Remarks and Speeches
» back to Remarks and Speeches
Remarks to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means
-
February 22, 2011
Welcome to UMass Amherst. It is our pleasure to once again host the Joint Committee on Ways and Means and to have so many distinguished visitors on campus.
Some of you know our campus well. In fact, five members of the Joint Committee attended UMass Amherst. They are: Senators Steve Brewer, Richard Moore, and Marc Pachecho, and Representatives Steve Kulik and Ben Swan. I’m proud to note that there are 18 UMass Amherst graduates in the Massachusetts legislature.
Whether or not you were fortunate enough to go to school here, you’ll be impressed to hear the exciting things we’re doing to fulfill our mission as the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system. As we rise to become counted among the top tier of public research universities in the country, our accomplishments will help Massachusetts and all its communities thrive.
Our graduates provide Massachusetts with an educated workforce in a multitude of fields. Because a majority of our alumni remain in the state, the rising academic profile of our students is good news both for our campus and for the Commonwealth. Our undergraduate students’ SAT scores have increased by over 15 points since 2007 and their high school grade point average has risen to 3.61.
Even as we strive to enroll higher achieving undergraduates, we will continue to be the pathway of opportunity for first-generation college students and for minorities. To help maintain access and affordability, we’re providing more financial assistance than ever before: Institutional funding for financial aid at UMass Amherst has dramatically increased during the past eight years, from $24.4 million to $85.3 million. And, the proportion of minority students on campus this fall was 21.2 percent, the highest in our history.
To better serve our talented students and our exceptional faculty, several major new buildings will rise on campus in the near future: a New Laboratory Science Building that will bring researchers from different fields together is under construction next to our new Integrated Sciences Building. A third science building is in the planning stages.
We will be constructing an academic building with 1,800 new classroom seats, where students majoring in communications, journalism, and linguistics can learn in high-tech, interactive classrooms. This is an $85 million project, funded with $65 million from the Higher Education Bond Bill. It is scheduled to open in January 2014.
We’re also building a home for Commonwealth Honors College, with 1,500 new beds and nine new classrooms, slated to open during the fall of 2013. It will be near the very popular Recreation Center, which was completed a year and a half ago. The new residential complex will enhance the positive attention Commonwealth Honors College already brings to UMass Amherst.
Along with construction, research is on an upswing on campus: We received almost $170 million in research funding in fiscal 2010, with the largest amount, $54 million, coming from the National Science Foundation. $10.4 million came from private industry and $20.7 million from non-profit contributions. This is the largest amount ever for the Amherst campus and we have new systems in place to keep the total growing.
Local communities benefit directly from this growth. The UMass System contributed over $4.8 billion to the Massachusetts economy in Fiscal Year 2010. UMass Amherst alone generates more than $1.4 billion in economic activity annually and over 5,000 external jobs. As you are well aware, this is great news for businesses in the surrounding region.
I’ll stop here because I know you’re anxious to get to work. I encourage every one of you to visit our campus often, check on our progress, and learn more about UMass Amherst. Thank you.
