AMHERST — During the 2025-2026 academic year, student-athletes at the University of Massachusetts performed 2,000 hours of community service, a record-setting period for their involvement in off-campus initiatives.
This school year, members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee are intent on breaking that record, said Jayden Ndjigue, a senior economics major who plays on the men’s basketball team, observing that UMass works hard to optimize its relationship with area cities and towns.
“UMass helps community and impacts community, and community helps UMass,” Ndjigue said, speaking at the 59th annual Community Breakfast, held Tuesday morning at the Student Union Ballroom.
Saying that the words “connection” and “reciprocity” define the relationship between UMass and the communities, Ndjigue credits those from area towns for helping to improve the lives of students, while students have myriad opportunities to get involved, like putting on the Soles for Souls shoe collection and assisting the Amherst Survival Center and the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club, as well as student-athletes holding clinics and shootarounds for youths.
This theme of connection was also noted by Chancellor Javier Reyes, who in giving the keynote address said UMass is meeting and exceeding expectations, despite the uncertainty in higher education and the headwinds from the federal government.
“UMass Amherst continues to drive forward, continues to show momentum,” Reyes said. “We have momentum. We are doing very well when it comes to the community of the University of Massachusetts and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
He referenced what may be the most visible sign of progress in the community: the roundabout being constructed at University Drive and Amity Street that will ease traffic congestion at the edge of the campus.
“It takes all of us working together and rowing together in the same direction,” Reyes said.
Reyes said the successes are indicated in several ways. One is the 50,000 applications from prospective students and maintaining a consistent admittance of 5,300 first-year students. Another is the $235 million in research money awarded for sponsored projects — a figure similar to the previous four fiscal years, when the campus was awarded a total of $954 million in sponsored projects. This influx of research funding shows how UMass has played defense against federal funding cuts while faculty have played offense by continuing to secure grants, he said.
And in January, Reyes said, the university exceeded its $600 million Accelerate campaign fundraising goal 18 months ahead of schedule. That campaign has now raised more than $693 million. “This represents a big vote of confidence in the work we do at UMass,” Reyes said.
While no major initiatives were announced this year, Reyes said projects developed over the past two years continue to pay off for the university’s relationship with the community. In 2024, UMass Downtown opened in Amherst center, which hosted 87 events for 2,200 participants last school year, and the Economic Development Initiative launched last year will better connect the campus with the ecosystem of western Massachusetts.
A capital improvement project announced earlier this year, which could involve public-private partnerships to renovate campus housing, is also at the forefront of ongoing work. Reyes said housing is a challenge for everyone and a responsibility for all, as it helps attract and retain talent.
With this work, UMass intends to maintain on-campus housing for 60% of undergraduate students, aiming to make living on campus more affordable and modern, but not seeking an expansion of on-campus beds. “That is an expectation not common to a land grant university like UMass,” Reyes said.
Among those in attendance were state Reps. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, and Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, several members of the Amherst Town Council; and town officials from Hadley, Belchertown and Montague, as well as UMass basketball coaches Mike Leflar and Frank Martin and ice hockey coach Greg Carvel.
Business and college leaders and other area professionals were also in attendance, all enjoying the food prepared by UMass Dining, which the Princeton Review named the best campus dining for a 10th consecutive year.
Kishore Parmar, vice president of the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group and president of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce board, said UMass is an “economic catalyst” and appreciates its community involvement, noting that membership has grown by about 40 members in the past year.
“Students are back and things are busy and the area is vibrant again,” Parmar said.
Parmar talked about his family’s arrival in Hadley in 1988, six years after immigrating to the country from India, and buying a small 23-room hotel, while noting that they didn’t fit the prototypical Hadley citizen. Now the company has 500 rooms in the region and the acceptance they achieved says a lot about the area, Parmar said.
And while Parmar said there has been at the federal level “renaming a body of water” — a reference to President Trump’s recent proclamation that Lake Ontario should now be known as Lake America that elicited applause — he noted that UMass has hunkered down to maintain a creative and vibrant ecosystem, which is instrumental to the success of so many businesses.
“We grew because the area grew,’ Parmar said.
The emcee for this year’s event was Nancy Buffone, associate vice chancellor for university relations, who cited the assistance students have provided to make the larger community better, such as reimagining what the Hampshire Mall property in Hadley could look like and how the old state school site in Belchertown could be redeveloped.
UMass works closely with the business community on Adventure into Amherst, bringing freshmen and other new students into downtown to explore the retail, dining and service options, Homecoming in October that will once again spill into downtown and the return of the Mass Impact Day of Service on Sept. 19, when 170 students and 30 faculty will fan out to plant trees and clean parks in the Pioneer Valley. UMass also welcomes people for sporting events, theater productions and other activities.
“There’s always something to do here in the Valley; its why we live here,” Buffone said.
Buffone took over the hosting responsibilities from Tony Maroulis, who was present in the ballroom, but is now executive director of economic development.
Buffone made sure that those who have been to the breakfast in previous years understood that her humor wouldn’t match that of Maroulis, stating at the outset that there would be no Kanye West references or any dad jokes.
“Reset your expectations a little bit,” Buffone said.
The breakfast concluded with a performance of “Fight Mass,” the UMass fight song, by the Minuteman Marching Band, who were joined on stage by members of the UMass cheer squad.
