Chancellor Holub's Speech

Convocation Address

September 16, 2011

Robert C. Holub, Chancellor

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Most undergraduates come to the University of Massachu­setts Amherst with the expectation of spending four years. Like them, I will spend four years here, and as I enter my senior year as Chancellor I am happy to say that with the help of the faculty, staff, and students at UMass I have enjoyed immensely, and have profited tremendously from, my educational experience.

Like most entering students, my first year was occupied with familiarizing myself with the campus, its advantages, and its challenges. It was also a time when we as a campus commu­nity were faced with the Great Recession, the worst econom­ic crisis in our lifetime and the most protracted downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Although we did not come out of the recession in my sopho­more and junior years – and, indeed, we have not yet seen the end of budgetary distress with regard to state appropri­ations – we made impressive progress in many areas in the second and third years of my campus sojourn. I’ll speak of the many accomplishments we achieved together in a mo­ment. But first I want to pledge to you that during my senior year I will continue to work on behalf of this won­derful institution. I ask you to join me in continuing to pursue our ultimate goal of raising this great campus into the ranks of the very best public research institutions in the nation.

Looking across the nation at our public research institutions, one can’t help but notice that they have entered a difficult period. But these institutions are nothing if not resilient, and now more than ever they hold the key to economic recovery and prosperity for the states in which they are located and for the nation as a whole. Especially important are the nation’s land-grant institutions, which embody the dual mission of access and service. I have been associated with land-grant universities since I was a gradu­ate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and throughout my career I have worked at land-grants with somewhat different profiles: the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and now the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts. What unites these campuses is their mission as public institutions and their dedication to assisting their respective states and the citizenry.

Next year the country will be celebrating the sesquicenten­nial of the signing of the Morrill Act and the tremendous change and opportunity for higher education it represented. I am well aware that some of the impetus for the legislation came from the desire to see better use of public lands, not to further higher education. And I also know that the first dec­ades of the land-grant institutions were by no means an un­mitigated success story. But the fact that the Morrill Act either brought into existence or furthered public higher edu­cation in the United States changed this nation forever and for the better. It set the stage for a second wave of legislation connecting the federal government with public universities: the Hatch Act of 1887, which established and funded agri­cul­tural experiment stations, and the 1914 Smith-Lever Act, which extended the reach of the land grants into almost every county of their states with cooperative extension. In the decades prior to World War I, land grants began to prosper and show their true value, not only in agriculture, but also in mining, the “mechanical arts” of engineering, military science, and home economics. The legislative acts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century cemented the fundamental connection between public education and public service.

The issue of access was also fundamental for the land-grant colleges and universities. For many decades in the early history of higher education in the United States we find the scions of the elite attending private institutions. The original public land-grant schools, supplemented by the institutions associated with the second Morrill Act from 1890 and the 1994 creation of land-grant institutions for the Native Amer­i­­can tribal colleges, expanded the opportunity for post-secon­dary education into broader sectors of the population, allowing farmers and workers, as well as minority commu­nities, to participate in advanced knowledge. As time passed, they grew into some of the largest campuses in the country, providing opportunity for young men and women who for­merly were excluded from higher education. Today, accord­ing to the APLU (American Public and Land Grant Univer­sities), land grants enroll more than 3.5 million undergradu­ates and over a million graduate students while employing nearly 650,000 faculty members, and conducting nearly two-thirds of all federally-funded academic research, totaling more than $34 billion annually. These institutions are eco­nomic engines for their communities, their states, and the nation: their graduates and research contributions are the hope for our country to regain the prosperity it has lost in the recent economic downturn.

The value of our land grants and other public institutions is nowhere more apparent than in the period after the Second World War, when we witness the decisive shift from elite to mass higher education. Enormously important was the Ser­vicemen’s Readjustment Act, more popularly known as the “GI Bill.” Although the main purpose of the legislation was to delay the deleterious economic impact from the huge in­flux of former servicemen into the labor market, its provi­sion to provide funding for returning soldiers to enroll in colleges and universities, which was in fact a late addition to the bill, increased the importance of higher education and its impact for the next generation.

