ongoing effort by Museums10’s members to create more inclusive, accessible museums. 

Dr. Morgan is a curator, educator, and social justice activist who specializes in American art and visual culture. Over the past two years, Dr. Morgan has become a leading and influential voice in bolstering anti-racist work in art museums.

Attendance at the keynote and the reception that follows are free and open to the public. For information about event accessibility, contact fci-strategicengagement@fivecolleges.edu.

For more information and to register click here.

April 20, 2023: A major effort by a Five College-based museum collaboration to create a shared collections resource for students, researchers, and the general public has received a $350,000 boost from the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Known as Enrich/Discover, the project will increase the accessibility of thousands of museum resources by ensuring their descriptions are clear and culturally accurate, thus making them easier to find by Five College students and faculty members, as well as people worldwide. Led by Jessica Nicoll, director and chief curator of the Smith College Museum of Art; and Tricia Paik, director of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Enrich/Discover will be informed by five Cultural Advisory Councils composed of experts with academic, professional or lived knowledge of cultural heritage objects.

“This grant is coming at a critical juncture of our collections management project,” said Nicoll. “A study last year of people accessing our collections showed that we need to be more accurate, equitable, and transparent in how we describe objects if we want people to make the best use of these resources. The Enrich/Discover project should help us accomplish that.” 

As part of its three-year NEH funding, Enrich/Discover will hire a full-time cataloging librarian who will work with the museums and Cultural Advisory Councils to develop descriptions of museum objects that are both accurate and easy to discover. And by standardizing and aligning how museum collections are cataloged, researchers will be better able to locate artifacts across multiple collections. 

Enrich/Discover will serve as a critical component to the museums’ ongoing effort to sustain and evolve a shared collections database and user portal for Amherst College’s Mead Museum, the Hampshire College Art Gallery, UMass Amherst’s University Museum of Contemporary Art, the Smith College Museum of Art, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, and Historic Deerfield–an independent institution. Ultimately, hundreds of thousands of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, and other cultural artifacts will be more accessible online for anyone to enjoy and learn from. 

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.

With the January 31 departure of Maria Toyofuku as Five College’s Director of IT and Enterprise Initiatives, Tom Brennan has assumed the role of interim director. Brennan, an Amherst-based information technology veteran, has most notably served as the national IT director for Elizabeth Warren for President, in addition to working for New York University, RepresentUs, and leading his own technology firms. Brennan worked with FCI briefly in 2019 and Executive Director Sarah Pfatteicher notes “I’m pleased to have Tom return to FCI.  His familiarity with the Consortium and the breadth of his experience in IT will serve us and the campuses well during this interim period.”

At Five Colleges, Brennan will assume all of Toyofuku’s responsibilities, including working with campus registrars and chief information officers, overseeing the Five College Net fiber optic network, and facilitating more than a dozen campus communities of practice. 

Brennan is working at the Five College Center on 97 Spring Street in Amherst, and his office phone number–413-542-4014–will be the same as Toyofuku’s. To ensure continuity in email communications through this interim period and beyond, please use the fci-itdirector@fivecolleges.edu email address for inquiries and requests.

Students and employees at Five College campuses will see a continuation of bus service on all regular routes during the spring 2023 semester, with the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) resuming its 39 bus route between Hampshire and Smith. Students, faculty, and staff at Five College campuses may ride Five College buses for free during the academic year, and should be prepared to show their campus ID if asked. Ongoing updates can be found on the bus page of the Five College website, and at pvta.com. 

Bus route details
Beginning on Wednesday, January 25, route 39 service between Hampshire and Smith, with weekend service to the Route 9 malls, will resume with PVTA. 

Beginning Monday, January 23, the 38 will resume its school-year schedule  between UMass, Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke. Please note that from January 23 until February 3 it will be running a limited service route until classes at UMass resume. To find the limited service schedule, go to the 38 schedule and scroll down until you see it. The 38, which is free to all when it runs,  will resume its full schedule on February 4. 

On Monday, January 23, the 39E will resume its express run between Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, operating during the day during the week when classes are in session. It is free and only available to riders with an ID from a Five College campus.

The B43 will continue running its school-year schedule between Smith, UMass, and Amherst, with stops at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley. It runs late into the evening and on weekends throughout the year, with a different schedule when school is not in session. 

The R29 will continue its regular route between UMass and the City of Holyoke Transit Station, with stops at Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges. It also has stops at the Holyoke Mall, and at Union Station in downtown Springfield. It runs during the day seven days a week, including when school is not in session.

Additionally, anyone with an ID from a Five College campus may ride the R41, between Northampton and the Holyoke Mall, and the G73e, linking Northampton to the Holyoke Mall and Springfield, through the fall semester.

Anyone with questions about Five College area bus service should contact Kevin Kennedy, kkennedy@fivecolleges.edu, 413-542-4017

Five College bus service will continue through the end of final exams, with some interruptions between the end of classes and start of exams. Please see below for details:

Route 38: UMass-Amherst-Hampshire-Mount Holyoke
Regular full service will continue, uninterrupted, through Tuesday, December 20. 

Route 39: Hampshire-Smith-Rt 9 Malls
Weekday service will not be offered on December 14, 15, and 16. Evening service to the malls will continue on December 16, 17, and 18. In addition, weekday service will be available on Sunday, December 18 to accommodate final exams at Smith, and will continue to be offered through Wednesday, December 21.

Route 39E: Mount Holyoke-Smith Express
Regular full service will continue, uninterrupted, through Wednesday, December 21. In addition, there will be service on Saturday, December 17 and Sunday, December 18.  

