UMass SUMMER 2008 VOLUME 11 NUMBER 2 MAGAZINE MARTIN T. M EEHAN INAUGURATED AS CHANCELL OR OF UMASS LOWELL Page 15 Lays Out Vision for Taking ‘Strong’ Institution to the ‘Next Level’ INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF CHANCELLOR MARTIN T. M EEHAN For this issue of the UMass Lowell Magazine, which features Chancellor Martin T. Meehan’s inauguration, we are publishing his inaugural address in lieu of the regular letter from the Chancellor. It is with deep humility and a sense of great responsibility The majority of our graduates that I accept the honor of becoming the second chancellor of stay here to work and raise this great institution, the University of Massachusetts Lowell. families, to create businesses and I am the second chancellor of UMass Lowell but I am the jobs, to contribute to civic and fourteenth leader of the institution and its predecessor schools, cultural life. founded in the 1890s. The role that this University Our roots run deep into this land. plays in the development of the intellect and character of our This region was the cradle of the American Revolution and students cannot be overstated. remains a fountain-head of American innovation. We offer more than just Lowell gave our nation an Industrial Revolution. world-class scholarship. More recently, our region spearheaded the Information We offer hope for the advancement and enlightenment of Revolution. each student who walks through our doors. This region, this watershed, is synonymous with invention, And we offer hope for the continued progress and prosperity entrepreneurship, industry, philosophy, literature, environmen - of our community. talism, healthcare and education. Today on this campus, 12,000 resident, commuter and online Think about our scientists and engineers like James B. students of all backgrounds pursue bachelor’s, master’s and Francis and An Wang. doctoral degrees. Consider our writers such as Anne Bradstreet, Henry David These students are the stewards, leaders, healers and builders Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. of tomorrow. And this University continues to build on that proud legacy. I want to talk about one of our students, an exceptional We want the world to know we are one of just four young woman who captures the spirit of UMass Lowell. Rachel National Science Foundation centers of excellence in Carnes is a senior from Haverhill. In high school, she says, she nanomanufacturing. didn’t have a clear plan for her future. But then she was We have the nation’s only master of music program in accepted at UMass Lowell and she saw it as a chance to take Sound Recording Technology, and our graduates are winning a new direction. She’s a business major on the Dean’s List. Grammy Awards. Everything was going well, until one terrible morning in We have scientists who are engaged in groundbreaking January, Rachel was sitting on a bench in front of the library research in limb regeneration. when a pickup truck roared out of control, jumped the curb and struck her. She sustained life-threatening injuries. Our MBA program is recognized by the Princeton Review as one of the best in the country. Since then she has fought her way back through intensive medical care and rehabilitation. The Graduate School of Education is a leader in STEM pipeline initiatives. Last week, miraculously, Rachel returned to school. Her determination mirrors the strengths of so many at this Our nursing graduates are caring for people in every hospital, institution who overcome adversity to get an education. medical center and clinic in the region. Rachel, you, like most of our students, have been working Our scholars have made Lowell the world’s hot spot for and borrowing to pay the cost of your education. research on Jack Kerouac. Well, thanks to the generosity of donors to these inaugural At a recent Plastics Engineering conference in Germany, activities, I am happy to announce you will be the first 150 industry leaders in attendance were our alumni. recipient of the Chancellor Martin T. Meehan Educational And with opening day at Fenway Park about ninety-eight Excellence Scholarship to cover your outstanding costs hours away we want the world to know that our engineers test and loans. all the baseballs used in Major League Baseball. As we look to the future, we must start by acknowledging These are only some of the good things happening on this that the University exists in the most competitive educational campus every day, and there are many more. environment in its history and we must rise to that challenge. And this is a very good thing. We live in a global society and UMass Lowell must be Our region depends on the University being world class, part of that. not only in a few areas, but across the spectrum of disciplines. We live in a knowledge economy and we must contribute This University is different from many private colleges in and compete. the Commonwealth. Continued on Page 20 Ta bl eofContents SUMMER 2008 VOLUME 11 NUMBER 2 SUMMER 2008 Campus News Volume 11, Number 2 Arts & Sciences . 