Photograph of Dr. Waded Cruzado, a smiling white Latinx woman with gray hair and glasses, behind a podium bearing the sign "University of Massachusetts Amherst"

"When leaders are at their best..." APLU President celebrates and inspires UMass ADVANCE community

This year's UMass ADVANCE Annual Distinguished Lecture was delivered by Dr. Waded Cruzado, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Cruzado, who served as president of the Montana State University system before assuming her current role, paid tribute to the winners of the 2026 Faculty Peer Mentoring Awards and the Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) Award, and to the community that gathered to celebrate their leadership. Her address, "Leaders Needed: Why Public Higher Education Matters," reminded participants of the deeply democratic values that inspired the creation of the national network of land-grant universities (of which UMass is an exemplar), and of the opportunities we all have to lead in ways that protect the transformative promise of fair, inclusive and empowering public higher education.

“When leaders are at their best, they do five things: they model the way; they inspire a shared vision; they challenge the process; they allow others to act; and they encourage the heart.”

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Video Highlight: Equity for Women in Science

Presented by Dr. Cassidy R. Sugimoto, professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology. Sugimoto discusses key findings from her book, co-written with Vincent Lariviere, “Equity for Women in Science,” which is the first large-scale empirical analysis of the global gender gap in science.

$282,000
Collaborative Grants. $180k in research to 12 teams and $102K in mutual mentoring grants to 17 teams.
281
Faculty Fellows from 73 departments who have partnered with ADVANCE to inform and promote our equity programs and policies.
109
Number of faculty honored for peer mentoring (53) and equitable practices in collaboration (56).
41
Research publications and faculty survey reports.
23
Tools for change to support equitable change in practices, policies and culture.
100+
Workshops and seminars. Plus 5 distinguished lectures for faculty and leaders to change culture an implement policies.

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