Adding to this boon for higher education was the affect of Vannevar Bush’s 1945 report: “Science, the Endless Fron­tier.” It advocated for the federal government to invest in scientific inquiry and to support especially science that has applications, as well as larger scientific projects. The results of this report were not only the creation of the National Sci­ence Foundation in 1950 and the redirection of other federal agencies toward funding of investigators on research cam­puses, but also a changed and enhanced status for higher education resulting from this unprecedented partnership with the federal government.

Without question the GI Bill and the promotion of federal research impacted private, as well as public institutions. But it is obvious that the trend in higher education since the Second World War has been toward the publics. In 1947 less than half the student body in the United States attended pub­lic colleges and universities, but by 1990 that figure had risen to 80%. Private institutions, especially those oriented toward applied science, were initially better prepared to take advantage of federal funding, but now the bulk of sponsored research is conducted on public campuses.

Although the United States and, for the most part, the sepa­rate states lacked coordinated policies and a coherent vision for higher education in the nineteenth and twentieth century, the infusion of federal and state dollars and various legisla­tive and policy decisions eventually produced the best uni­ver­sities in the world. Looking dispassionately at the history of higher education in the United States, in particular at public higher education, we can appreciate that it has en­joyed enormous advantages because of governmental and political support. In turn, for the past century and a half, higher education has helped this nation to its great wealth, its creativity, and its standing in the world. My contention is that if we are going to emerge from our current economic quagmire, we should again be looking to support higher education, especially the public sector, which is responsible for educating the most students, for serving the citizenry in the states, and for conducting the vast amount of innovative and productive research.

There are some who see only the harm done to higher edu­cation by government and politics. These critics, often for justifiable reasons, focus on the withdrawal of support for operations, the reduction of agency funding, and the decline in scholarship and loan support for students. In highlighting the history of a productive relationship between higher edu­cation and state and federal government, however, I am also returning to a theme I have articulated previously in convo­cation talks and on other occasions: we must refrain from lamenting what some people consider our unfortunate plight. We should not and cannot make excuses for stagnation or lack of progress based on external constraints and restric­tions. While we should always seek to obtain maximum ben­e­fit from extramural entities, our main task must always be to control our own destiny: to make the most of what we have, to work effectively and strategically with what we can control, and to find ways to move the campus forward no matter what role externalities play.

And I am happy to report to you today that, as I begin my senior year on this campus, we have controlled what we can control, and have worked effectively and strategically during the first six semesters of my education as chancellor. Credit for our amazing progress goes mainly to my enormously competent senior administration, to the talented and indus­trious faculty on the Amherst campus, and to a dedicated and knowledgeable staff. Let me say a few things about how far the campus has come since I arrived for my freshman orientation in the summer of 2008.

The single most important achievement is that we have thus far survived the worst economic downturn in the past three-quarters of a century and appear to be emerging stronger and better positioned than we were three years ago. We did have to make significant reductions to our base budget, and we eliminated some $19 million dollars in my first two years as chancellor. But through the efforts of faculty and staff on the campus we also raised revenues to mitigate significantly the economic crisis. Since 2008 we have generated over $16 million in new revenues, and by the end of this year that figure will be $22 million. Most of these revenues come from increases in our out-of-state enrollment and in continuing and professional education. But we have set in motion sev­eral other initiatives – for example, five-year Masters pro­grams, summer-session face-to-face enrollment – that should generate revenues for us over the next few years.

As many of you know, my view is that in the coming decades those institutions of public higher education that figure out how to generate revenues and make wise, strategic decisions about investing resources will prosper, and for that reason I believe that we are on the path toward success at UMass Amherst.

We have made enormous strides toward a renewal of the physical campus. Shortly after I arrived, I was able to par­ticipate in ribbon-cutting ceremonies for several significant projects: the new studio arts building, the amazing co-gener­a­tional power plant, and the integrated sciences building. Subsequently we completed and put into service a new transportation building, as well as the popular recreation center. We have recently completed a new police station, as well as the George N. Parks Minuteman Marching Band Building. And we have three extremely important and significant projects at various stages of construction: two new laboratory science buildings adjacent to the ISB; a new academic classroom building, the first new classroom building the campus has seen in three decades; and a living-learning complex for Commonwealth Honors College that will house honors students and provide administrative and classroom space for the college. These new projects are all leveraged by campus funding to a greater or lesser extent, and in this tough economic climate, negotiations that moved them forward necessitated the skills and perseverance of many individuals both on and off the campus.

