2015 2015: President Meehan to launch inaugural week with “Five Campuses, One Mission” Nov. 9

New president says “spotlight should always be on this university” and its “world-class campuses”

President Marty Meehan will kick off his inauguration weekby visiting all five of the UMass campuses on Monday, November 9, the university announced this week. No other UMass president has visited all five campuses in a single day.

The day’s theme -- “Five Campuses, One Mission” -- will highlight the UMass system’s unique mission to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth:

• By providing high-quality education
• Through research that creates knowledge and drives the economy
• And through its public service efforts

“I find it particularly appropriate that Marty Meehan, the first undergraduate alumnus to serve as president of the UMass system, also will be the first president to visit all five campuses in a single day,” said Victor Woolridge, chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees. “I think Marty is making a significant point about the strength and impact of the UMass system, and I also believe he is making a statement by placing the emphasis on the transformational work that takes place on our campuses every day.”

President Meehan, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the former chancellor of UMass Lowell, will be inaugurated as the 27th president of the University of Massachusetts November 12 at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, located on the campus of UMass Boston.

A 1978 graduate of UMass Lowell, President Meehan has established an inauguration fundraising goal of $1 million for student scholarships.

President Meehan’s “Five Campuses, One Mission” visit is scheduled to begin at UMass Dartmouth and conclude at UMass Boston.

“As a UMass graduate, there can be no greater honor than to be elected to the university’s presidency, and the inaugural ceremony will be poignant for my family and me -- and perhaps for UMass graduates in general,” President Meehan said. “But I believe the spotlight should always be on this university, its world-class campuses and the award-winning accomplishments of its students, faculty and staff.”

President Meehan, who took office July 1, added: “Our students are achieving at the highest levels, faculty discoveries are helping us take on some of the world’s biggest health and environmental challenges, and we are recognized as a national leader in providing service to our citizens and local communities. That’s the story I want to tell when I visit all five campuses, at my inauguration and throughout my presidency.”

During the course of the day, President Meehan will be visiting classes and meeting with students, touring laboratories and other science facilities, greeting new faculty members and tapping into other facets of campus life.

President Meehan’s approximate campus arrival times on November 9 are:

• UMass Dartmouth: 7:30 a.m.
• UMass Amherst: 10:45 a.m.
• UMass Medical School: 1:30 p.m.
• UMass Lowell: 3:30
• UMass Boston: 6 p.m.

President Meehan’s November 12 inauguration will bring together members of the UMass community, civic and business leaders, and representatives of other colleges and universities. Governor Charlie Baker is slated to speak and to play a role in the official investiture ceremony.

The University of Massachusetts is a five-campus public research university system renowned for the quality of its academic programs and the scope and excellence of its faculty research. UMass was established in 1863 and consists of the flagship campus in Amherst along with campuses in Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell and Worcester. UMass educates 73,000 students and graduates more than 17,000 students each year. UMass is home to one of the nation’s most respected and successful distance-learning programs, UMassOnline. While it has assumed its place of prominence on the national and international stage, UMass has retained a strong focus on Massachusetts, as befits its heritage as a Land Grant institution. Thomson Reuters recently ranked UMass 57th on its list of the “The World’s Most Innovative Universities.”

http://www.massachusetts.edu/inauguration

I believe the spotlight should always be on this university, its world-class campuses and the award-winning accomplishments of its students, faculty and staff.