Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack

Welcome back to campus

September 11, 2006

 

To the UMass Dartmouth community:

 

Welcome back.

 

For me, the two most exciting days of the year are opening day and commencement day. It is on those two days that I see the spirit of this university in full bloom; the sense of potential today and the sense of achievement in May.

 

After twenty-five years in public higher education, these days still inspire me.

 

It was just three months ago, on a warm day in late May, that we sent off nearly 1,400 graduates with advice from SouthCoast native and New York Times Company President Janet Robinson to “become what Winston Churchill once called masters of your fate, captains of your souls.”

"The choices that you make from now on about your life and your career will help you move forward, will help set your course for the future and will help shape your destiny," Ms. Robinson told us.

 

Her words are equally relevant as we begin a new academic year. As students, faculty, and staff of the university and as citizens, our choices and actions over the course of this year re-shape and hopefully re-energize our intellectual community, as happens every year.

 

That is the wondrous thing about being part of a university community. Every day, every year, is interesting and different.  Our campus is evolving more rapidly than others, with a burgeoning residential student community, more than 130 new faculty in three years, and a fast-growing research enterprise. Our new colleagues are refreshing a rich and continuing tradition of excellence.

 

Already, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of our incoming 240 international students, our 20 new faculty members, and lots of parents and students who were moving in over the weekend. 

 

Amidst constant change, however, our core mission – our soul, if you will -- remains the same: to distinguish UMass Dartmouth as a “vibrant public university, actively engaged in personalized teaching and innovative research, and acting as an intellectual catalyst for regional economic, social, and cultural development.”

 

We do know this on the first day of classes: together – administration, student, faculty, staff, and community – we are the captains of our university soul, capable of shaping an exciting year of learning and discovery. Welcome again to this exciting journey!

 

Jean MacCormack

Chancellor

 

 Last Updated On: 2/1/07