Dear
Alumni, Faculty, Students, Staff, Legislators,Trustees, and
Friends of UMass Amherst,
To
those of you who have taken up the challenge to help bring the
University of Massachusetts Amherst securely into the 21st century,
we offer our heartfelt thanks. This Chancellor's Report provides
an update on some of the ways your generosity continues to make
a difference in advancing the University's land grant mission
of teaching, research, and outreach.
The legislation that launched
the land-grant institution was brilliantly crafted. The Morrill
Act of 1862 was drafted to remain relevant for decades and to
adapt to as-yet unimagined social, political, and economic changes.
Campaign UMass shares that goal of providing for a future full
of exploration and expansion. This report celebrates the vision
of donors whose generosity fuels educational quests and academic
endeavors, leading Mass students and faculty into new, uncharted
territory.
Gifts
designated to expand the Isenberg School of Management reinforce
the power of business as a driving force in our current economy.
The creation of a new undergraduate research program, funded by
the Beckman Foundation, highlights the importance of student-faculty
interaction in the laboratory as well as the classroom. The Jane
H. Bemis Fund supports research aimed at creating a natural history
museum, which will help fulfill the outreach mission of the land-grant
university. An excellent library is at the heart of every university,
and the funds provided by generous donors will ensure that the
W.E.B. Du Bois Library and the whole University library system
will continue to grow and thrive.
Agriculture,
central to the original land-grant concept, has attracted much
visionary generosity over the years. Professor Emeritus Jack Francis
has recently made a gift that completely funds an endowed chair
in Food Sciences. And two professional groups, the Massachusetts
Arborists Association and the Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association,
have created ongoing campaigns to help fund students to become
practitioners in those fields.
Upon
signing the Morrill Act of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln stated,
"The land-grant University System is being built on behalf
of the people who have invested in these public institutions their
hopes, their support, and their confidence."
We
thank all of our friends and alumni who, through their support
and ideas, continue to invest in the future of the University
of Massachusetts Amherst. We cannot know what shape the future
will take. But we do know, beyond any doubt, that the University's
need for financial support from its friends and alumni will
continue. Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment
to the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Yours
sincerely,
David
K. Scott, Chancellor
UMass
Web Links
Campaign
UMass • UMass Home Page
• Chancellor's
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