University Reporter: October, 2002
Also in this Issue:
Students Sample the “Hidden Jewels of UMass Boston” and Plaza Barbecue
Tour Offers Sneak Peak Inside Campus Center
College of Management Welcomes Back Ben & Jerry’s CFO
PeopleSoft Financial System Goes Live
UMass Boston Ranks in Top 100 “Best Values in Public Colleges”
Joiner Center Brings Pentagon Quilts to Campus for Healy Library Exhibit
Free Student and Community Concert Rocks the Point
Jo Ann Gora Is Inaugurated as Sixth Chancellor on September 27
By Melissa Fassel
Students,
faculty, staff, alumni, community members, and business leaders
celebrated the beginning of a new era for UMass Boston with the
installation of Jo Ann M. Gora as UMass Boston’s sixth chancellor
on September 27.
Provost Paul Fonteyn opened the ceremony, naming the campus representatives
in attendance and introducing University of Massachusetts President
William Bulger.
Bulger welcomed the sizeable crowd of more than 500 guests, pointing out Gora’s interest in making the inauguration “a celebration of the entire university, not simply her investiture.” more: Gora
Students Sample the “Hidden Jewels of UMass Boston” and Plaza Barbecue
More than 1,000 students came out to enjoy a barbecue on the plaza and to visit the “Hidden Jewels of UMass Boston” display which offered information on university services, the chance to win free tuition for the semester, and an opportunity to register to vote. Faculty and staff served students the barbecue fare of hot dogs, veggie burgers, potato chips, and cookies. (Photo by Harry Brett)
Tour Offers Sneak Peak Inside Campus Center
About
fifteen students, staff, and faculty members got a preview of atriums,
dining rooms, and the “university street” during a “hard
hat” tour of the Campus Center construction site. Led by Stephan
Chait, assistant vice chancellor for administration and finance,
the tour group walked through the building’s six stories and
were treated to views from future windows varying from the downtown
skyline to the Boston Harbor Islands.
“The building is designed to be ‘transparent,’” said Chait of the vistas, skylights, and two atriums. “You will never be more than 40 feet from natural light.” He confirmed that the current layout closely mirrors the architectural renderings visible in the virtual tour at www.umb.edu/about_umb/campus_center/.
The project remains on budget and on schedule for a projected December 2003 opening. (Photo by Harry Brett)
College of Management Welcomes Back Ben & Jerry’s CFO
By Mary Ann Machanic
The College of Management (CM) welcomed Mickey Wiles ’83, chief financial officer of the Vermont ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., back to campus for a day of special activities. At CM’s fall convocation Wiles addressed the timely topic of “Corporate Citizenship”; spoke privately with faculty from the Accounting and Finance Department; met with students in an undergraduate class on managerial ethics; and spoke to MBA students on “The CFO in 2002” in the first of this academic year’s Senior Executive Forums.
“This wonderful opportunity for us to have a well-regarded CFO offer his expertise and experience at a time of turmoil in the financial markets and to share the unique culture of Ben & Jerry’s with our faculty, staff and students,” said CM Dean Philip Quaglieri in his introduction of Wiles, who was visiting the campus after a 19-year absence. Wiles returned the compliment, noting his “wonderful experience” at UMass Boston and the “fantastic education and many benefits” he had received at CM. Key aspects of Ben & Jerry’s organization, particularly its well-documented commitment to social responsibility, are studied at many business schools, including the College of Management.
Wiles finds the recent rash of accounting scandals “personally painful” and clearly wishes that other organizations subscribed to the core beliefs found in Ben & Jerry’s mission statement, which focuses on product quality, achievement of financial goals, and social responsibility. Many of Ben & Jerry’s environmental and social initiatives are now widely followed by others.
Wiles, a certified public accountant, received his degree in management with a concentration in accounting in 1983. He joined Ben & Jerry’s as corporate controller prior to the company was purchased by Unilever N. V. of Great Britain in 2000. He was named chief financial officer after the deal was completed, an unusual move for Unilever, which typically replaces CFOs when making acquisitions.
PeopleSoft Financial System Goes Live
By Leanne Marden
After two years of intensive design, development, and testing, a new financial system was officially deployed at each of the University of Massachusetts’ five campuses and the president’s office in July. The new system replaced the Financial Records System (FRS) that supported financial operations for many years and dated back to the late 1970’s.
