The “New Bedford Textile School” was renamed the “New Bedford Institute of Textiles and Technology” and the “Bradford Durfee Textile School” was renamed the “Bradford Durfee College of Technology”.

In 1962, the two schools were combined to create the Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute, expanding to become SMU Southeastern Massachusetts University by 1969.

In 1964, ground was broken on a unified campus not far from the Smith Mills section of Dartmouth, between the two cities. Groups I and II buildings housed classrooms, laborites and large lecture classrooms for the sciences and some disciplines in the humanities. Group I building was completed in 1966, with Group II in 1969 and the other original buildings being finished by 1971. The buildings of the campus were designed by internationally renowned Modernist architect Paul Rudolph beginning in the early 1960s, to distinguish the campus from the outside world and provide what might be considered a Social Utopian environment. The building architecture is similar to that of the Boston Government Service Center. Rudolph made both the exterior and interior of each building of rough concrete (béton brut), an essential element of his style, and he endowed buildings with large windows, with the intended effect of giving those inside the feeling of being connected to the outdoors.

The main campus has been expanded several times, including the Cedar Dell residences (begun 1987), the Dion Science & Engineering Building in 1989, the Charlton College of Business in 2004, the new apartment-style residence halls in 2005, and the Research Building in 2007.

SMU was merged into the UMass system and adopted its present name in 1991. In the past two decades, the university has expanded back into its original cities as well, with the “Advanced Textiles & Manufacturing Center” (2001, at the former Kerr Mill site in Fall River) and “Professional and Continuing Education Center” (2002, in the former Cherry & Webb building in Fall River), and the “School for Marine Science and Technology” (1996, adjacent to Fort Rodman in New Bedford), the “Star Store Visual Arts” building in New Bedford (2001) and a second “Center for Professional and Continuing Education” (2002, one block north on Purchase Street) in New Bedford.

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