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Update on the State of the Campus
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April 6, 2010
To the Campus Community,
It is hard to believe that the academic year is drawing toward a close. It seems like only yesterday that we were opening the fall term, greeting new students and welcoming back returnees, and now we have only a little over a month before summer break is upon us.
The year has been an eventful one in many regards. Financially our campus has done rather well, thanks in large part to federal stimulus funding that offset the need for drastic reductions in programs. The budgetary situation for 2010-2011 remains uncertain; the House will release its budget in a few weeks, then the Senate will follow with its version. The final budget, a product of the reconciliation among legislators and the governor, will probably not be known until the summer. We’ll of course be closely monitoring the situation and advocating for our campus and for public higher education.
We are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. All units on campus have been asked to model scenarios calling for reductions. The final numbers, however, will determine whether these scenarios must be implemented, or modified upwards or downwards. We urge all members of our campus community to contact your legislators and ask them to support higher education – for your own good, as well as the good of the Commonwealth and its future.
In our effort to successfully make the case in support of higher education to both our legislators and, by extension, to the people of the Massachusetts, we must adhere to the facts and productively stay focused on our goal of advancing this great University.
Today, our student body took part in this type of positive and productive communication through participation in “Lobby Day,” an event sponsored by the Student Government Association. This effort brought students from across the Commonwealth to Beacon Hill to advocate for public higher education. The university provided free transportation and food as part of our support for this important effort.
Despite serious questions about our state funding, we have shown that we are stronger than ever as a university. As the top public research institution in New England, we strive for greater national prominence, and all signs indicate that we are on the correct path. Let me mention only a few of our most recent points of pride.
• Once again this year we have a record number of applications for undergraduate admission. For the past two years we have had the best incoming class in our history; we have awarded the most baccalaureate degrees; and we have seen increases in first-to-second-year retention and graduation rates.
• UMass Amherst ranks among the top 100 global universities and in the top 20 among public universities in the United States, according to Newsweek International. The Ranking Web of World Universities places UMass Amherst among the best universities internationally in 2009, rating it No. 90 in the world and No. 67 in the United States. The 2009 Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings ranks UMass Amherst in the top half of distinguished universities worldwide, and we continue to place high among public universities in the annual US News and World Report survey.
• Our students are earning prestigious national awards. This semester, 14 UMass Amherst students are studying abroad on congressionally-funded Gilman scholarships. UMass Amherst ranks fourth in the country for these scholarships. Our students are studying anthropology in Tanzania, the hotel business in Hong Kong, and philosophy in the United Kingdom, among other topics. These 14 students join eight others who won Fulbright scholarships to study abroad, prompting the Chronicle of Higher Education to call us “a top producer of Fulbright scholars.”
• Our faculty continues to receive national and international recognition: We are consistently among the top public universities in terms of faculty awards. In 2010, four UMass professors were appointed fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. One professor won a prestigious prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and another garnered a Sloan Research Fellowship, probably the most important award a young scientist can receive. Again this year we set a campus record for research awards; we also had a record number of patents; and we received almost $40 million in stimulus research funds.
• Bleacher Report, a widely circulated sports web site, has named our Minuteman Marching Band one of the greatest college bands in the country – supporting what we already know, that our band is one of the best in the land!
• UMass Amherst was again named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, recognizing our commitment to volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.
• We received an A for leadership in sustainable energy and climate change issues, as assessed by the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card.
• Our Dining Services earned yet another in a long list of awards when The Daily Beast web site called our campus food among the top 15 in the entire country. We truly do have some of the best food on our campus of any college or university.
All indications are that the campus continues to flourish even in difficult financial times, and it is a tribute to the faculty, the student body, and staff at this institution that we are recognized repeatedly for our achievements in so many different areas of endeavor.
As the end of the academic year approaches, I hope that the entire campus community will take pride in our collective accomplishments and resolve to stick together as we move into another exciting, and perhaps challenging year.
Chancellor Robert C. Holub