To reach this milestone, central finance staff from across the university worked through the first week of July to ensure that the financial records for fiscal year 2002 could be closed by the week’s end. In the days following, data was converted and then reconciled from the old systems—four separate finance systems across the university—into a single, university-wide financial system.
By mid-July, business was underway within the new finance system. Central finance and departmental staff began entering purchase orders “on-line”; accounts payable staff processed payments; payroll and other interfaces were successfully transmitted. Soon after, other financial business was processed, including the recording of budgets and the calculation of overhead charges, to name but a few.
Getting the campus ready for this major change was no small task. In the weeks and months leading up to the finance “go-live” date, much effort was focused on preparing over 180 individuals to use the new system. This effort involved ensuring technical connectivity from each user’s local workstation, establishing user i.d.’s and passwords with the appropriate access, and then training, training, and more training.
The official transition from the old, familiar accounting system to a new system is now behind us. Yet much work lies ahead. With the continued dedication and hard work of all campus members of the PeopleSoft finance team and finance departments, and the good humor and patience of all system users, the campus will surely reap the benefits of a new technology.
UMass Boston Ranks in Top 100 “Best Values in Public Colleges”
In a recent survey conducted by Kiplinger.com, UMass Boston was ranked 82 out of 100 “Best Values in Public Colleges,” joining a list of top public institutions throughout the country.
Researchers from the Kiplinger Organization determined overall rank by examining 200 of the most selective universities from a pool of 600 four-year public colleges and universities. To narrow the field of 200, they assessed information such as four- and six-year graduation rates, student-faculty ratios, and how much each college spends per student on instruction.
After the top 100 were selected, researchers ranked institutions by a combination of quality and cost measurements, which included in-state tuition and fees, retention rates, SAT or ACT scores, and levels of financial aid. The report can be accessed on www.kiplinger.com. The Kiplinger organization offers personal finance and business forecasting through magazines, such as Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, books, syndicated newspaper columns, and the Internet.
Joiner Center Brings Pentagon Quilts to Campus for Healy Library Exhibit
By Kim Burke
“One
can’t help but be moved,” said Chancellor Gora upon viewing
a display of Pentagon quilts that hung in the fifth floor gallery
of the Healey Library the week of September 16.
A half a dozen quilts, part of a collection sent to the Pentagon in the wake of September 11, were brought to the university by the Joiner Center. The quiltmakers, many of whom were parents, represent schools and religious groups in locations ranging from Alaska to New Hampshire to Germany. A companion collection of quilts was displayed during the same week at the Massachusetts State House, and both collections were honored in separate ceremonies on September 18.
June Forte, curator of the quilts from the Department of Defense, joined Chancellor Gora at the ceremony on campus. “I am grateful to have a beautiful hall to show the quilts,” she said. “The quilts are symbols of warmth and caring, and bring healing to us all.”
Forte presented a plaque and an American flag to the university on behalf of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in part to thank UMass Boston for the display. This flag that had been raised over the Pentagon on August 30 in a daylong remembrance ceremony and was one of only two ceremonial flags raised that day not presented to military groups or victims’ families. The Chancellor promised that the university “will fly this every September 11.”
Free Student and Community Concert Rocks the Point
By Lisa Greggo
“Rock’n
Reggae on the Point,” a free student and community concert
held on the soccer field Tuesday evening, was opened by local favorite
Entrain. The crowd may have started out small, but no sooner did
Entrain begin playing than the people started coming out. It only
took a song or two to loosen up the audience—people just couldn’t
stand still while listening to the intense percussive sounds of
this popular band. After about an hour, Yellowman and the Sagittarius
Band came on. The internationally known Jamaican invited the crowd
to get close to the stage, where an enthusiastic group never stopped
dancing to his unique style of reggae music.
One of them, John E. Simmons, a Dorchester resident and member of the Iron Workers Local 7, said he came to see Yellowman and to “show support for the university.” Some brought picnic dinners, and several families had babies and strollers in tow. After playing for almost two hours Yellowman shouted, “I love Boston!” Over spirited applause he thanked UMass Boston and the organizers of this event. But he really got the crowd going when he said, “I love America—because you stand up for human rights.”
When asked why she decided to host this free concert, Chancellor Jo Ann Gora replied, “Well, why not? This is a college campus and there should be music here.” She added that she welcomes suggestions for future events.