Back to the 2019 State of the University Address page.
Ladies and gentlemen, please rise as we observe a moment of silence for former UMass Boston assistant basketball coach Kendrick Price who died tragically on Saturday. Thank you. Please remain standing as we welcome the Doo Wop Shop from UMass Amherst to perform our national anthem.
(SINGING) Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome UMass Board of Trustees chairman Rob Manning.
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Welcome, everybody. On behalf of all my fellow trustees, it's great to have so many UMass supporters here tonight. 24 hours ago, I was walking on a beach in Costa Rica with my wife. And I was actually complaining to her about how hot it was. And then I woke up this morning at 5 o'clock. And I was on my hands and knees in my backyard in a foot of snow looking for my little dog Rosie to rescue her. And when I walked in, Donna looked at me. And she said, have you cooled off yet.
So thank you. We know there was a storm today. And we have a great turnout. So it's very much appreciated that you're all here.
UMass is doing great. And particularly with some of the trustees of previous generations who are here, if you look at UMass on any dimension and measure it against our peer institutions across the country, we are growing our brand. We are thriving. And the university continues to make great strides to become one of the best research universities in the United States.
And it's all happening during a time when there is tremendous disruption and turmoil happening in higher education. And you don't have to look too far close to our hearts to see what happened to an institution like Mount Ida. UMass stepped in and saved that institution, repeat the word saved. No one could have ever done what we did to take care of those students and their families. And in the process, we picked up a key strategic asset for the University.
And people need to understand that that value that we created accrues to the citizens of the Commonwealth. They own the university. They're the shareholders of it. And as UMass continues to move forward and make more acquisitions and more deals that are going to happen because of consolidation that's going to occur, it's going to create value that accrues to everyone in this room, your families, and the generations to come.
And we want to make sure that UMass is strong, has a great AA-rated balance sheet, and has positive operating margins, so that when this disruption continues to roll out, we're going to be in a position to capitalize on it, to grow, become stronger, more powerful, and become an elite institution in the United States.
And as we look out into the future, the big challenge we face in higher education is we failed at something significantly. And that is our graduation rates are deplorable. If you look at the $1.6 trillion of student debt that's outstanding, half of it is in the hands of people that never earned a college degree. Half of the people that have enrolled in higher education since 1980 have never earned a degree.
And one of the ways that we're going to solve that problem is to launch a new UMass Online that will go after the adult learning community that will allow people to take that liability, that anchor that's holding them down, and convert it into an asset and do it in the cloud, online, which will be a lower cost way to deliver, and do it asynchronously, so that if somebody has a job and a family, they don't have to show up on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:30 to take a course. And so Marty will tell you more about that in a minute.
I've been attached to Marty for a long, long time. And I am sure he's sick of me at this point. And he is somebody that I hold in very high regard. He has made a lot of very difficult decisions, particularly in the past year. And he's taken a beating in the press and in some of the community groups that have gone after some of the things that we've done.
But in these lonely moments when I sit and talk with him, which I always have, and I say, Marty, if you do this, it's going to be tough. They're going to come after you. And going to be unpopular. And every single time, he looks at me, and he says, I don't care. I want to do what's right for the students. I want to create opportunities for them like we had. And I want to make the university great. And so he's somebody--
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He's somebody that has tremendous integrity, but courage, because there's not a lot of college, university presidents in the public space that would do the things that he does. And so he's going to tell you what he's going to do in the future. And we're all going to be here to support and help him. So welcome the President of the University of Massachusetts, Marty Meehan.
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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Rob, thank you. And I want you to know, Rob, that I could never get sick of you while you were the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts. Our trustees volunteer their time, because they love this University. And many, like Rob, are also alumni. Rob and Donna Manning are among our greatest supporters. And they are incredible advocates for everyone in this room so. Thank you, Rob, for all that you do for UMass.
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Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Polito, and Secretary Jim Pizer have joined us every year since we began this tradition. And on behalf of the entire UMass community, I want to thank you, Governor, for your presence, for your support. We really appreciate all three of you being here. Thank you.
