Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Remarks to the Fall River Area Chamber of Commerce

March 21, 2006

 

Thank you to Peter Kortright and the chamber for inviting me to speak with you this evening.

 

It is indeed an honor and privledge to be with so many of you, my day-to-day companions in joint regional and Fall River-specific activities.

 

I am starting my seventh year here on the SouthCoast but it seems like only yesterday that I arrived.

 

The pace of activity, the energy, the creativity and the determination to make our region flourish make the days, the projects and even the challenges speed by. I count it a blessing to have all of you as partners and friends.

 

I am inspired every day by your commitment to success and your respect for the deeply rooted values of working class families that form the backbone of this region.

 

I’m especially excited to be here and have the opportunity to talk to you about UMass Dartmouth and its connection to the economic and social fabric of this region. You might say “that’s an old headline, Chancellor.”   After all, since two textile institutes were created in 1895 – one in New Bedford and one in Fall River --  there has been a bond between the community and this school.

 

I agree. But it’s a connection that we need to pay special attention to right now.  Our university’s connection to its community has never been more important than it is right now.

 

This relationship has never needed to be more vibrant and imaginative than right now. We just can’t afford to take our relationship for granted. 

 

We know each other very well, but such familiarity generates contentment and that  poses a danger if we are not ever-vigilant.

 

At this moment when so much in our world is changing so fast, we need to continue an open, candid dialogue between business, government and the university so that each of us clearly understands the other’s needs and aspirations. We need to push each other to be our best.

 

We need to be sure that we are anticipating and maximizing all the ways we should be interacting with each other to ensure that we are producing the best results -- educationally, economically, socially and culturally for our region.

 

When I first got here, someone said to me, “Your predecessor really took down the walls that had grown up around the university and opened the doors. You need to pave the roads that keep the traffic flowing.” 

 

Well, I think we have done that. In fact, some days  I feel like I have I-195 flowing right through the place.We are in K-12 schools, and our students are in your work places.You are on our advisory boards, and we are prototyping your products.You are helping us with start-up companies, and we are helping you with professional training. We are working with you to advocate for key projects for our region. You are challenging us to “think out of the box in curriculum.”

 

This is all good, but I see a new imperative taking shape. We need to move beyond reaction and response to a posture of shaping, transforming  and leading.

 

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities recently issued a report entitled, “Renewing the Promise – The Public’s Universities in a Changing World.” The report offers important lessons for us as we think about our relationship.

 

It states:  “The public’s universities must renew an unwritten but essential contract. That contract commits institutions to working for the common good through education and innovation in exchange for public support and guidance.’’

 

Approaching a tipping point

 

UMass Dartmouth and the SouthCoast, together, are approaching a tipping point – that moment, as Malcom Caldwell told us in his 2002 book, “when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”

 

I believe we are on the verge of our own wildfire of economic, social and cultural growth across this region.  But I strongly believe that this wildfire can be ignited only by a top-to-bottom commitment to education and knowledge creation from everybody in this room. The alternative is the status quo of low educational attainment rates,  economic stagnation and social vulnerability for another generation.

 

Consider this, students who entered kindergarten in 1993, the first year of education reform, will be graduating from high school this year. They are the beneficiaries of billions of dollars in investment and managment reforms that were advocated by the business community in the early 1990s.

 

We now need to make sure that those students who have met the challenges of education reform have high quality higher education opportunities available to them – here in this region.

 

And, if we want these students staying right here to live, raise families, build business, engage in civic leadership, we need to invest in the research and knowledge creation that spawn new products, companies and industries.

 

And we need to leverage our university to enliven the cultural spectrum of our community, through the arts and public lectures, which is so important to attracting and retaining the innovative people who will drive the transformation of our region.

 

Newark, New Jersey-born Richard Florida summed up the idea in his 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida wrote, “the presence of a major research university is a basic infrastructure component of the creative economy – more important than the canals, railroads and freeway systems of past epochs – a huge potential source of competitive advantage.”

 

We have accomplished a lot together

 

Over the last decade the university has made a massive investment of talent in the region, especially in the cities of Fall River and New Bedford.

 

The Advanced Technology Manufacturing Center in Fall River, for instance, represents a $12 million annual investment in the region. The results include:

 

• the opening of a dozen start-up companies that hold promise to expand in this region;

 

• the attraction of Avant Immunotherapies, one of the hottest bio-technology firms in Massachusetts, to the region,

 

• and the attraction of Meditech, with 600, software jobs, to the region.

 

Our Professional and Continuing Education Centers in downtown Fall River and New Bedford represent more than $1 million per year in investment that has added to the vibrancy of two urban cores. The Fall River center has nearly 400 students enrolled in classes, from MBAs to nursing to degree completion.The Fall River center is a site for activities such as the children’s film festival and an art gallery that so enlivens the city’s culture of learning, and

 

The Marine Science Center in New Bedford attracts $10 million in federal and other external funding to the region every year. Our Star Store arts campus in downtown New Bedford has sparked the redevelopment of a dozen buildings.

 

Our faculty and staff have been deeply engaged in the K-12 schools.

 

UMass Dartmouth staffs the SouthCoast Development Partnership which has been critical to the region’s effort to attract busineses and jobs.

