Chancellor's Monday Message
Did you enjoy trick or treating with your children or celebrating Halloween clad in your favorite fantasy garb? My favorite image was the one that circulated widely on social media, portraying a little boy attired in a white robe as the Pope, riding in his own version of a "Popemobile."

I was truly proud to hear that Professor Nikolay Anguelov won the 2015 Amartya Sen Prize in recognition of his paper "Lowering the Corporate Marginal Tax Rate." Awarded by the Global Justice Program at Yale University, the prize, also presented to Matti Ylonen and Teivo Teivanen, honors work that explores the intelligent use of incentives toward curtailing corporations' use of tax evasion and avoidance, abusive transfer pricing, and all forms of illicit financial flows. Congratulations, Professor Anguelov!

Kudos to Professor Jim Lawton who was selected as one of the artists in a special exhibition of teapots, teacups, and sugar objects titled "The Mindful Making of Tea" at the Chicago SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art) Design Fair on November 5-8, 2015. As I reported to you before, our CVPA students Kate Dickinson, John Middleton, Alec Anderson, Tony Beal, and Hanna Vogel, guided by their faculty advisors Professors Jim Lawton and Charlotte Hamlin and their technical advisor Shingo Furukawa, were chosen to exhibit at SOFA. Their installation titled "Weaving with Light," an artistic interpretation of traditional industrial textile production in New Bedford, will showcase six wooden looms with a colorful array of threads that include luminescent strands, depicted against images projected on the walls of New Bedford's historic industry.

At the beginning of last week, Provost Mohammad Karim, Dean Jen Riley and I attended the New England Board of Higher Education Conference with the theme "Learner-Centered Institutions: The Future of Higher Education." There were informative and engaging panel discussions and presentations by distinguished educators and policymakers focused on current learners in higher education and the evolving role of faculty and technology in establishing learner-centered environments. Some of the speakers were Scott Jaschik, Editor of Inside Higher Ed; Thomas Bailey, Director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University; Nick Donohue, President of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation; and the keynote speaker was President Nancy Zimpher of the 64-institution State University of New York System.

On Tuesday, I joined my fellow CONNECT Partnership Presidents Jack Sbrega from Bristol Community College, Charles Wall from Massasoit Community College, John Cox from Cape Cod Community College, and Fred Clark from Bridgewater State University at the BCC campus where the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education conducted its regular meeting. The five of us presented to the Board, and to Commissioner of Higher Education Carlos Santiago, about the successes of CONNECT in its 12 years of existence. These accomplishments include transfer articulation agreements, professional development programs, workforce and industry outreach, K-12 outreach, and STEM initiatives. Seeking to replicate elsewhere in the Commonwealth the achievements of CONNECT, the BHE requested us to submit our recommendations on best practices to promote coordination and seamless transition between community colleges and universities.

Last Wednesday, we hosted Commissioner Carlos Santiago on campus, where he had meetings with me, our Cabinet and Deans, and with a group of students. Additionally, he spoke at a public forum titled, "Our Mission: The Role of Public Higher Education in the Commonwealth's Knowledge-Based Economy." He shared the strategies he employed as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in the trajectory toward becoming a National Research University. We are fortunate to have an eminent educator and labor economist in this role. Commissioner Santiago, who earned a PhD in Economics from Cornell University, authored or co-authored six books on economic development and the socioeconomic status of Latinos, and was previously the Provost at the University of Albany (SUNY), Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and CEO of the Hispanic College Fund. The forum that ensued after the Commissioner spoke was lively and robust, with multiple questions about the affordability and accessibility of public higher education.

Last Friday, new UMass System Trustee Robert Epstein, CEO of Horizon Beverage Group, visited our campus. After our meeting, I hosted him on a tour of the Claire T. Carney Library accompanied by Dean Terry Burton and of the Charlton College of Business with Dean Angappa Gunasekaran. Thank you to all the students who stopped to chat with us as we ambled on our way. Trustee Epstein gained invaluable insights about our campus and students, our accomplishments, as well as our challenges and opportunities.

As the growing chill and falling leaves of autumn are upon us, I share these lines from Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

      "Where waving woods and waters wild
      Do hymn an autumn sound.
      The summer sun is faint on them -
      The summer flowers depart -
      Sit still - as all transform'd to stone,
      Except your musing heart."
Have a good week, everyone!
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