It is located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States, in the center of the South Coast region, between the cities of New Bedford to the east and Fall River to the west. It became a UMass campus in 1991 when Southeastern Massachusetts University was merged into the University of Massachusetts system.The campus has an overall student body of 8,647 students, including 6,999 undergraduates a
nd 1,648 graduate/law students. As of the 2017 academic year, UMass Dartmouth records 399 full-time faculty on staff. For the fourth consecutive year UMass Dartmouth receives top 20 national rank from President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its civic engagement.The university also includes the University of Massachusetts School of Law, as the trustees of the state's university system voted during 2004 to purchase the nearby Southern New England School of Law, a private institution that was accredited regionally but not by the American Bar Association . UMass School of Law at Dartmouth opened its doors in September 2010, accepting all current SNESL students with a C or better average as transfer students, and achieved ABA accreditation in June 2012. The law school achieved full accreditation in December 2016.
