UMass Amherst Begins Building $43M School of Public Health, Health Sciences Hub

As a graduate of the School of Public Health & Health Sciences Kinesiology department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, doctoral student Petra Ypsilantis is aware of the separation and lack of cohesiveness among the school’s six departments.

“We’re all spread out,” she explained, observing that she has a long walk from her research space at the Ruth J. Totman Physical Education Building on Eastman Lane to collaborate with students from other departments.

That will change in the fall of 2026, when a 26,800-sq.-ft., three-story School of Public Health & Health Sciences (SPHHS) Hub opens, where all of the university’s graduate and undergraduate students will have space dedicated to their programs, much like what exists at the college’s Isenberg School of Management.

On Sept. 10, UMass Amherst hosted several state and local leaders to kick off the official start of construction of the new $43 million facility. The structure will serve as the heart of SPHHS, which currently has its six departments housed in seven locations around campus.

Work actually began in May at the project site, located at the corner of North Pleasant Street and Eastman Lane adjacent to the Totman Gymnasium, and is scheduled to be complete in December 2025.

“The thought of having a hub — a collective space — is really exciting,” said Ypsilantis, who was among the students observing the ceremonial groundbreaking.

She told the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Mass., that she studies the rehabilitation process for those suffering from traumatic brain injuries and enjoys the opportunity to work more closely with others.

Ypsilantis added that she looks forward to connecting with students from different majors at the new facility.

The emphasis on the new building being a hub was a theme among the guest speakers’ remarks during the groundbreaking as people gathered on the entrance patio of the Totman building, which will be connected to the new structure and undergo some renovation as well. Once complete, the complex will feature a plaza between the two buildings.

Nearby, a perimeter fence currently extends along both North Pleasant Street and Eastman Lane, next to the roundabout, where construction workers with heavy equipment are beginning to prepare the site of a former parking lot.

New Hub Is ‘Dream Come True’ for Many

Anna Maria Siega-Riz, dean of the SPHHS at UMass Amherst, said she had the same feeling as many of the nearly 1,700 undergraduate and 500 graduate students who attend classes and labs in the six health departments: having all the departments under one roof is a dream come true.

In addition to Kinesiology, those departments are Biostatistics & Epidemiology; Environmental Health Sciences; and Health Promotion & Policy; Nutrition; and Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

“This is a landmark moment, as it is the first ever structure on the campus designed for our school,” she told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

The building will focus on student-first instruction, Siega-Riz noted, and fill an increasingly urgent need for health equity, while also hosting conferences, seminars and research space. She explained that the school tackles many contemporary issues, from the opioid crisis and chronic disease to food insecurity and reproductive health.

“Our mission is to achieve health equity and enhance health outcomes for everybody,” she added.

In addition, the new facility will feature flexible, team-based learning classrooms, office space, time-shared cubicles, conferencing facilities, and open areas designed for informal work and collaboration. An outdoor event space to complement the interior academic program spaces to allow SPHHS to host a wide variety of outdoor events also is planned.

“We are providing health and vibrant space to grow our community,” said senior kinesiology lecturer Eliza Frichette.

Project to Fulfill Several UMass Goals

Chris Greenfield, the former associate dean of administration and finance for UMass Amherst who emceed the groundbreaking ceremony, told his audience that the new SPHHS building comes after decades of growth, vision and planning for the school that was established throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but has been spread around seven buildings, with up to a mile separating students and faculty from various departments.

“This building represents connection for our community,” he said.

Similar sentiments were offered by Chancellor Javier Reyes, who also said the SPHHS building is about maximizing public health and health equity, and a pillar of wellbeing for students, faculty and staff.

“This signifies that effort,” Reyes said.

He added that the building reflects the mission of being a land grant university and that a majority of students, after getting their undergraduate or graduate degrees, stay in state to work at hospitals, health centers and other similar places.

In his comments, Stephen Karam, who chairs the UMass System Board of Trustees, said that the Amherst school is promoting diversity in the health care field, ensuring that the workforce represents the community to be served.

Like other buildings, the SPHHS hub will meet the UMass Carbon Zero initiative, according to Barbara Kronke, executive director of the UMass Building Authority. To be built to silver LEED standards, the university will aim to eventually achieve the gold LEED standard.

The structure’s architect was Boston’s Leers Weinzapfel Associates, and it is being constructed by Fontaine Brothers, a general contracting company in Springfield.

The SPHHS project is one of a handful of buildings currently rising on the UMass Amherst campus, the Gazette noted.

In addition, other ongoing projects include the Computer Sciences Laboratories, a 94,300-sq.-ft., four-story building to be completed next spring off Governors Drive; and the Sustainable Engineering Laboratories Building, a 78,000-sq.-ft. structure latest to be finished during the summer of 2026, next to Stockbridge Hall.