UMass has a $3B pipeline of development--about $1.4B in construction--so what better time to have UMass Building Authority executive director Katherine Craven as one of our headliners? She'll have lots to discuss at Bisnow’s third annual Boston Student Housing Summit next week.Â

Yesterday, Katherine, right, celebrated the opening of a new $5M fitness and athletic center at UMass Dartmouth (whose chancellor, Dr. Divina Grossman,stands second from left). This fall, the Authority completed a new $54M student residence and a $95M student center at UMass Lowell (the first new on-campus housing there since the '70s). Like many other universities, the five-campus UMass system is striving to house a greater number of its students, Katherine tells us. One reason: kids tend to achieve more academically when they live on campus.

At the flagship UMass Amherst this fall, the Authority completed a $197M, seven-building complex designed by William Rawn & Associates Architects. The living and academic facility can house 1,500 students. In line with the movement toward more online learning, the complex encourages students to combine their living and academic spaces. One challenge for renovations of older dorms are those bulky cinder block walls that make WiFi communication tough. (Upside: Those in cinder block houses are free to throw stones at anyone they please.) To hear more from Katherine and 11 other experts Dec. 17 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, register here.