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I also noticed-- I don't think that Congress is in session tonight, because there's someone here who's very special to me. She graduated from college and came to work for me in my Washington office. She worked for me for nine years, almost 10 years. And recently, she was elected to take my old seat in Congress. And Lori Trahan has been a tremendous friend. I will say to all of you from UMass, she's the only Massachusetts member who's been appointed to the Education Committee. So I hope Lori Trahan's going to work for us for a long time. Lori Trahan.
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We are also joined by our incredible chancellors. Let me introduce them. I call them the dream team. First, Kumble Subbaswamy from UMass Amherst.
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Swamy's hockey team, for the first time in its history, won Hockey East this year, first place.
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Great leader from UMass Dartmouth is Robert Johnson. Robert.
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Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Jackie Maloney.
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Now, I also should say that Jackie has a nationally-ranked hockey team as well that beat Amherst twice this year. You notice, we have Robert Johnson sitting in between Swamy and Jackie? We want to keep the fighting on the ice. And if there is any fighting, we have a medical doctor right next to Jackie too. Please welcome Michael Collins, the chancellor of the Medical School.
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Trustees, former trustees, members of the legislature, business leaders, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends, thank you so much for being here. And welcome to our third annual State of the University address. This is an opportunity to pause and reflect on our progress, to look back on where we've been, and to discuss where we'd like to go. That is more necessary at this moment, because significant challenges are ahead for us.
It's a moment that calls for long-term thinking and long-term vision. But it's important to first consider what brought us here. Three decades ago, a forward-thinking UMass board of trustees recognized that the university and the state were at a crossroads. Massachusetts had reinvented itself from a center for textiles and manufacturing to a knowledge-based and tech-based economy. And UMass was not meeting its growing needs.
So the board of trustees formed a blue ribbon commission, one on the future of the University. It was chaired by David Saxon, President Emeritus of the University of California. The commission's simple charge was to examine and make recommendations for the future of UMass and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 30 years ago this very month in March of 1989, the commission published the blueprint for the UMass of today, now known as the Saxon Report. Its formal title was, "Learning to Lead, Building a World Class Public University in Massachusetts."
It envisioned a UMass that could meet the state's growing need for educated workers, that would close the education gap for minority and low-income residents, and that would establish a standard of excellence that aligned with the overall ambitions of the state. The report called for renewed investment in meeting the needs of underserved populations and supporting K through 12 education and improving student success and the development of talent. Most of its recommendations were implemented by the legislature, including the formation of our five-campus system that we have today and the establishment of a governance structure that provided autonomy to the UMass board of trustees in financial management and academic policy, among other areas.
The report's conclusion was that the future prosperity of the Commonwealth was dependent upon a world class public research university. Now, bear in mind, the Saxon Report contemplated something that for the time was extreme. In fact, the authors actually acknowledged that it was, in their words, a radical notion. But over the last 30 years, through the hard work of many people in this room and your predecessors, we have indeed become the world class university the commission envisioned.
By every measure, from student impact to third party validations, student demand, we have reached the upper echelon of public universities in the United States and indeed throughout the globe. Today, UMass educates 75,000 students, including three times as many Massachusetts residents as the top eight private colleges and universities combined. We confer more degrees than any other institution in the state's highest-demand fields, like management, education, analytics, nursing. We graduate 18,000 students each spring. And nearly 3/4 of them remain in Massachusetts to live, to work, to start families, and to contribute to their communities.
All five of our campuses are statewide economic engines and talent pipelines. Collectively, they generate more than $6 billion in annual economic impact. Our $670 million research enterprise produces life changing discoveries, new startup companies, and keeps the state on the cutting edge of life sciences, robotics, advanced manufacturing, and many other fields.
And thanks to the support of so many of you here tonight, our endowment is now approaching $1 billion. Thank you.
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All of this is why US News and World Report has ranked UMass is one of the best university systems in the country three years running, with all four of our undergraduate campuses ranked top-tier national universities.
