Martin T. Meehan is chancellor of University of
Massachusetts Lowell, where the MBA's March 22 House of Delegates
meeting was held. During MBA President Richard P. Campbell's
2011-12 term, HOD meetings are held at different UMass campuses,
and the leaders of each school are given the opportunity to talk
about their campus.
As a public university, UMass Lowell has a mission to contribute
to the public good. Our first priority is to educate the more than
15,000 students each year in classrooms and online. Our enrollment
is up 37 percent since 2007, and the new student body has become 76
percent more diverse in that time. We now have partnerships with 75
universities in 25 countries. While fulfilling our educational
responsibility, we make an economic impact of $490 million
annually, including providing 1,500 jobs in Massachusetts.
We prepare students to be work ready, life ready and world ready.
Being ready to make a difference includes understanding the
importance of civic engagement at the local and global levels. We
encourage our students, faculty and staff to translate learning
into action.
UMass Lowell has been designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a
community-engaged university (2008) and is a member of the
President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll (2009,
2010 and 2011). For the past two years, we have been named to
President Obama's Honor Roll "with distinction," a notable
achievement. More than 5,100 of our students contributed 103,000
hours of community service in the past year.
Engagement activities this past year included:
- The Deshpande Foundation launch of the $5 million Merrimack
Valley Sandbox to strengthen an ecosystem that promotes
entrepreneurship and leadership in Lowell and nearby Lawrence. The
Sandbox is part of our Merrimack Valley Center for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship, which coordinates activities among nonprofit
organizations, businesses, Middlesex and Northern Essex community
colleges, Merrimack College and UMass Lowell;
- Twenty-six new plastics engineering co-op placements and
internships were introduced with a structure that includes a
preparatory professional development seminar, increased
communication, on-site visits and a post co-op
assessment/reflection course;
- The Reach-Out River Hawks program from Athletics provides
volunteer opportunities for students to participate in service
events;
- The Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium
showcased 58 volunteer and service projects covering tobacco use,
toxic waste sites, stress reduction and nutrition, foreclosure
prevention, bullying and more. Student orientation leaders led
downtown tours for 1,500 freshmen to introduce them to Lowell
history and city offerings.
- Also this past year, UMass Lowell acquired a 300,000
square-foot former hospital in an economically challenged
neighborhood to redevelop into a center focused on student programs
and activities. Our Music Department's String Project for
underserved youth celebrated its 10th anniversary -- hundreds of
students have learned how to play the violin or cello.
We have increased service and service-learning opportunities:
The Provost's Office continues to broaden co-ops and experiential
learning opportunities, interdisciplinary learning, research
centers of excellence, international partnerships and urban,
community and corporate partnerships. Since 1998, 16 members of our
faculty have been honored with the UMass President's Public Service
Award. In the most recent fiscal year, external funding for
outreach and engagement through eight key faculty research centers
exceeded $13.5 million. Total funded research hit $60 million -- a
66 percent increase in four years.
Among the current grants and contracts for engagement-related
faculty research are:
- $6.3 million from the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences Worker Education Training Program for hazardous
waste and emergency responder training for 1,400 workers in the
Northeast;
- $2.7 million from the National Institute of Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH) for a worksite safety program to prevent falls
and exposure to silica dust among Latino construction workers;
- $1.8 million from NIOSH to research issues facing Massachusetts
home-care nurses and aides and develop education programs;
- $827,000 (2009-12) from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban
Development to improve residential environments of low-income
families with asthmatic children by providing training and
assistance to local partners;
- $579,000 from the U.S. Dept. of Education to increase the
number of low-income students at Lowell High School succeeding in
postsecondary education;
- $385,767 from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce (Broadband
Technologies Opportunities Program) to expand broadband use in the
region;
- $289,990 from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services for
the "On the Move for Nursing's Future" mobile laboratory to reach
diverse, underserved people in the area;
- $273,574 (2008-11) from the National Science Foundation for
teacher training, middle and high school programs, and pathways
initiatives to encourage students to pursue education and careers
in computer science and information technology; and
- $110,000 from the National Science Foundation to assist
communities in buying foreclosed properties to stabilize
neighborhoods.
We will continue to expand and deepen our engagement at all
levels, from Alternative Spring Break activities in our home
neighborhood to assisting villagers in Peru with solar-energy
projects. These efforts represent our values as an institution. We
believe in public higher education, a noble undertaking in which
everyone benefits and which makes society and the world a better
place.
Martin T. Meehan is chancellor of the University of
Massachusetts Lowell, and a graduate of the class of
1978.