As students at UMass Boston gear up for the new academic year, the Student Centers on campus offer support to students through cultural and social events. These centers recently installed new coordinators.

According to Bob Cole, the Student Center Coordinators advisor, “While each student center has their own individual constituency, the center leaders sometimes collaborate to pool their resources for the common good.”

The new heads of the student centers are: Alcohol and Substance Abuse Awareness Center – Donna Galipeau, A.R.M.S. (Advocacy Resource for Modern Survival) Center – Frances Darden, Asian Center – Mai Dao, Black Student Center – Sioney Roach, Casa Latina, the Hispanic Student Center – Mayerlin Fana, Center for Students with Disabilities- Claire Cassidy, Queer Student Union (Previously the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Student Center) – Amanda Ducharme and Chris Sterling, Veterans’ Center – Shupuvu Muumba, and the Women’s Center – Bridgette Shaughnessey. Ian Boyd will continue to head the Harbor Art Gallery.

Some of the student center heads plan to embark on new events this year. Donna Galipeau of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Awareness Center expects to expand on last year’s successful “UMB Against Drugs” event, to “open it up to communities around the city so that students may volunteer in their communities.”

Ian Boyd plans to broaden the spectrum of programs at the Harbor Art Gallery through “black box theatre, which uses limited props, and performing arts and music.”

As Shupuvu Muumba of the Veterans’ Center explained, the centers are “open to all students as a place to lounge, study, or use the computers. [The centers are] not just for [the specified types of students], but a place for all students to interact with and learn about each other.”

All of the student centers are located on the fourth floor of Wheatley, except the Disabled Student Center, which is on the first floor of McCormack, room 415. The Harbor Art Gallery is also located on the first floor of McCormack.