 

And there are countless other examples. Indeed, it is safe to say that UMass Dartmouth has invested millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours in the region year after year.

 

New opportunities exist to make a giant leap forward

 

The best news is that we are just getting started.

 

We are working to establish a bio-manufacuting center that  provide a SouthCoast foothold for bio-tech companies.

 

We’re working with MIT and Woods Hole to establish a national center for ocean observation.

 

We’re playing a leadership role in the national effort to improve math education, which is fast becoming a national economic security issue.  

 

Our Materials and Textiles Department is no longer about everyday clothing and upholstery. It is now about the intersection of biology and machines. It’s about synthetic arteries and body armor that measures and reports a soldier’s vital statistics.

 

We recently broke ground on a new 20,000 square foot research facility that will advance work in many areas that hold the promise of transforming our regional economy.

 

And we cannot and will not ever forget the importance of understanding ourselves.While we celebrate our workforce development and job creation imperatives, it is also important that we help sustain and strengthen our social fabric through the study of the humanities and social sciences.

 

History, literature, art – these things matter because they tell us who we are and they equip us to act ethically and morally in a complex world.

 

One example of this effort, of course, is the development of our Center for Portuguese Studies and the Portuguese-American Archives, which teach us so much about our regional heritage and our connection to the rest of the world.

 

The most exciting news is that all of the above have roots in historic regional imperatives, but also have the potential for enormous global impact – just as the whaling industry, and textile industries did in the past.

 

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It hasn’t been easy getting here though. These success stories are the product of the sheer will and talent of our faculty and staff, which have worked under enormous pressures over the last five years.

 

During that period annual state funding for UMass Dartmouth dropped by nearly $10 million per year. The state Senate’s task force on higher education recently determined that there is a $200 million operation funding gap for the entire 5-campus UMass system and nearly a $2 billion facility construction and renovation backlog.

 

The report notes that  Massachusetts:

• Ranks 47th in the nation in state spending on public higher education per capita.

 

• Had the largest decrease in state funding for public higher education between 2001 and 2004.

 

• Was the only state in the nation that spent less on public higher education than it spent 10 years ago.

 

• Spends more on prisons than its public colleges and university.

 

UMass Dartmouth more than survived the last fiscal crisis. Thanks again to the dedication of our faculty and staff, our enrollment increased from about 7,000 to 8,700; our research enterprise grew from $7 million to $17 million; and we expanded our residential student population from 2,000 to 4,000.

 

So, here is my pledge on behalf of the university. We will continue to do everything in our power to help the individuals and communities of the SouthCoast reach their full potential and advance the cause of the Commonwealth and humanity.

 

What do we need from you?

 

There’s an old baseball saying: There’s no crying in baseball. At UMass Dartmouth we’re not crying.

 

But, if we are going to hit a home run as a university and a region, it will come all come down to three Ps:  Participation, Philanthropy, and Partnership.

 

We need you to be active participants in the continued development of UMass Dartmouth. We need your expertise and passion in business, policy, and cultural fields. We need you to serve on college, department and center advisory committees. We need you at our campus for cultural events. We need you interacting as often as possible with our students and faculty.

 

We need your philanthropy. We need it because state support for public university’s is falling.Two decades ago, the Commonwealth funded approximately 70 percent of the UMass Dartmouth operating budget and students paid $1,200 in tuition and fees to attend. Today, the Commonwealth provides 27 percent of our operating budget and students pay $9,000 in tuition and fees.

 

Your taxes are no longer enough to keep our university alive.

 

The university has successfully expanded its grant-seeking and fee-for-service activity, and now we are embarking on new private fundraising initiatives. We need the private sector of this region to tangibly demonstrate its support for university learning, teaching and research. Funding of scholarships, research fellows, facilities, and our library are real investments in the economic and social infrastructure of this region.

 

Here in 2006, if every graduate of the university gave just $20.06 we could raise close to one million dollars. Now, I know some could give $200.06 or $2000.06 and a few $2 million and 6 cents. I’m asking for people to give back to an institution that has transformed their lives and the live of this region. 

 

And, finally – partnership.

 

Our SouthCoast legislative delegation is making the case on Beacon Hill for public higher education. Statewide business groups are making the case. We need you to add your voices to the chorus.

 

Join with the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which stated in a 2004 report: “First-rate research universities are critical to the state’s long-term growth and prosperity.” Join with the Massachusetts High Tech Council that has made strengthening the University of Massachusetts system one of its 2006 objectives.

 

The Legislature is beginning to respond. The Joint Committee on Higher Education recently released, and the Senate overwhelmingly supported, a comprehensive public higher education bill that that begins to fill the $200 million funding gap.

 

This legislation, if passed, will have a greater impact on the long-term economic and social health of this region than any other single piece of legislation on Beacon Hill today. Join us as partners in the effort to get that bill passed.

 

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More than four decades ago, just as a new comprehensive university in Dartmouth was being developed, President John Kennedy spoke of the special role of American universities.

 

“We live in an age of movement and change…and in such an age, the university has a special obligation to hold fast to the best of the past and move fast to the best of the future,” he said.

 

In 2006, here on the SouthCoast, UMass Dartmouth pledges to honor the best of its past and work with you to move fast to the best of our future.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 Last Updated On: 3/31/06