Twelve years after McCormack Institute Director Robert Woodbury resigned as president to the University of Southern Maine (USM) Portland Campus, he has still not been forgotten and most likely never will be. The institution recently named its campus center the Robert L. Woodbury Campus Center, after the man who influenced the university as campus president and system chancellor. Woodbury said he was especially honored since the center is the major hub of student activity.
Woodbury served USM's Portland Campus as president from 1979-1986, when he became chancellor of the University of Maine System. In 1994 he made an unsuccessful run for governor and then returned to USM as interim chancellor in 1995 before coming to UMass Boston.
During his time at USM, Woodbury was responsible for getting construction of the campus center rolling. USM purchased the former International Harvester truck garage near its campus in 1982 and started the $1.55 million renovation project. Three years later, while Woodbury still served the Portland campus as president, the 28,000-square foot center opened.
Approximately 350 current and former faculty, staff and students as well as friends and family attended a September ceremony where the center was officially dedicated in Woodbury's honor. At the naming ceremony, Woodbury was additionally honored with the announcement of an endowed scholarship fund in his honor. The scholarships would be awarded to several students each year, allowing them the opportunity to study in a foreign country.
"I was heavily involved in getting the university involved [in the exchange program]," said Woodbury, who served as chairman of the National Council on International Education Exchange for several years. Woodbury is particularly pleased with the scholarship fund, saying many USM students, like many UMass Boston students, would not have the opportunity to study abroad without it. "[The two schools] are really similar," he said. "An awful lot of students couldn't afford to do it without funding."
The scholarship announcement included speeches from one USM student planning on studying abroad and another Belgian student currently studying at USM. "In effect, they were saying 'this is why it's important'," said Woodbury.
Woodbury agreed having a building named after him is a tough act to follow, but he'll be working hard at it. He has been the director of the McCormack Institute for the past three years, a move he made because of the unique opportunity it provided."This mixes university issues with public policy," he said, "and that's always been an interest of mine."