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Not to be outdone, our incredible medical school is top 10% in the nation for primary care. And the bar pass rate at the emerging UMass School of Law is now behind only Harvard and BU in the state, soaring above 92% pass rate.
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Through the talent we develop, the research we conduct, and the service we perform, we have become a key thread in the social, cultural, and economic fabric that makes Massachusetts the greatest state in the nation with the top innovation ecosystem, the best K through 12 schools, and the most educated workforce. That was the precise goal of the Saxon commission, one that I am proud to say has been achieved. In other words, the state of this university, 30 years later, is strong.
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But there is also no doubt that there are challenges on the horizon. Some of them are familiar to us, cost inflation, commitment to meeting student financial need, new demands for services of all kinds continue to drive more than $100 million in new expenses each year for the University. Meanwhile, since 2008, state funding for public higher education has decreased, when you adjust for inflation, by 12 and 1/2 percent according to a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
The equation is simple. As costs go up, inability to keep pace with inflation from the state, we make cuts that impact students. And our students and their families pay and borrow more. We will continue to work with our partners in the legislature to make our case for why an investment in UMass is an investment in our state's greatest natural resource, talent.
I want to thank Governor Baker for his recent strong statement of support. Uncertainty over state funding union contracts has been a significant issue in previous contract cycles. It has had a direct impact on student costs. Governor Baker's budget proposal recommends full funding of the state's share of those costs, an important commitment. It's one that I hope that the House and the Senate will follow. Governor, thank you for that. That makes a big difference.
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While we recognize the importance of incremental steps and the reality of competing priorities, it is also our responsibility to support those who have made bold proposals to shift the conversation about funding for public higher education. And I will continue to advocate for any reasonable measure seeking to preserve the promise of an affordable higher education and remove the albatross of debt for our students. That is why I proudly stand with our students and faculty in support of the CHERISH Act to restore appropriation fund levels for public higher education.
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Student affordability and how we work to preserve it, that was a focus of my address last year. And it remains our most important issue. But there are new challenges that threaten our ability to fulfill our mission and guarantee disruption across higher education both public and private. The most immediate is a looming demographic crisis. The plunging birthrates during the Great Recession have caused the number of children reaching college age to begin declining. And starting in 2026, that decline will be dramatic.
In New England, which has the lowest fertility rate and highest concentration of colleges in the country, there will be between 32 and 54,000 fewer college-aged students just seven years from now. That means colleges and universities will have too much capacity and not enough demand at a time when the economic model in higher education is already straining under its own weight.
Make no mistake. This is an existential threat to the entire sector of higher education. And by the way, New England, unfortunately, is ground zero. We've all been alarmed by the recent closings of several small private colleges. But as was described in one published report, that is akin to water retreating from the beach before the tsunami hits.
Economists and education experts predict that 25% or more of all colleges nationally could close or merge in the next 10 to 15 years. I invited Nathan Grawe, who literally wrote the book on this subject, to speak to the University leaders last June. He stood in the Carney Library at UMass Dartmouth and pointed to chart after chart, showing the line graphs driving downward. This issue is real. It will disrupt higher education in profound ways and affect every person in this state.
Now, to be clear, UMass is in a better position than most. Nationally recognized and nationally ranked universities may be shielded from the more extreme effects of demographic decline due to our quality, affordability, and scale. With fewer options, a higher percentage of the smaller population of total students are likely to enroll in UMass.
But the effect on the Commonwealth will be acute. Our economy will suffer from fewer college graduates entering the workforce and from a contraction of the higher ed industry, which, by the way, is responsible for 125,000 jobs in this state, with more than 100 municipal or hypo-local economies dependent on the college that they toast.
Even if UMass maintains our enrollment tread line, even if we significantly increase the number of out-of-state and international students that we attract to Massachusetts, if there are 15% to 25% fewer college students overall, the Commonwealth will be challenged to meet the demands of our workforce. So how will UMass manage through these challenges? How will we evolve and adapt? How will we continue to thrive and contribute?
