President Bulger Appoints David MacKenzie Acting Chancellor
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by Leigh DuPuy
On
December 29, President William M. Bulger appointed Vice Chancellor for
Administration and Finance David J. MacKenzie to the position of acting
chancellor of UMass Boston, effective January 1, 2001. MacKenzie's name
will be presented at the Board of Trustees meeting in February for an
official appointment as interim chancellor.
“As chief financial officer for the campus, Vice Chancellor MacKenzie has been involved in every major issue facing the UMass Boston community and its neighbors,” said President Bulger. “He has the ideal background to manage UMass Boston during the transition and to prepare the university for a new chancellor.”
MacKenzie will serve in the post until a permanent chancellor is appointed. “It is a great honor and privilege to lead this extraordinary institution with its first-rate faculty, staff, and students,” MacKenzie noted. “This will be an opportunity to tie up loose ends and prepare the campus for the new chancellor.”
Among the things on MacKenzie's to-do list are plans for the new campus center and capital improvements, including repairs on the garage. He also will be collaborating with Provost Cnudde to develop a list for the new chancellor of strategic initiatives reflecting the needs of the campus. A great advocate of e-mail, MacKenzie encourages the university community to utilize his e-mail address: David.MacKenzie@umb.edu.
MacKenzie has been with UMass Boston since August of 1999, overseeing a number of administrative departments including Facilities, Public Safety, Computing Services, Auxiliary Services, Human Resources, Budget and Fiscal Affairs, and the Bursar's Office. His background includes six years as general counsel for the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority, where he worked to secure funds for the state's hospitals higher education institutions. Also, MacKenzie served from 1979 - 1993 on the staff of Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee, where he helped to shape public policy on many of the major social and fiscal issues facing the Commonwealth.
MacKenzie's educational background includes a BA from Wesleyan
University, an MA in psychology from Stanford University, and a JD from
Northeastern University Law School.
As a consequence of MacKenzie's designation, LaVerne Cawthorne
has been appointed as acting vice chancellor for administration and
finance. Cawthorne has over 20 years of administrative experience in
education and has been with the university since 1984. She will oversee
many of the university's day-to-day operations, and guide both
short and long-term planning in projects such as the campus budget,
construction of the campus center, and facilities upgrades.
In the meantime, the search for a permanent chancellor has moved forward. The Search Committee recommended four candidates to President Bulger in late December. These candidates are Jo Ann Gora, provost and vice president for academic affairs for Old Dominion University; Louise Mirrer, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the City University of New York; Louis Paradise, executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of New Orleans; and James Wyche, associate provost at Brown University. President Bulger is in the process of interviewing these candidates, and who are expected to come to campus for a series of public meetings in the forthcoming months.