Case Study: UMass Amherst achieves centralized, easy management and access to historical and branded media with Acquia DAM

How UMass, uses the Media Collective to manage historical and branded rich media

The University of Massachusetts Amherst, a large public research university with over 29,000 students, faced a “wild west” situation managing its growing collection of branded and historical visual media in shared-drive folders. Designers needed high-resolution files fast and the institution needed a way to organize, preserve, and make those assets easily discoverable across departments.

After evaluating multiple vendors and running a beta test group, UMass implemented the Widen Media Collective. Administrator Maile Thiesen configured custom dashboards and workflows to surface common searches and events, while Widen’s responsive support and educational resources smoothed adoption. The result is a centralized, browser-based DAM that avoids compatibility headaches, improves asset discovery and curation, and provides a trusted long-term partner for preserving UMass’s visual history and brand.

UMass Amherst

Maile Thiesen

Global Administrator of UMass Image Library