UMass Boston in the News

UMass Boston: A Value Proposition

October 05, 2009
by J. Keith Motley, PhD, UMass Boston Chancellor

As the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston, every fall I have the distinct honor of welcoming the most diverse student body in New England to our oceanfront campus. This year it was even better – we welcomed a record number of students, whose diversity in ethnicity, age, economic status, and home towns enriches the classrooms and campus life at UMass Boston.

Over the past year, we’ve endured a lot of sobering news. The media provided extensive coverage of the Wall Street financial collapse last fall, the severity of the ensuing economic recession that set in nationwide, and the resulting impact on industries, employment, and, most importantly, families. The economic crisis brought into even greater focus the escalating cost of a college education, an investment that for most individuals and families ranks second only to buying a home.

UMass Boston, along with its four sister campuses across the state, prides itself on being able to contain annual tuition and fee increases to approximately the rate of inflation. Even in this very difficult economic climate, when we saw a substantial reduction in state funding to our university, I am pleased to say that by working with state leaders to secure federal stimulus funding, we have been able to continue that trend of modest increases for our undergraduate, in-state students.

As the Greater Boston area’s only public research university, we understand the need, now more than ever, to continue our mission of providing high-quality education. UMass Boston offers a unique learning experience and opportunity. With seven colleges, 913 faculty members, and 15,000 students, most learning occurs in small classrooms, not giant lecture halls. The low faculty-to-student ratio means that our students have frequent contact with and direct access to professors who have the highest qualifications in their fields.

We are working hard to make a UMass Boston education an even greater springboard for future success. Two new facilities—a nursing clinical education center and a Venture Development Center—offer exceptional resources for our faculty and students. We are now planning a state-of-the-art Integrated Sciences Center, to further enhance learning and foster research activity, and working with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate to plan for its future home on our campus. This institute, which will contain the papers of the late senator, will be adjacent to the John F. Kennedy Library and the Commonwealth Archives, providing truly unique opportunities for education and research.

I’m always proud to say that UMass Boston is a research university with a teaching soul, and that is what makes the university such a great value proposition, regardless of the economic climate. I invite you to see for yourself what’s happening at UMass Boston by attending our fall open house on October 17 or by visiting our website at www.umb.edu.

First in a series of columns about higher education and UMass Boston.

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