Sherry H.Penney Endowed Professorship in Leadership
Chancellor
Penney Reflects on Twelve Years At UMass Boston
UMass
Boston First Celebrates Early Victory
Years
of Service Reception Honors 152 Employees
Sherry
H.Penney Endowed Professorship in Leadership
Situation
Critical:
UMass Boston Releases Vital Housing Study
Gordon
Wallace Named Outstanding Faculty Member
Clinical
Psychology Department
Receives Accreditation
by Kim Burke
On November 8, the University of Massachusetts approved
the establishment of the Sherry H. Penney Professorship in Leadership
in the College of Management, which will be effective on January 1,
2001. The Board of Trustees also approved that the Chancellor by appointed
the first Penney professor.
An anonymous and longtime generous donor who is close
to UMass Boston pledged $850,000 to establish the endowed chair on September
1. The gift was made in support of Penney’s long service to the
UMass Boston campus as well as the University System as its President
in 1995.
The gift will be matched by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with $650,000
under President Bulger’s special Endowed Chair Matching Program,
bringing the total to $1.5 million.
The professorship will bring the number of endowed chairs at UMass Boston
to five, including a visiting professorship, during the UMass Boston
First Campaign.
One of the major functions of the Endowed Penney Chair
will be to develop a Center for Collaborative Leadership, created to
provide inner-city leadership development for women and members of minority
groups through teaching, research, and outreach programs.
During her twelve years as Chancellor, Dr. Penney has taught graduate
seminars on leadership, as well as leadership in politics and education
in Nineteenth Century America. Penney has published many articles on
the issues of leadership and management in education, examined educational
policy, governance and curricula, and has written a book on Nineteenth
Century New York political history and leadership.
Dr. Penney is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a past member
of the Board of Directors of the American Council of Education. She
takes a leading role in education as a Chair of the Board of the Education
Resources Institute (TERT), as a member of the Urban 13 (now 21) group
of universities, and in the Business-Higher Education Forum, a group
of Fortune 500 business executives and university presidents. During
her career, she has been the chair of seventeen visiting committees
(and member of an additional seven), evaluating colleges and universities
across the country for the leading accreditation organizations in higher
education.
She is equally active on the boards of Boston educational,
economic, and civic organizations, including the Boston Coalition, the
Boston Private Industry Council, the Boston Edison Company (NSTAR),
the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation,
the New England Aquarium, the New England Council, the Partnership,
and the University of Massachusetts Foundation.
In 1996, she was awarded the New England Women’s Leadership award for education; in 1998, the Pinnacle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; and in 1999, an honorary degree from Quincy College. She has also received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary degree from Albion College.