First, we must continue to strengthen our long-term financial health. That work is already under way through a series of fiscal oversight and transparency measures that have improved planning, controls, and risk management. We have also increased our data analysis capacity to improve our decision making. We are committed to maintaining financial stability through an all-weather financial profile with reserves on hand and a positive operating margin.
Citing these efforts last year, Moody's reaffirmed our strong credit ratings and upgraded our outlook, distinguishing UMass from most of our peers. And over the last six months, a team of experts from across the university has developed a plan for a new shared services model that will achieve $17 million in annual cost savings in our backhouse operations. These efforts represent a new mode of operation that's more efficient, more data-focused, more nimble, all of which will be necessary if we are going to continue to meet our promise of affordable excellence for our students.
As that hard work has progressed, we continue to make strategic investments to benefit our campuses. Last month, we reached an agreement with a developer for the Bayside property in Dorchester that could generate up to $235 million in upfront revenue for UMass Boston.
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That represents a 12-fold return on the University's initial acquisition, which, by the way, was the brainchild of former Chairman of the Board of Trustees Jim Karam, who's here. Jim, that was a good deal.
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The development of the Bayside property will create a new gateway to Columbia Point, improved mobility in the area, and attract companies to locate with Boston's only public research university, creating opportunities for student experiential learning, internships, co-ops for UMass Boston students, and faculty research partnerships. It's just one example of a strategic investment that the governor, the legislature, and our board of trustees have empowered us to make for the benefit of our students, our institution, and the Commonwealth.
Each year, there are examples of this on all of our campuses, like the elevation of computer science at UMass Amherst to a full college, the construction of a transformative living learning facility at UMass Dartmouth, the creation of a fabric discovery center at UMass Lowell, and the development of the UMass Medicine Science Park in Worcester. These projects and many others, driven by the strong leadership in strategic planning by our chancellors, will serve us well in the future.
But we remain at a crossroads. With the demographic declines, rising costs, and limited access to new funding, our ability to meet the future needs of the Commonwealth and its economy are again in question. After 18 months of research and study on this subject, it is clear that our single greatest opportunity to ensure a prosperous UMass while still meeting our workforce development mission is to take bold and intentional steps to make a UMass education more accessible to potential students we are not currently serving at scale, because while the Commonwealth boasts the nation's most educated workforce, our top employers still struggle to find workers with the right skills. And like many states, Massachusetts is grappling with income and wealth inequality as well as troubling lack of economic mobility among certain minority groups.
1/3 of African-Americans in the Bay State have college degrees, only 1/3, and just 1/4 of Hispanics. Of the total population in Massachusetts 25 and older, 1/2 do not have a four-year degree. And what's particularly frustrating about this, more than 20%, approximately 1 million adults in Massachusetts, had some college credit but no bachelor's degree. A concerted and highly targeted effort to make a UMass education available to these adult learners is the answer to a number of issues, addressing the workforce skills gap, meeting employer demand, improving economic mobility for Massachusetts residents, and ensuring that the University of Massachusetts continues to thrive for generations to come.
Over the next several months, I will be meeting with senior leadership and faculty on each of our campuses to outline a plan for the creation of a new online college focused solely on adult learners. Last fall, we presented to the Board of Trustees a model that will allow us to rapidly scale this platform through strategic partnerships while implementing best practices in digital education for adult learners.
By offering degree completion programs, rapid response to workforce demand, and customized workplace credentials for employers, we will significantly enhance our contribution to the workforce development in Massachusetts. And by the way, the net revenue generated from the new college will be returned to the campuses to sustain our core mission and our broader contributions to the Commonwealth.
At the same time, our award winning campus-based programs will continue to serve hybrid and full-time online students who seek selective bachelor's and master's programs. President Emeritus Jack Wilson, who's with us tonight, help UMass achieve national acclaim as a leader in online education, providing us with a foundation on which we will now build. Where's Jack? Jack, thank you for your leadership.