2 The UMass LoWell Alumni Education . 5 MagaZine is published bY: Office of Public Affairs Engineering . 5 UniVersitY of Massachusetts LoWell Health . 7 One UniVersitY AVenue LoWell, MA 01854 Management . 9 Tel. (978) 934-3223 Outlook . 9 Page 15 e-mail: [email protected] Outreach . 10 Chief Public Affairs Officer People . 12 Patti McCaffertY Athletics . 28 EXecutiVe Director of Alumni Events . 36 UniVersitY AdVancement Class Notes . 38 John DaVis Calendar of Events . 41 Director of Publications Alumni News . 42 and Publisher MarY Lou Hubbell Page 22 Director of Programs Cover Story and Alumni SerVices Diane Earl Martin T. Meehan Inaugurated 15 Chancellor Of UMass L owell Director of Regional Alumni Programming One Mill ion Dollars Raised Deme GYs 22 Through Inauguration Editor Jack McDonough Features Page 25 Page 32 Staff Writers ‘Thoughtful, Entertaining’ EdWin Aguirre 26 Sunrise Show Celebrates Christine Gillette an Anniversary GeoffreY Douglas Renae Lias ClaffeY Face of Philanthropy Sheila Eppolito Jennifer Hanson Remembering the Early Morgan Hough EliZabeth James 30 Days: Big Challenges, Kristen O’ReillY and the Opportunity Sandra SeitZ to Prevail Design Features Page 34 Shilale Design Rob Manning: Page 30 The UniVersitY of Massachusetts 32 The New UMass Board LoWell is an Equal OpportunitY/ Chairman Maps His Priorities, AffirmatiVe Action, Title IX, H/V, Looks Toward the Future ADA 1990 EmploYer. The ‘Rowdy Bunch ’ (and 64,000 Others) 34 Make River Hawk Season a Smash Page 26 Lowell Textile School • Massachusetts State Normal School • State Teachers College at Lowell • Lowell Textile Institute Lowell Technological Institute • Massachusetts State College at Lowell • Lowell State College • University of Lowell UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2008 1 CampusNews Colleges - Arts and Sciences State Funds $97K Grant to Make Lowell Seniors Count Researcher’s Work Makes List When LoWell’s disparate (and groWing) senior of 100 Top Science Stories population Was analYZed eight Years ago, manY Since the 1960s, scientists haVe knoWn that elderlY people Weren’t included because of lan - during a seVere geomagnetic storm, the Earth’s guage barriers and social isolation. This time, magnetosphere — the region around our planet UMass LoWell Asst. Prof. AndY Hostetler Wants controlled bY its magnetic field — can generate to get it right and ensure that criticallY needed highlY energetic serVices are made aVailable to those in need. electrons capable of Hostetler and his collaborators on the “LoWell Andy Hostetler crippling orbiting Seniors Count” project, including the LoWell Senior Center, LoWell satellites and posing CommunitY Health Center and the CitY of LoWell’s DiVision of a radiation haZard Planning and DeVelopment, earned tWo grants totaling $97,000 from to spaceWalking the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The grants are funding astronauts. Scientists a comprehensiVe, interVieWer-administered census coVering health, haVe Wondered hoW Well-being and safetY/securitY issues. these “killer” electrons “The effort places hundreds of trained Volunteers — including manY could attain such high bilingual representatiVes — directlY Within communities to increase par - energies and traVel ticipation and foster communitY outreach, especiallY among Southeast nearlY at the speed Discover magazine’s Asian, Portugese, African and Latino populations,” saYs Hostetler. of light. January 2008 issue. The project, part of the CitY of LoWell’s ten-Year plan to end homeless - In June 2007 an international team of ness, Will present a comprehensiVe portrait of LoWell seniors’ health, Well researchers led bY Dr. Qiugang Zong of the being and qualitY of life, to properlY identifY the resources and serVices UML Center for Atmospheric Research needed to achieVe What Hostetler terms “optimal aging” Within the citY. published findings that finallY shed light on this mYsterY. Their discoVerY ranked No. 37 in DiscoVer magaZine’s 100 Top Science Stories of Disabled Youngsters Play Video Games 2007. UMass LoWell is the onlY public uniVersi - Designed by UML Students tY in NeW England to be featured on the list, Which Was the coVer storY for the JanuarY 2008 issue of DiscoVer, the nation’s leading monthlY popular magaZine on science and technologY. Zong and his colleagues, Who include Paul Song, co-director of the Center, and research assistant XuZhi Zhou, determined that during a seVere geomagnetic storm, the solar Wind — a continuous high-speed stream of charged particles from the sun —impacts and compress - es the daYtime side of Earth’s magnetosphere, triggering instabilities along the magneto - sphere’s boundarY. These instabilities create Ultra LoW FrequencY electromagnetic WaVes, Which in Youngsters at the Franciscan Hospital for Children’s KennedY DaY turn produce killer electrons. FolloWing a School in Brighton plaY and enjoY computer Video games thanks storm, electrons can be energiZed up to a to students in Asst. Prof. Fred Martin’s softWare engineering class.