These days, saying someone is "connected" brings to mind the electronic sounds of cell phones and beepers or graphics careening across computer screens.

Talking to Bob and Nancy Gordon about their long-time connection to UMass Amherst, however, recalls another sense of the word, the more traditional sense that's about commitment, loyalty, and love. For more than half a century, Bob and Nancy have remained deeply connected to their alma mater. Over the years, they have continued to dream, act, and lead in the most influential ways.

Bob first came to Massachusetts State College in 1942, but halfway through his first year was called to active duty in World War II. Part of his service time was spent at the French Interpreter's School at the University of North Carolina. While on that campus, he made note of its rich tradition in the humanities and fine arts, its expansive curriculum, and its broad-based state support. He returned to Amherst in 1945, and two years later met Nancy in an economics class. He graduated in 1948, she in 1949, and they were married and moved to Boston in 1950. Both received graduate degrees from Boston University; Nancy in social work, and Bob in law.

While still in Amherst, Bob and Nancy were involved in the 1947 name change from Massachusetts State College to the University of Massachusetts. As Bob says, "We qualified to be a university, we had the stature, and we deserved the name." Adds Nancy, "When the name changed, that was big. It was big psychologically. Everyone was very happy."

Their continuing interest in higher education and the University of Massachusetts led to their involvement in the Boston Alumni Club, and by 1954 Bob was serving on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association. He recalls their concern about the "fragile" condition of public higher education and lackluster public interest in, or recognition of, the fine land-grant university in Amherst. Says Bob, "The number of private universities in this state is staggering. Back then, the University of Massachusetts was treated as if it were a distant cousin...It was a constant battle to get anything. So there was intellectual involvement, and the academic involvement - which was also political because we needed the political involvement to achieve the goals of the academic."

With longtime friends Professor Barney Troy (English) and Professor Fritz Ellert (German and the Athletics Hall of Fame) Bob worked to increase state support of UMass. He was also involved in policy changes that have had lasting effects, including:

-The 1958 "Freedom Bill" which allowed the Trustees of the University to appoint their own professors (a responsibility formerly held by the Personnel Committee at the State House in Boston). This helped change the perception of UMass as a rural agriculture school. Says Bob, not entirely facetiously, "Before this, you had to call a course on Chaucer 'Agricultural Chaucer' to get it approved."

-Also in 1958, lobbying for fiscal autonomy for the University to replace a state-administered, line-by-line budget.

-From 1961-63, he served as president of the Alumni Association, and was appointed by Governor Furcolo as a charter member of the University of Massachusetts Building Authority. While there, Bob was instrumental in shaping the campus we know to-day, hiring such architects as Hugh Stubbins (Citibank Building in Manhattan, several dining commons at UMass); Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owens, and Merrill (Lever Building in Manhattan, Alumni Stadium at UMass); Marcel Brauer of the Bauhaus (Campus Center); Kevin Roche (Fine Arts Center); and Edward Durrell Stone (W.E.B. Du Bois Library).