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With that experience and expertise, we plan to create an online platform with a national profile for educating adult learners, further enhancing the Commonwealth's leadership position as a hub for education technology. It will also be accessible to our partners. We are grateful for our strong relationships with our community colleges. And we will build on those collaborations through this initiative. Several of our excellent community college presidents are in attendance tonight. I thank them for being here and look forward to collaborating with them, continuing to collaborate.
So how do we know this will work? Well, for one thing, because others are already doing it. You know what? They're doing it in our backyard. Right here in our Commonwealth, out-of-state institutions without our academic reputation for excellence are enrolling adult learners in Massachusetts in the types of programs we seek to offer.
Southern New Hampshire University enrolls an estimated 15,000 Massachusetts residents. That is despite the fact that more than 50% of Massachusetts adult learners enrolled on fully online programs, they say they would rather have enrolled in a similar UMass program if it were offered. By focusing on education for adult learners, Southern New Hampshire's enrollment has surged to 93,000 fully online students compared to just 5,600 at UMass.
And the new competition is entering on market, bringing the same technology, student services, and marketing capacity as Southern New Hampshire. Purdue Global, Penn State World Campus are actively recruiting right now in Massachusetts. They, along with Arizona State and the University of Maryland, have demonstrated that public universities can scale quickly with the right model.
The time for us to act is now. It's predicted over the next several years, four to five national players with strong regional footholds will be established. And we intend to be one of them.
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And as we pursue this goal, I'm reminded of that line from the Saxon report that this may seem like a radical notion. But I'm also reminded of another passage in that report, where the authors wrote, 30 years ago, and I quote, "We believe that the University's leaders have at times been too timid in their advocacy, too willing to allow the very real obstacles which confront them to dampen their resolve and lower their aspirations. Resolute action now can give the University the opportunity to reach its full potential," end quote.
Its time once again for resolute action. We owe it to ourselves and this Commonwealth to lead through the coming disruption and to emerge stronger on the other side. We must take bold and decisive steps to ensure that we continue to fulfill our critical mission of access, opportunity, and excellence and to remain the world class public research university that the Saxon commission envisioned 30 years ago, the world class public research university that this Commonwealth needs and this Commonwealth deserves.
Thank you very much for being here. Thanks to our student volunteers and performers. And thank you to the UMass Foundation for hosting us tonight. And thank you for all you do for UMass. Thanks very much.
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Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats as we welcome the UMass Lowell gospel choir to close our program.
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If you all can stand and join in with me before we go back into the snow. I know it's cold outside. So before you go, get you guys moving and ready. All right?
(SINGING) I want to clap a little louder than before. I want to shout a little louder than before. I want to jump higher than before.
Can you guys jump with me?
(SINGING) Sing a little louder.
Woo!
Because I got freedom. Oh, I've got freedom. Yeah, I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. Yeah.
I want to clap a little louder than before. I want to sing a little louder than before. I want to jump higher than before.
There we go. Yeah!
(SINGING) Come on and scream a little louder! Because I've got freedom. Oh, I've got freedom. Oh, I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. Do you have freedom? We've got freedom.
Let's do that one one more time, all right?
(SINGING) I want to clap a little louder than before. I want to sing a little louder than before. I want to jump a higher than before. Scream a little louder.
Woo!
Because I got freedom. I've got freedom. Yeah, I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. Yeah, I've got freedom. I've got freedom.
No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free, yeah.
Can you sing that with us?
(SINGING) No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free, yeah.
I hear some of you guys. You sound good.
(SINGING) No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free, yeah. All right. Everybody come with us and sing. Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
I got freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom. We've got freedom. We've got freedom.
No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free, yeah. No more shackles, no more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free, yeah. No more shackles, no more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free, yeah.
Last time. Come on and sing,
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Hallelu--
Because I got freedom, freedom. I've got freedom, oh, freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. I've got freedom. Freedom, freedom.
[CHEERING]
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us tonight and for your support of the University of Massachusetts. Please join us for a reception in the grill room.
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