We continue to plan for the future. The campus commis­sioned extensive, professional studies of laboratory and science space, and classroom and academic facilities, so that we know more accurately where we stand and what we need. We have begun the first major master planning exercise since the early 1990s; it should be completed by next year. When we do have funding from our own resources or from the state, we can use these monies rationally to produce a better campus for everyone. Our financial and our capital planning are well integrated thanks largely to the efforts of Joyce Hatch, who retired last June, but who has left a lasting legacy to the campus with her work. And I am happy to say that faculty are now full participants in decision-making for capital projects and campus master planning.

As I emphasized in last year’s convocation, it is essential that UMass Amherst be recognized across the state as the Com­mon­wealth’s flagship. In order for us to “become what we are,” we have taken concrete actions that expand our profile into the eastern part of Massachusetts:

• We have established a Boston office at 225 Franklin Street. The office is staffed with a development pro­fessional and our chief liaison to the state house, both of whom are doing a terrific job for the campus. The site is also used for alumni meetings and by development staff and administrators who need a home base while con­ducting the university’s business in the Boston area.
• We had our first UMass Amherst-Boston Globe forum last spring in the JFK Library. Two faculty members from our campus contributed to an excellent panel dis­cussion on the future of the Massachusetts economy. The event attracted 300 eager spectators and helped to spread our reputation across the state.
• Last year and this year we are playing football against New Hampshire in Gillette Stadium in the Colonial Clash. We have also played a basketball game the past two years in the TD Banknorth Garden, and this year we have scheduled a hockey match for Fenway Park. Starting in 2012 we will join the Mid-American Conference and the Football Bowl Subdivision; for the first two years all our home games will be at Gillette Stadium. Our presence in intercollegiate athletics east of route 495 contributes to our overall strategy of being, and being recognized as, the state’s flagship.
• Last March we announced at Roxbury Community Col­lege our UMass Amherst Community College Connec­tion. We want community college students from across the Commonwealth to know that the flagship invites successful graduates to continue and complete their baccalaureate education here in Amherst.
• We continue to support programs such as the Small Business Development Center, which provides assis­tance for entrepreneurs across the entire state; and facilities, such as our cranberry station in East Ware­ham, that supply essential services for citizens of the Commonwealth.
• We are in the process of constructing a high-definition television studio in Amherst so that our faculty experts on campus, who are always in great demand, can be featured in the visual media throughout the state, the nation, and the world.

Fundraising and research funding have been two areas of noteworthy success on the campus, largely owing to the efforts of Mike Leto and Mike Malone. The last two years have been the most successful fundraising years in the his­tory of the campus; we received our first two eight-figure gifts in that period; and we are better positioned in the col­leges and in the central office with fundraising profes­sionals than we have ever been in the past. The Foundation Board for UMass Amherst is extremely supportive and eager to assist the campus with fundraising and friend-raising.

In research we established a campus record for grants in 2010, and we have seen a steady increase in research expenditures. Mike has reformed the research office and operations so that faculty will have more time to devote to what they do best: research and discovery, not paperwork and bureaucratic details. The newly established UMass Innovation Institute will facilitate our ability to work with industry and to pro­mote private-public partnerships.

I want to extend kudos to academic affairs, student affairs, and university relations, as well as to the leadership of those divisions, our Provost James Staros, Vice Chancellor Jean Kim, and Vice Chancellor John Kennedy, for exemplary work in providing access, for recruiting a record-breaking class for the third year in a row, and for innovative and inspiring initiatives once students arrive on campus. The record of achievement is astounding, especially in these difficult times: The year prior to my arrival on campus we had just over 27,000 applications, a first-year class of 4286, and a graduating cohort of 4235; this year we had over 33,000 applications, an enrollment of close to 4700 students, and we awarded over 5000 baccalaureate degrees. The aver­age SAT scores of incoming freshmen was 1142 in the 07-08 academic year; this year the average SAT will be 1189 – an increase of 47 points in five years. Five years ago 18.4% of our undergraduates were ALANA or diversity students; this year our incoming class contains 22.4% ALANA students. In fiscal year 08 we had a first-to-second year retention rate of 83.7%; last year we had a rate of 88.7%. At the same time our graduation rates increased by over 2%, and since gradu­ation rates are lag­ging indicators, we can expect more good news in this area in future years. The number of Pell-grant recipients increased from 4588 to 6159, an astonishing increase of 34% and obviously another sign of the Great Recession. Further­more, our institutional financial aid rose from $30.8 million to $54.6 million over the past five years, for an equally astonishing increase of 77%.