Route B43: Amherst-UMass-Smith
Regular, full service will continue through Thursday, December 22. It will follow a No-School Schedule from December 23 through February 4, 2023. 

For more information, contact 

Kevin Kennedy • kkennedy@fivecolleges.edu • 413-542-4017

Thursday, October 6, 2022, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., 400 Venture Way, Hadley

September 22, 2022: The Five College campuses of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and UMass Amherst are collaborating to offer job seekers one-stop shopping for hundreds of jobs at an October event. 

The Five College Jobs Fair, taking place from 2pm to 5 pm on October 6 at 400 Venture Way in Hadley, will feature high-priority openings in a wide variety of departments. Attendees will be able to talk with campus representatives and apply for positions on the spot. Refreshments will be available and gift bags of campus souvenirs will be raffled off to attendees. 

“We’re happy to help coordinate this event as a service to our member campuses as well as to job seekers in the region,” said Five College Consortium Executive Director Sarah Pfatteicher. “The jobs fair will be an excellent occasion for attendees to explore local employment opportunities available in higher education.” 

The campus departments currently planning to be present at the Five College Jobs Fair include

• Administration
• Campus Safety
• Dining Services
• Early Learning Center
• Elementary School
• Facilities
• Information Technology
• Library Services
• Alumni Relations
• Student Affairs

For more information about this event, visit fivecolleges.edu/jobsfair.

Updated August 23, 2022: Students and employees at Five College campuses will see a return to bus service on all regular routes during the fall 2022 semester. Students, faculty, and staff at Five College campuses may ride Five College buses for free during the academic year, and should be prepared to show their campus ID if asked. 

Service on Five College bus routes for fall 2022

Ongoing updates can be found on the bus page of the Five College website, and at pvta.com. Keep in mind that the PVTA will not release schedules for the upcoming year until the service has begun, but there will be no significant changes to the 2022-23 schedules from the 2021-2022 academic year. The links here are to this past year’s schedules. 

Beginning Tuesday, September 6, the B43 will be running its school-year schedule between Smith, UMass, and Amherst, with stops at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley. It runs late into the evening and on weekends throughout the year, with a different schedule when school is not in session. 

Beginning Tuesday, September 6, the 38 will resume its school-year schedule  between UMass, Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke, operating late into the evening and on weekends. It is free to all when it runs, and it only runs during the academic year. The 38 will operate with van service and a limited schedule on August 31, September 1 and September 2, returning to full service with a full-size bus on September 6.  A schedule for these three days will be available on the bus page of the Five College website when it is available. 

Beginning on Wednesday, August 31, route 39 service between Hampshire and Smith, with weekend service to the Hampshire Mall, will be offered by Michael’s Limousine service. 

On Tuesday, September 6, the 39E will resume its express run between Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, operating during the day during the week when classes are in session. It is free and only available to riders with an ID from a Five College campus.

The R29 will continue its regular route between UMass and the City of Holyoke Transit Station, with stops at Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges. It also has stops at the Holyoke Mall, and at Union Station in downtown Springfield. It runs during the day seven days a week, including when school is not in session.

Additionally, anyone with an ID from a Five College campus may ride the R41, between Northampton and the Holyoke Mall, and G73e, linking Northampton to the Holyoke Mall and Springfield, through the fall semester.

Anyone with questions about Five College area bus service should contact Kevin Kennedy, kkennedy@fivecolleges.edu, 413-542-4017.

Pioneering equity-driven open-source system improves the user experience 

July 07, 2022: The Five College Consortium announces the adoption of FOLIO, an open-source library services platform, which will begin operation throughout the Five College libraries later this month.  

The campus libraries of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges are among the first set of FOLIO adopters—and adapters. Five Colleges worked with EBSCO, one of the largest providers of digital library content in the world, to develop and beta test the implementation and hosting services for FOLIO. Orchestrated by the Open Library Environment (OLE), FOLIO is a global library collaboration community focused on open solutions for libraries.  

FOLIO, which stands for the “Future Of Libraries Is Open,” is the result of a collaboration of libraries, developers, and vendors who have built a platform to support traditional resource management functionality, to be extended into other functions. 

In the past, campus libraries made use of numerous non-integrated products to keep bibliographic data up to date throughout a network of systems and in shared catalogs such as the Five Colleges library catalog. UMass, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, Smith, and Amherst colleges share both print and e-resources but purchase digital materials separately. To be shared across the consortium, an item’s data had to be entered in multiple places, which was time consuming and left room for error. 

While users of the library’s website and search engines won’t notice much difference, FOLIO delivers a net improvement for the user by delivering more accurate results, and offers library staff ease in managing data and finances. 

“Our investment in FOLIO aligns with our mission, values, and strategy, moving toward openness in research and discovery, and community-driven development and collective governance in libraries and consortia,” says Sarah Hutton, interim Dean of Libraries at UMass Amherst for 2021-2022, during which time much of the FOLIO implementation work occurred. “We are honored to be part of a global community working to make information access more equitable by helping create an open, community-developed platform.” 

The migration to FOLIO has been made possible by dedicated staff who built this over four years and hundreds of hours, and due to the commitment from Five College library leadership. It’s a developing product, so the Five College libraries will reap additional benefits with features rolled out in subsequent releases.  

“We developed wholly new functions specifically for library consortia in FOLIO,” says Kat Berry, head of Information Resources Management at UMass. “So our work will benefit other library consortia all around the globe who can adopt features developed and tested by our team members.”