News 2015: UMass Dartmouth welcomes Class of 2019

Class of 2019 made up of 1,460 students from 235 Massachusetts communities, 18 states, and 34 countries

Today UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Divina Grossman was joined by university officials, faculty, staff, and student leaders in welcoming the Class of 2019 to the University during the Convocation Ceremony at the University's Vietnam Veterans Peace Memorial Amphitheater. The Class of 2019 is made up of 1,460 students from 235 Massachusetts communities, 18 states, and 34 countries. Convocation is a ceremony that celebrates the beginning of the academic year and welcomes new students to campus.

“Today you become a member of a new community at an exciting and challenging time for humankind,” Chancellor Grossman said in her address to the Class of 2019. “The challenge for you and your class will be whether your values and your beliefs, empowered by a UMass Dartmouth education, can crack the code on society’s stubborn issues and help our nation confront and conquer the challenges we face.”

Prior to the Convocation Ceremony UMass President Marty Meehan joined the UMass Dartmouth community for the start of the new academic year at the annual Convocation Breakfast. This was President Meehan’s first visit to the Dartmouth campus since his unanimous selection in May to lead the UMass system.

“Every student who attends this university, all 73,000 of them, I see a little bit of myself in,” President Marty Meehan said at the Breakfast. “I feel passionately that a UMass education gives them a chance to succeed.” He added: “Make no mistake about it, the economy of Massachusetts drives through UMass. We graduate students who have the skills to make this economy work.”

UMass Dartmouth welcomed alumnus and President, CEO, and Director of Harvard Bioscience Inc., Jeffrey Duchemin ’89 as this year’s Keynote Speaker to address the Class of 2019 at the Convocation Ceremony. Mr. Duchemin earned his B.S. degree in Accounting from UMass Dartmouth in 1989 and an MBA degree from Southern New Hampshire University in 2001.

“In the business and financial arena, companies, large and small, face increasing global challenges, not just domestic competition, but from every corner of the world,” Mr. Duchemin said. “There are many more battles to be fought and won. Someday you will be on the front lines counted on to find the answers and make them work. Your generation and mine want the same thing. We want to do well for ourselves, while also improving the world around us. I am counting on you millennials. You will make this world we’re living in much more interesting. I look forward to being on this journey with you.”

This We Believe – UMass Dartmouth

For the past six years, incoming UMass Dartmouth students have participated in a First Year Book Project which was designed to introduce them to the academic community at the university. UMass Dartmouth’s Academic Affairs and Student Affairs departments took a new approach with a hope to significantly engage new students in UMass Dartmouth’s values from day one. To that end, This We Believe—UMass Dartmouth was launched.

Modeled on the NPR broadcast, This I Believe, students read selections from the This I Believe website then asked to craft a 500-word essay about what they believe and share it on the University’s blog. Faculty and staff were also asked to submit essays. UMass Dartmouth’s Provost Office selected three of the top essays to read by the students who wrote them at the Convocation Ceremony.

Students chosen to read their “This I Believe” essay include:

Andrea Bickford, Biology major, of Worcester, Massachusetts

“I Believe in Autism”

Mary Brown, Nursing major, of Leicester, Massachusetts

“I Believe in Teamwork”

Tiana Golding. Business major, of Mattapan, Massachusetts

“I Believe in Myself”

New Academic Programs

UMass Dartmouth recently launched new academic programs that respond to the demands of students and the needs of our community including a data science program, M.S. in Healthcare Management, M.S. in Technology Management, Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, and a minor in Urban Studies. The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approved a new Ph.D. in Business Administration this June, the 13th doctoral program at UMass Dartmouth and the first at the Charlton College of Business. The Ph.D. program builds on the MBA program which grew from 168 students in the fall of 2011 to 328 in fall of 2014.

UMass Dartmouth distinguishes itself as a vibrant, public research university dedicated to engaged learning and innovative research resulting in personal and lifelong student success. The University serves as an intellectual catalyst for economic, social, and cultural transformation on a global, national, and regional scale.