Despite the difficult challenges caused by the economy we are providing greater educational opportunities for our stu­dents. We have expanded our living-learning commu­ni­ties, offered more first-year courses with small enrollment, in­cluding our faculty taught first-year seminars, and en­hanced the summer orientation program, while greatly expanding our new student orientation in the fall. Despite the ever-in­creasing numbers we have made sure that every student is able to secure the courses needed to make progress on a de­gree. The faculty senate took the lead in revising our gen­eral education requirements and now we have one of the most innovative and thoughtful programs in the country. We pi­loted last year the iCons initiative, which represents a new way to teach science using interdisciplinary methods and real-world illustrations. And this term we are introducing several classrooms with team-based learning, which will have the affect of making large classes appear smaller, and which will enhance instruction and learning across the cam­pus.

I could go on and speak at length about other areas of excel­lence on the campus. My problem is that there are too many for the time allotted to me. Our dining services continue to garner national awards. Our marching band, under the new leadership of Dr. Timothy Anderson, continues to be the “power and class” of bands in the region. The landscapers keep our campus beautiful and clean on a shoestring budget. We have been lauded as a campus that welcomes students who have served our country in the military, as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students. We continue to be recognized as one of the nation’s top schools for commu­nity service, and we are increasingly profiled as a center for green education and activity.

Our progress has not gone unnoticed nationally. In the most recent rankings of the US News and World Report we have improved from 106th among national universities in 2010 to 94th this year; and from 52nd among public universities to 42nd. Only one public university in the country has advanced in these rankings more rapidly than we have over the past two years. And since these rankings lag by a year and often average results from three or four years, our upward move­ment should continue throughout the decade.

In sum, UMass Amherst is truly on the rise, and I detect a new pride among faculty and staff, and among students com­ing to the campus. The campus community has begun to recognize that we are indeed a great institution, and that we are poised for even greater accomplishments as we ascend into the ranks of the top public research institutions in the country.

I too am proud – proud that I have been here for a challeng­ing, but rewarding three years, and honored that I am able to lead this campus for a fourth year. I am also grateful be­cause I have had the opportunity here to work with wonder­ful, dedicated, and talented individuals, and because I can look back with satisfaction and know that we have accom­plished a great deal, and that what we have accomplished will serve as a solid foundation for future achievements.

In my first convocation address four years ago I related the story of our crew team’s upset victory over Harvard and Brown in 1871, and the excitement of one of my predecessors, William Smith Clark, in bringing this news back to campus. I noted that teamwork was essential in achieving that victory and I continued:

“The spirit and determination of those young men is what we must recapture as a collective if we are going to be suc­cess­ful in our aspirations. Like a crew team, however, we must act in a coordinated fashion, all pulling in the same direction with the identical purpose. My words and direction may assist us, but only with the activities of the entire cam­pus and its many friends can we achieve our desired place among the finest public institutions of higher education.”

We have not yet reached our goal. It would be premature for me to plunge into the Connecticut River or drive a team of horses across the campus proclaiming our triumph. But dur­ing my tenure we have made great and significant advances: we should all be convinced that UMass Amherst is heading in the right direction, and that if we keep our eyes on the goal and don’t become distracted by irrelevant externalities, we shall surely achieve the preeminence we deserve.

For my part, until I graduate this spring, I pledge to con­tinue to assist the campus in moving forward in the coming academic year. We will continue to fulfill the role of a great land grant institution, not only because it is our heritage, but also because it embodies the values of educational access and public service that are so important to all of us. I am count­ing on you to pull with me, in coordinated fashion, so that we can make even more progress toward the heights for which the Commonwealth’s flagship is destined. Thank you – and Go UMass!