Good morning UMass Dartmouth! What a fun and inspiring weekend for our university!

 

This campus, its community, and its alumni came together for three beautiful autumn days in an unprecedented demonstration of dedication to our university and its public mission to create educational opportunity.

 

At the first-ever Blue & Gold Gala, held Saturday night to kick off a $6 million library renovation fundraising campaign, we announced that we have raised nearly $3 million. The event itself attracted 500 people and raised more than $100,000, making it the most successful one-night fundraising event in the history of our campus and illustrating our business and civic communities’ support for our students and faculty.

 

The highlight of the evening was the re-dedication of the library in the name of alumna and former trustee Claire T. Carney, an extraordinary role model for us all and an enduring example of the power of higher education to transform the lives of individuals, families, and communities.

 

The night was a success because so many people invested their energy and ideas to make it so. Let me mention just a few of the many examples:

 

• More than a dozen facilities department men and women worked tirelessly to prepare the library and its surrounding grounds for our guests as well as the students, faculty, and community members who will be using the facility in the coming months.
• Sodexho, our food service partner, not only donated the meal and their services for the event, but demonstrated unparalleled professionalism, contributing to the overall high quality of the evening.
• About a dozen student members of the Rotoract Club, meanwhile, served as Blue & Gold Ambassadors, attending to the needs of our guests.
• We had four students participate in the evening program by reading inspiring selections from the Massachusetts Constitution, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, and Langston Hughes’s poem Dreams. Many of the attendees told me how impressed they were with our students.

I am also happy to report that our Fall Festival/Homecoming events were great successes. The Friday Night Young Alumni Celebration, Saturday morning parents brunch, and the homecoming football game (Corsairs 17, Salve Regina 7) all attracted record numbers of alumni. Just before the game, we enjoyed a splendid parade organized by student leaders, and led by the award-winning New Bedford High School Marching Band and our newly formed ROTC color guard.

 

Our Friday night Corsair Hall of Fame dinner was once again filled with energy and pride. The bookstore, open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, reported record sales.

 

The weekend closed with our annual alumni awards breakfast, during which we honored people who have selflessly served this university as alumni, employees, and community members.

 

All of these successes are evidence of a deeply rooted belief – among students, faculty, staff and community members – that UMass Dartmouth is a place and group of people that truly transforms lives.

 

Thank you all for translating that belief into action every day.

 

Jean F. MacCormack, Chancellor

 

 Last Updated On: 2/1/07