Chancellor's Monday Message
Monday, September 29, 2014    

To those who ushered in the year 5775 at sundown on Wednesday by dipping sliced apples in honey and partaking of a round-shaped challah with your families and friends, I wish you a sweet, healthy, and happy New Year. L'Shanah Tova!

 

Do you love autumn as I do? The poet Mary Oliver wrote,

"Look, the trees are turning

their own bodies into pillars

of light, are giving off the rich

fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment ..."

 

In our new strategic plan, UMassDTransform2020 (click here), we envision UMass Dartmouth to be a globally recognized premier research university by 2020. At present, we are still designated a regional university, as evidenced in the 2014 U.S. News & World Report, which ranks UMassD #25 among regional public universities in the North and #87 among all regional universities in the North, including public and private.

 

Plaudits to Professor Karen Payton, who was awarded a $305,592 STTR grant from NIH and the Speech Technology and Applied Research Corp titled "Enabling Technology for Separation and Enhancement of Mixed Signals"!

 

Kudos to Professor Changsheng Chen for his appointment as the Montgomery Charter Chair in the Department of Fisheries Oceanography!

 

Congratulations to Dean Steve Lohrenz, Professor Kevin Stokesbury, and all the faculty, students, and staff of SMAST for receiving the "Friend of the Fishing Industry" Award yesterday at the Blessing of the Fleet on the schooner Ernestina!

 

Our global impact is already manifest through the work of our alumni, students, and faculty. This past week, we hosted a visit by our B.S. Textile Chemistry 1980 alumna, Sheri McCoy, CEO of Avon Products and one of only 24 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Sheri's leadership is international, given that Avon is a $10 billion company that employs two million independent contractors around the world in over 140 countries. In a standing-room only forum in the Claire T. Carney Library Grand Reading Room, Sheri spoke about her formative experiences at UMass Dartmouth when she was a residential assistant (RA) and the mentorship by the late Professor Robert Perry.

 

Another type of global impact was apparent when Dean Bob Peck, Lara Stone and I visited Nye Lubricants, a local company in Fairhaven whose origins date back to 1844 when William Nye refined whale oil that was sold in a New Bedford storefront. Nye formulates and customizes specialized lubricants and greases that are utilized by the top 25 global automotive suppliers as well as the world's largest aerospace and defense contractors and computer printer manufacturers. How proud I was to discover that 25 of Nye's 160 employees are UMass Dartmouth graduates! Alden Pierce (B.S. Accounting, 1977) is the Chief Operating Officer; Nicole St. Pierre (B.S. Chemistry, 1999) the Technical Development Manager; Jason Galary (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 2001) the Manager of Technical Support, Applications and Engineering; Andrew Vieira (B.S. Marketing, 2009) the Marketing Supervisor; and many others. Thank you to our inimitable Lara Stone who did an exceptional job in organizing the meeting.

 

Congratulations to Department Chair Qinguo Fan, Bioengineering faculty, and our 115 Bioengineering undergraduate students on the ribbon-cutting last week for the Bioengineering Teaching and Research Lab Suite! What an opportunity to have Sheri McCoy present at the opening, as she was an early champion for our Bioengineering program. Welcome to new Professor Milana Vasudev, whose research is in the area of bioinspired nanomaterials, biomimetics, and nanobioelectronics. The ribbon-cutting proceeded flawlessly, thanks to Christina Bowen, Robin Brow, and their teams.

 

At a gathering held in Marion of women CEOs of non-profit organizations hosted by another alumna, Denise Porche (B.A. English Literature), Executive Director at the Island Foundation, I was delighted at the opportunity to share my leadership insights and experiences as Chancellor of UMass Dartmouth. The group included some of the most dynamic women leaders in our community such as Helena DaSilva Hughes, Executive Director of the Immigrant Assistance Center in New Bedford; Abbey Spargo, Executive Director of the Ocean Explorium; and others.

 

Have a good week, everyone!
Chancellor's Signature
UMass Dartmouth