CHANCELLOR COLLINS REMARKS AT GALA

"On a personal note, one of the highlights of this past week for me came in a very unsuspecting way when I had the opportunity to join and teach a Spanish class. Those of you who know me understand that Spanish is not my fuerte. Yet, it was in that class that I experienced the true crossroads of humanity that is UMass Boston:

More than half of the students in the class were first generation college students. They were joined by a woman from the suburbs who had come to learn Spanish, a doctor who had emigrated from Haiti, and students from other universities.

What struck me most, perhaps, is that UMass Boston is the great public University for all these people. They were undertaking their course of study with extraordinary interest and support from faculty, staff and administrators and were doing so with tremendous dignity, no matter their 'walk of life'.

The student from the suburbs told me she came to UMass with lowered  expectations. What she found here were dedicated students, undertaking a rigorous curriculum, from a demanding, yet patient and inspiring teacher, in Professor Reyes Coll-Tellechea.

Another woman in the class told me that her children were studying at some of the area's other colleges and universities, and in comparison, her coursework was more difficult. In fact, she mentioned/complained that she even had more homework than they did! She wondered out loud, 'why was she paying all that tuition to those other schools?'

The time in that classroom was one of the most heartening experiences I have had since I became Chancellor two years ago. It reaffirmed the important gift that is education and the privilege that all of us have to call this great public University our own."